Customer Reviews

The iPod Book: Doing Cool Stuff with the iPod and the iTunes Store (4th Edition)

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

OK... I finally joined the cult of the iPodders this month. I'm not a music fanatic like others I know, but there are some podcasts I really should be listening to. So, with iPod in hand, I started working my way through The iPod Book by Scott Kelby. He did a really nice job on this, and I think I know what I'm doing now...

Contents: I Can't Help Myself - The Chapter for People Who Must Play a Song Right Now; The Outsiders - How to Work the Stuff on the Outside of Your iPod; Pod's Theme - iPod Essentials; It's Tricky - Cool iPod Tips & Tricks; Cars - Using the iPod in Your Car; Get the Freeze-Frame - Using Your iPod's Photo Features; Home Sweet Home - iTunes Essentials; Imaginary Player - Playlists and Smart Playlists; Proof of Purchase - Using the iTunes Music Store; Tip Drill - Cool iTunes Tips; Add It On - iPod Accessories (and the iTunes Phone); Get the Lido Shuffle - How to Use Apple's iPod shuffle; Cast of Angels - How to Download (and Create Your Own) Podcasts; Recommended Dose - A Peek at My Own Personal, Ultra-Secret, Yet Surprisingly Way-Cool Playlists; Index

There were a number of things I enjoyed in this book... For one, the writing style has some great dry humor and wit. Each chapter is tied into some music, and it's Kelby's contention that editors never read the book and chapter forwards, and he can get away with stuff in there. So for some great humor, don't skip *any* of the intros. But the book is more than just a few laughs. He does a nice job covering the range of functionality that comes in the iPod, in iTunes, and in the large number of after-market add-ons you can buy for your new toy. Want to listen to your iPod from the car radio with no wiring? You can do that. Want to use your iPod as a voice recorder? Yup, it's there. Do you just want to use your iPod as your stereo system attached to a pair of high-end speakers? No problem... All that and more is covered. Since he covers all the different iPod models, you also don't have to worry that your iPod Nano (or Shuffle) will get short-changed. The book has great information regardless of your particular version. Each page has one complete tip or hint, so it's easy to scan for just what you're looking for. Throw in a number of iTips at the bottom of several pages, and even the most experienced iPodder will probably find something that causes him/her to say, "hey! didn't know you could do that!"...

Maybe it's because I'm an iPod newbie and this was the first book that unlocked the possibilities for me. Regardless, I enjoyed this book immensely and would recommend it to anyone looking for something more in the way of information than what comes packaged with the unit...

Let me start by saying I like Scott Kelby, and I have the credit card statements to prove it.

But with these books he's just phoning it in. Along with the Gen-X har har humor (lots of "Hey" and "eh?" and "ya know" to give you that folksy feeling) you would like a little meat. There are about 60 pages devoted to Playlists, which are pretty much self-explanatory, and only two very sketchy pages about syncing iTunes with an iPod, which can be pretty frustrating if your preferences aren't set just right. Interested in Podcasts? Scott pretty much breezes over it. For example, in the Podcast part of the Library, what are the blue dots next to some of the Podcast titles? What are the checkmarks? Do the checkmarks determine which podcast episodes get synced? I'm not entirely sure, and you won't find out from reading this book.

I had hoped to find out why some music can be dragged to the iPod icon on the left while others cannot. Apparently it has something to so with the preferences and how much autonomy you give iTunes to automatically sync music.

If you have the iPod Touch, you might want to know about the multi-touch gestures. How do you zoom in or out? Nothing here that I could find. What about the hints that pop up inside the web address screen? I'd love to know how to use them, but Scott either doesn't know or thinks I must already know. Maybe he wants me to buy his iPhone book to learn these things.

Also, I couldn't find any mention of the MP3 downloads available here on Amazon that cost less and are not encumbered with DRM.

