How to Download Songs on an iPod Shuffle

An iPod shuffle is the smallest member of the iPod family. It's an MP3 player that can hold about 120 songs on the 512 MB model and about 240 songs on the 1GB model. The shuffle doesn't have a screen like an iPod nano, iPod touch, or iPod classic. With an iPod shuffle you can shuffle all the songs stored on it, which means it will play the songs at random, or you can play them all in order. Even though there isn't a screen you can still skip ahead to the next song, pause, or go back to previous songs with the controls on the iPod shuffle. But to do all that, you first need to download songs onto it.

Things You'll Need

• iPod shuffle Computer (Mac or PC) iPod shuffle cord

Instructions

1. 

   Download songs onto your computer first. Before you can begin to download songs onto your shuffle, they need to be stored on your computer. You can get songs onto your computer by uploading a CD that you already own, or by purchasing songs from the iTunes store. The shuffle works with iTunes, so either way you need make sure you get your songs onto iTunes in your computer.

2. 

   Connect your iPod shuffle to your computer using the iPod shuffle's connector cord. If iTunes doesn't open automatically, then manually open it. You should see your iPod shuffle appear in your iTunes sidebar.

3. Choose a playlist or the random setting to populate your iPod shuffle. When your shuffle is plugged into your computer a page or menu will appear with "Settings" and "Content" options. At the bottom of the content tab is the "Autofill" option. This is how you select your songs.

4. 

   Choose one of your playlists from this menu to download the songs onto your shuffle. If you want a random selection of songs from your library, instead of a specific playlist, choose "Music" and leave the settings as "Autofill." You can also drag songs from your library to the iPod shuffle icon, or drag entire playlists onto your shuffle.

5. 

   Disconnect your iPod shuffle from your computer by clicking the eject icon next to the iPod shuffle icon. Plug in your headphones and take your music with you.

Tips & Warnings

• Have playlists ready that suit your different moods so you can easily change your music. You might create a special playlist for working out, one for walking, another for your morning commute. This makes changing out your music on your shuffle easy.

Resources

• About the IPod Shuffle from the Apple Store