You will find that one of the most popular online music stores for the iPod is iTunes. Apple Computer has done a lot to try and get things right for the consumer including some innovative design electronics. With iTunes as your iPod music store you can construct your own digital music library and easily listen and arrange your collection of music files. You have the ability to create customized audio CDs and download your music to a portable Apple iPod digital music player. You also have the ability to mix classical, rock, country, rap, or other music that you wish to have in your collection. By buying individual tracks, you have the ability to separate the songs that you like from individual albums and compile them into one album.

Each song cost $0.99 (which may or may not change at some point), which makes it very competitive in terms of the price of CDs. ITunes is a free download for Windows XP, Mac OS X, and Windows 2000 from Apple computers website. You can also purchase videos from its built-in music store. ITunes also has the ability to provide playlists that a person can publish for others to use if they wish. The iTunes store has the capability to accept payment through credit cards, PayPal accounts, iTunes store gift certificates, the iTunes card and allowance account balances, all accepted as forms of payment.

Here are some tips to help you get the most out of an iPod store such as iTunes.

1. iTunes Radio

There are many radio stations to pick from when your in iTunes using the 'Radio' button. If you happen upon some radio station you like, you can begin to stream it into iTunes by picking the Advanced -- Open Stream, and then and then manually putting in the URL.

2. Album Artwork

It is possible the have picture of the album that is being played to be displayed. You have the ability to add your own pictures and retain the music cover that was downloaded from the music store and keep it in place. If you like to do this, go to 'Get Info' and click on 'Artwork'. You can then add the image by going to where you have stored the image on your computer.

3. Edit Songs

If space on your iPod is limited then long songs can be kind of annoying. With iTunes you have the ability to edit your music by taking out the part you don't want. If you want to do that then go to 'Get Info' -- Options and then pick the start and stop point.

4. Shopping Cart

By default iTunes gives you the ability to buy music using the 'Buy' button when your at the store which lets you download instantly. For the most part most people would rather use the shopping cart to do the downloading of their music. To accomplish this go to 'Preferences -- Store' and choose ' Buy' with the shopping cart. When your at the Music Store inside the source pane will be the cart.

As an iPod Store It Has But One Challenge

If there is but one small negative, if you can call it a negative, it's that Apple Computer decided to make all of its songs in proprietary AAC format. What this means is that you can only play these songs either on your iPod or on your computer but nowhere else. Let's say you were to decide to switch to a different MP3 player from a different company, and these songs would become useless. However, the popularity of the iPod didn't get to the status that has without a good reason; people like them. That being the case it's likely that you won't be interested in switching to anything different. Despite the fact that iTunes was from the start created as an online store to service the iPod customers music requirements, the video iPod has spawned an entire new market for content that is that can be downloaded. You can go to the iTunes store and it will provide unemployed users with access to numerous amounts of the latest movies and television programs. For a few dollars apiece you can get individual episodes. However the cost from episode to episode may very somewhat.