iPod can carry loads of data

General

The iPod Video version has got some amazing features. It can get your music and media files on the move. It can serve up a digital buffet of music and video, help organize your contacts, let you play games and view the family photos.

All great and amazing, but one very important feature that many of us overlook is the iPod’s dirty little secret. It can double as a mobile filing cabinet.

The average iPod has a 20 GB hard drive. If you are like me, I have about half of my iPod filled with music that I actually listen to. Once the honeymoon is over, and you organize your media collection to include what you actually listen to, you can free up some space on the hard drive. iTunes, by default, manages your iPod and the space on it. Change a few settings in iTunes and you can access those precious GBs of unused space.

The amount of storage you have is the real benefit. USB flash drives typically offer 4 GB of storage at a reasonable price. Any larger, and the price seems to be slightly out of reach. Of course, wait a few months and USB storage capacities will double and quadruple, and prices will continue to fall. For the here and now, though, you cannot beat the price-per-GB of storage the iPod offers.

To manage your iPod hard drive usage (on your Windows PC using iTunes version 7.0 or higher), follow these simple steps:

  • Connect iPod to your computer.
  • Open iTunes.
  • Wait until the iPod and iTunes are finished synchronizing.
  • Select your iPod in the source pane on the left hand side.
  • Open the Summary tab and select “Manually manage music and videos.”
  • Click Apply.

At this point, you can close iTunes, or minimize it and continue working.

Open My Computer, and you will see an additional drive letter (C: is your primary hard drive, D: may be your CD ROM). If you have any other hard drives or partitions, your iPod will appear as the next logical drive letter in the sequence.

Open your iPod’s drive letter and you will notice many other folders. Note: Leave those files and folders alone. You can drag and drop your files as you please. There are no limitations to what you can store on the iPod, as long as you don’t go beyond the drive’s capacity.

To revert back to automatic mode, simply remove the check mark that you placed earlier in the iTunes summary tab. You can also view how much free space you have on the iPod drive with the summary tab.