All in all, I found the book a little too breezy and boostery. Too much space allocated to easy stuff like accessories and visualizations, not enough space devoted to the effects of preferences and complexities of syncing. Admittedly this is just me and those who bought an iPod yesterday may well find it useful.

This book would be great for iPod newbies. It guides you, with clear pictures and humorous text, through setting up your iPod, putting songs on and listening to the music.

But I found the subtitle "Doing Cool Stuff with the iPod and iTunes Music Store" very misleading - is buying a song from the music store a "cool" thing? What about clicking the Power Search button? Worst was the "Faking having your iPod in your car" (in case you do not have a tape deck, fm player or audio-in jack but do have a cd player). The "cool idea"? Mix your favorite songs up in iTunes and burn some cds with them in shuffled format! HUH!??!?!? you don't even need an iPod at all to do that.

The advertisements for various products made me feel like I was looking at a bulky iPod catalog. If I was new to iPod, I would have liked this book - at least it explains in simple language the basics. But I am not new to iPod, I am well-versed in iPod and wanted to learn something "cool". If you are like me, find another book.

This book has been THE thing that made me go from being unsure about my Apple 30 GB iPod video Black (5.5 Generation) to LOVING it! I wasn't planning on getting an iPod; it was given to me as a gift. I am pretty good with computers and technology in general, but I really had a hard time figuring out some of the basics with the iPod! (Oh, I know... Apple stuff is all supposed to be so "intuitive"-- well, I didn't find it to be so!)

This book is PERFECT. Every little thing you might want to figure out how to do on your iPod (or in iTunes) is laid out simply, with great pictures and screen prints so you can SEE what the author's talking about. And author Scott Kelby throws in liberal doses of humor to make it all the more enjoyable.

Best of all, each topic is just ONE PAGE LONG. Want to know how to do something? Go to that one page, read it, and you've got it! No wading through long, boring chapters of info, or dry manuals.

Topics go from the utterly basic (but necessary) "Turning Your iPod on and Off" (there is no "On/Off" button, you know!), and "Turning on the Backlight" to the more complicated "Moving Playlists Between Computers" and "Editing a Song's Start/End Points"-- the things that will really give you great enjoyment once you figure them out!

And did I mention each topic is ONLY ONE PAGE? That's the key to this great book. I highly recommend it! We keep it in a drawer right next to our computer and go back to it again and again.

One last thing: my nine-year-old has read the book from cover-to-cover, and is now quite the expert on his Apple 2 GB iPod nano AAC/MP3 Player Silver (2nd Generation)! The perfect handbook for any age, and for any technological level. (Also covers all models of iPod).

I absolutely love this iPod book and I recommend it strongly to MOST iPod/iTunes users. I couldn't agree less with the negative reviews on Amazon, but ironically I do understand why these reviewers wrote what they did. Let me explain.

I got hooked on Scott Kelby's books on Photoshop and was thrilled that Scott has started branching out into other tech-related areas because his style makes his books some of the easiest books to read quickly. As a graphics person myself, I love the beautiful color illustrations on every single page on this book, but that's not why this (and all of Scott's books) are so strong. It's because each page covers a topic, the illustrations are NEVER confusing or cryptic (like many tech books often are), and because his choice of topics thoroughly cover the subject at hand. This book is no exception.

The iPod Book is conversational and every explanation and corresponding illustration is crystal clear. I wish all all manufacturers of technology would use this as a style guide for their manuals (though this book does leave out some of the technical mumbo-jumbo most manuals pride themselves in).

What You Will Get: A thorough understanding of everything most iPod owners care about. iTunes, after market accessories, hard drive functionality, usage directions, tips most average users can appreciate.

What You Won't Get: Lessons on how to hack your iPod's software to make it run space shuttle diagnostic software, or schematics so you can solder a GPS antenna to the motherboard so your iPod can tell you where you were each time you listened to Cold Play.

