Knaster S. Hacking iPod + iTunes

Wiley Publishing, 2009, -311 p.That was the reaction of a non-iPod-savvy friend when I told him I was writing a book about cool and wacky things you can do with your iPod and iTunes. He believed that when you get an iPod, you push a button and listen to music, period. He thought the iPod was simply a music player. He was misinformed.
The iPod is a digital music device — a wonderful and popular one. Playing music is what it was made for. If all you want to do is connect your iPod to your computer and transfer the music to it from CDs and the iTunes Music Store, you’ll find all the information you need in the manual that comes in the box. But if you’re curious about other stuff you can do with your iPod, you want to know more about the cool-but-obscure features inside iTunes, or you just want to spend a couple of hours exploring your iPod and iTunes, this book can help. My skeptical friend would be surprised to learn that there are already a few good books about the iPod. This one is different. In this book, we spend most of our time on the fringes, outside the mainstream of features, focusing on the tricky, little-known, and unusual. A topic does not have to be useful to be included — it just has to be interesting. I tried to make this book a celebration and exploration of the iPod and iTunes. It’s as if we sat down for coffee and I started showing you features and tweaks that I thought you might like to see.
Because this book exists out on the edges, there are plenty of topics we don’t spend much time on. For example, we don’t get into the basics of how to transfer songs to your iPod, but we do talk about how to transfer weather forecasts to your iPod.
I hope you have a good time and maybe even learn something useful as we wander around the iPod and iTunes for a few hours. If not, the book makes a great coaster to set your drink on while you’re ripping CDs.Part I: Hacking iPod
Sounds Awesome: Music on Your iPod
More Than Music
Way Beyond the Music: Hardware
Way Beyond the Music: Software
Part II: Hacking iTunes
Play with Your Music
Extreme Music Playin
iTunes
Music Out: Burning and Beyond
Music Library: Check it Out
iTunes Music Store
Part III: Appendices
A: iPod Note Reader
B: Where to Find More Information
C: iPod and iTunes Version History
D: iTunes Library XML Format