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Fortunately downloading music onto an iPod is fairly simple. IPod creator , Apple has developed the industry leader of “interfaces” called iTunes which allows you to manage your music very effectively. In fact, it allows you to manage not only music, but videos, music videos and even your family photos.

It’s amazing how many iPod users are intimidated using iTunes to download music and actually prefer to download their CD collection directly. So I will cover the two main sources of music for the iPod in an easy to follow guide. In addition I will cover an interesting option of sourcing more iPod music-but more on that later.

Let’s start with iTunes.

If you are new to iPods and have just bought one or received one as a gift you will find a CD that has been supplied with your iPod. This CD will transfer all the necessary files onto your PC for you to have iTunes up and running. It is really one of the easiest online setup programs that I have ever installed.

If for some reason, you haven’t used iTunes yet and lost the CD you can simply go to Apple’s site and download the software into your PC. You’re going to need the USB cable that came with your iPod to connect to your PC so you can start downloading songs.

Once you have got the software installed and have the iPod connected to your PC you must a allow your iPod and computer to ” sync” (synchronise). Until this synchronisation occurs you will not be able to download or manage the download process. The cool thing about iTunes interface is that instructions that are given are really easy to follow. So, just follow the instructions and you’re nearly there.

Putting your music in the iPod

Getting music into the iPod is now a choice of either downloading directly from your CD collection or purchasing music through iTunes or other pay per download music site.

The process of downloading songs onto an iPod is very simple. You now go into the iTunes interface, open up the CD loading tray, put the CD in containing the music that you want to transfer and the software starts the download process automatically. When I first started using iTunes I worked out that iTunes seems to have a database of every CD that’s ever been recorded because I know some of my CDs are so old that the programming on the disc would not have contained information about the disc that iTunes have. I know that this is a bit of a digression but it’s important in that this is what allows iTunes to be able to download files so fast into your PC!

The process of purchasing music is also very simple. The same interface will allow you to download songs either individually for $.99 or whole albums at a cost depending on how many songs you decide to download. Part of the process for downloading songs is obviously being able to search for what you want. The iTunes interface makes it very easy!

Other options.

At the beginning of the article I mentioned that there was another option in helping you to download music to your iPod. From a cost benefit point of view, it’s worth considering. This is probably more so, if you feel that you will be downloading a lot of music-as you can imagine this can end up quite expensive, and not everybody’s got a lot of money!

This option involves the use of unlimited music download sites that provide high-quality (that is file quality), fast download speed, virus free and provide a massive amount of content including music videos, games and even movies. These sites are commonly in the form of membership sites and there are two types that you should be aware of. The first type, is a monthly membership (a monthly fee of $10-$15) or one off payment lifetime membership site.

The one off lifetime membership sites probably represent the best value for money in this category. Why? Simply because for a one-off fee usually less than $40 you can download an unlimited amount of music.

You may be asking the question why should I bother with one of these sites when iTunes is potentially the best on the market. The answer is simply that many of the sites view iTunes as their main competitor-this means they have tried to replicate as much of the success formula that has made it so successful and easy to use.

I hope you have found this article helpful in answering the question how do you download songs onto an iPod simply!