I think the biggest shortcoming of the book is its subtitle. The problem is that tech-hounds who troll all of the iPod blog sites and can spend hours hacking their iPod, see that the book is supposed to be "Doing Cool Stuff with the iPod and iTunes Music Store." That statement is VERY different from the perspective of an iPod aficionado vs. a casual user or a newbie. I'd suggest that the subtitle ought to be "The Perfect iPod Book for New and Casual iPod Users but NOT For Tech Hounds Who Already Subscribe To All 22 iPod e-Newsletters."

I'm not a newbie so some of the explanations Scott covered were way beneath me. The cool thing is that the book is laid out so well that I could VERY QUICKLY flip from page to page and read only those pages/topics I needed. I was never worried that I had missed some important information because it's so easy to understand the topic of each page. As a tech savvy person and casual iPod user, I found the book very worth the price and I'll share it with all my iPod toting friends. If you already have more than 3 iPod books in your library, you probably won't need this one.

It's a perfect book for 98 percent of all iPod users who would rather be listening to music than studying iPod white papers.

This book is a lot of fun, you could find just about everything in this book on various websites, but it is nice to have all the tips in one place. This is not going to tell you how to re-program an iPod or anything, so if that's what you are looking for, look elsewhere.
My only criticism of this book is that you can tell it was written over a few months time and that during those few months, the iPod lineup changed. This book could have done with a little editing to fix certain comments that imply the iPod nano is the latest iPod when the 5th generation came out more recently. Other than that, this is a great book for beginners and those who want to maximize their iPodding potential.

The last thing I was expecting from this book was to be entertained as well as informed. Scott Kelby's book does both. It is a wonderful read and a self-esteem builder! I'm 50 years old and my teenage daughters can't fathom why an old guy would need an Ipod. I'm now seen as a certified Ipod technician by my kids- they even ask me to trouble shoot for them. For this I will always be grateful, thank you Scott.

The book is an open and go- within the first few pages I had my Ipod playing music and functioning properly. The Ipod Book is an easy to understand, clearly written, thorough, step by step guide that will be extremely helpful to any Ipod owner. I appreciate the author's ability to combine his knowledge, sense of humor and voice into the writing.

If I were going to buy an iPod for my mother, this is possibly the reference book for her. There are pretty pictures, short descriptions, and only the most basic of content needed to operate an iPod and iTunes.

Each page covers one subject. One third of each page consists of a pretty color image generally relating to the subject at hand. Another third contains a short paragraph speaking to the pages extremely basic subject. The last third of the page is empty space. If the publisher were to condense the large amounts of empty space, reduced the oversized images, and removed some filler images, the numbered page count would shrink from 229 to around 80 pages.

The author (or publisher) also they also felt kind enough to include advertisements and promotions for selected iPod accessories. I could only perceive the advertisements as filler in order to help pay for the printing of the book.

In the end, I'm not even sure I would give this book to my mother if she were to brave the "new" world of iPods. I just felt that the author was too belittling at times, especially considering the audience. The book's content, or lack thereof, even seemed elementary for a beginner.

I was very disappointed in this book, which really doesn't even contain as much information as the online manual. I bought it when I was having trouble with my iPod and needed to know more than the manual explained; I know there are good books out there with this information, but this is definitely not one of them. For example, there are five steps listed in the manual that you can go through in order to reset or restore an errant iPod; this book lists only the first, simplest step, and never even mentions the possibility that it might not fix the problem, much less what to do in that case. Don't waste your money on this one.

As an ipod nut i'm always interested in getting the most out of them & the iTunes Music Store. I found this edition up to date with the current iPod models & the latest version of the ITS. I've had several iPods over the years but a lot of people are new to the whole experience. I purchased 3 copies, 1 for me & 2 for friends just learning iPoding. The book is well layed out, has wonderful graphics & concise information. The authors comments just ad to the flavor of the book. New or old anyone with an iPod will find this book useful & refer back to it constantly.