iTunes was started by Apple in January of 2001 as an application for playing music. It acts as a link between your computer and your iPod, connecting your computer to the iTunes Music Store where you can purchase music and movies for personal use. It is free to download and compatible with Macs and some Windows operating systems. New iPods are also carrying the program.

With the iTunes program, you can run many things from your computer. You can purchase and organize your favorite music and movies into play lists, burn your own CDs for personal use, and download music to your iPod. You can also use it for playing music on your own computer or other mp3 player.

The Play List is one of the best features for iPod users. Besides being able to organize your music, you can also set play lists on different settings to play your music. You can have it go in order of download or on a mix. Mixes can be set just to play songs from a certain part of your play list or from the entire thing. A Party Shuffle will play popularly rated songs at a greater rate than those that received a lower rating or none at all.

For example, a four star rated song will have a higher chance of getting played during the shuffle time than a two star rated song. You can add and delete songs as you want, or even have your iPod get automatic updates of new songs as they come up. You can organize your play list in a variety of fashions: by genre, by artist, by popularity, or by personal favorites.

In June of 2005, Apple added pod casting. This feature allows access to Apples official pod casts, as well as the ability to download different types of videos. This feature makes it possible for anyone to pod cast, from putting college lectures on your iPod to family movies. Pod casting has become a popular way of information sharing between iPod users.

In October 2005, Apple introduced an updated iTunes that made it possible to download movies to your iPod. You can get everything from the latest theatrical releases to television shows, to new movie trailers. Download them to your iPod, and you have an instant personal entertainment center to use anytime and any where.

The iTunes Music Store allows iPod users to buy and download music and movies from their computer to their iPod. Millions of songs have been downloaded this way since it opened in April 2003. You can preview music or check ratings there as well.

Downloading music from your computer to your iPod is easy to do. There are a variety of ways to do this.

Dragging allows you to drag tracks from your play list on your computer to your iPod. In the Portable window, click on the iPod under Attached Portable Devices and just drag music from the play list to your iPod. Or you can select an entire play list the same way and drag it over. This works best if you are just moving one song or one play list.

For large groups of songs, it may work easier to sync library, as this will download all music to your iPod. Again in the Portable window, you should click on the iPod. Under the Options menu there is a Sync tab with Complete Library Sync. Or you can use the same function but select Selected Play list Sync instead and select the play lists that you would like to download.

The sync features can also be set to be done whenever you plug your iPod into your computer. To set this up, under the Sync tab check the box Automatically sync on device connection. Your music will then be automatically downloaded whenever your iPod is hooked up.

With iTunes, you and your iPod have access to all the music and movies that you could ever want - or that your iPod could ever store. It is just one more way to personalize your iPod exactly how you want it.