Importing CD audio into the iPod

From Acorn

There are two types of CDs with audio on them: Audio CDs, and Data CDs with audio files on them. You cannot tell by looking at a CD what type of CD it is. The advantage of Audio CDs is that they can play in stand-alone CD Players, Data CDs will not. Both types of CDs can play on computers, and both types can be used with iTunes and the iPod. A lot less audio can fit on an Audio CD than on a Data CD, the capacity is limited to 80 minutes. Data CDs allow audio compression, Audio CDs do not, a Data CD can contain up to 800 minutes of high-quality stereo audio.

To import the audio on a CD into iTunes

1. Open iTunes by clicking on it.
2. Check your import options: For general use, go to Edit>Preferences. Select the Advanced tab, then the Import tab. Select: On CD Insert: Show Songs; Import Using: AAC Encoder, Setting: High Quality (128 kbps). Deselect “Play songs while importing”, select the next two checkboxes. Click OK.
3. If you are importing audio from a Data CD, the above options do not come into play, the data is imported in the same format as on the Data CD.
4. In iTunes, go to File>New Playlist. Give it the name of the CD you are importing (shorten it if necessary). If you want, you can create folders to organize your playlists, using File>New Folder.
5. Playlists can be moved between folders, at any time. Remember, in iTunes a playlist does not contain the actual song files, only pointers to them. The song files are kept in the LIBRARY. If you delete a playlist, the files will not be deleted from the LIBRARY.
6. Insert the CD in the computer. The songs should show up in iTunes. The CD will show up in the left column, under DEVICES.
7. Select the songs you want to import, by clicking on them. Shift-click for multiple selections, shift-control-click for noncontiguous selections. Select all by using the menu Edit>Select All.
8. Drag the songs, by their name, into their playlist. They should start importing. If they start playing, click the "stop play" button, they will keep importing. The status bar at the top will let you know when you are done.
9. You can eject the CD by selecting it in the left column, and clicking the eject button at the lower right.
10. The audio files will be visible both in your Library, and in the Playlist you created.
11. If you want to use the actual compressed file, select it in iTunes and just drag the song to your desktop. If this does not work, select the song, and go File>Show Song file. This will show you the actual location of the file on your computer.

Moving music from iTunes to the iPod

1. Connect the iPod to the computer, wait until its icon displays in the left panel of iTunes.
2. To move the whole playlist: In the left panel, just drag the playlist icon to the iPod icon.
3. To move one selection, drag it from the playlist or the library to the iPod icon.
4. To delete music from your iPod, select the music you want to delete, and hit the delete key.
5. To disconnect your iPod, select it in the iTunes left panel, and click on the eject button. It is safe to disconnect it when the iPod icon disappears. You may want to keep it connected to finish charging it.