So, you go to your computer to upload music to your iPod, if you just plug it in and your iTunes music library automatically starts sending music to your iPod, then this is the automatic mode, not the manual. This is the default mode; it is already configured to update the contents whenever your iPod is plugged in.



When using your iPod, the manual mode, on the other hand, lets you select only the files you want and then transfer those selected files to your iPod. To switch your iPod into the manual mode, you first have to go to your iTunes Source list and select the iPod icon.

When you do this, a new icon should pop appear at the bottom right corner if your iTunes window. If you click on this icon, the iPod Preferences window will pop up. Now, to get your iPod to stop updating automatically, you need to enable the Manually Manage Songs and Playlists option. Click OK and the Preferences window will close. Now you are ready to start adding only the music files that you want.

In order to place new music onto your iPod, you need to drag the selected file from your iTunes library and onto the iPod icon in the Source list or into one of your playlists. If you wish to create a new playlist, just click its icon in the Source list and then click on the Plus button at the bottom.

If you have too many files to move manually, or if you just want to get music from a particular genre or artist, you can use the iTunes Browser (press Command-B) and you can select whole genres, albums, or artists to be moved to your iPod. Now that you have changed your iPod to update manually, you should not have to do it again unless you want to switch back to automatically update because this setting is stored on your iPod.

Now that you have changed your iPod to update manually you can easily connect it to more than one computer. This works for people who have more than one computer where they have music stored, like at college or work.

If you had your iPod set on automatic and you went to connect it to another computer, a window will pop up saying that your iPod library is about to be erased and will be replaced with music stored on this computer. Manual mode will save the user a lot of time and grief.

Another reason, you may want to use the manual mode of your iPod is because you are able to play songs that are stored on your iPod through speakers on the computer that the iPod is attached to. If you wish to do this, simply click on the iPod icon in the Source list and pick a song that is shown in the iTunes main window, press play. Or you can play an entire playlist by selecting it and pressing play.

More and more people are starting to change their iPod to manual mode for many reasons. For instance, you may be running out of space on your iPod and wish only to upload a certain few songs. Others want to delete songs from their iTunes library but want to keep it on their iPod.

However, you will not be able to copy music from your iPod back to your iTunes library. This is a protection added to try and cut down on the number of people who pirate music illegally.

Now that you know exactly what the manual mode on your iPod is, how to switch your iPod to manual mode from automatic mode, and some benefits of using it, you are now able to be more in control of the music that you have on your iPod. With the growing number of iPod owners and users, knowing how to use your iPod correctly is becoming more and more important.