The iPod is a portable media player and is compatible with many different music file formats including, MP3, AAC/M4A, Protected AAC, AIFF, WAV, Audible audio book, and Apple Lossless. MIDI files are only supported by conversion via the advanced menu conversion function in the iTunes menu.
How To Get Music and Video on an iPod
An iPod is associated with one host computer during installation by using a USB connection. Each time an iPod connects to its host computer, Apple iTunes service synchronizes entire music libraries or music play lists either automatically or manually.
A user can choose either manual or automatic sync options for adding music. If manual is chosen a user can add music from a second computer without affecting the existing library already installed on the iPod, but anything added or edited will be reversed upon connecting and syncing with the main computer and its library. If the automatic option is chosen and the iPod is synced using another computer then the iPod's library will be entirely deleted and replaced with the other computer's library.
Users of iPods can choose from millions of songs and videos that are available in the Apple iTunes store and depending on the iPod model’s storage capacity, can store thousands of music files and several hours of video for listening and viewing.
Supported Photo and Video Formats
IPods can also display different formats of photo files, including, JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, and PNG image file formats.
The 5th and 6th generations of the iPod Classic models as well as the 3ed generation iPod Nanos can also play MPEG-4 and QuickTime video formats, with some restrictions.
Software Capability
When iPod first came out they were only compatible with the MAC operating system, but Apple started supporting the Microsoft Windows operating system when the second-generation models of iPods were released.
Video Games on the iPod
Various models of iPods can play video games, which can be downloaded from the Apple iTunes store, as well as those that come standard on the iPod, like Brick: Parachute, Solitaire, and Music Quiz. There are third party services that make games for iPods, such as Namco, Square Enix, Electronic Arts, Sega, and Hudson Soft.
Using the iPod
The iPod comes with the famous signature click wheel, which makes navigating through music and video not only fun, but super easy. iPods with color displays use a graphic user interface and sliding animations. All iPod models, with the exception of the Shuffle and Touch have 5 buttons and the latest generations have the buttons as part of the click wheel, which provides for a very user-friendly and minimalist user interface. These buttons allow for easy access to functions such as, menu, play, pause, next and previous track. A rotating function is used to scroll through menu items and for volume control by rotating the click wheel.
The most basic model of iPod, the Shuffle does not offer the above navigation extras, but instead has a small control on the earphone cable, with volume-up and -down buttons and a single button for play/pause, next track, etc. The Touch has a touch screen instead of the click wheel, and its interface is just like that of the iPhone and it also has the iPhone operating system. Learn more at What is an iPod and iPod Models and Features Guide