How iTunes Works

• Officially, iTunes is the only way you can transfer music from your computer to your iPod, a transfer that works in only one direction. In fact, if you connect an iPod to a computer whose iTunes is empty -- for example, if you purchase a new computer or your old computer crashes -- syncing your iPod with iTunes will delete the contents of the iPod. For this and other reasons, using an auxiliary program is sometimes advantageous.
  
  

Disk Use

• If you use a Classic, Nano or Shuffle iPod device -- in other words, not a touchscreen iPod Touch or the Apple iPhone -- you can enable your iPod to be used as a hard disk, which allows you to store music files on it as if it were an external hard drive. Practically speaking, this is useful primarily as a back-up method -- you won't be able to play files you have stored on the iPod's hard drive.
  
  

iTunes Alternatives

• Some programs exist simple to provide alternatives to iTunes for its primary function -- transferring songs and other data from your computer to your iPod. MediaMonkey for Windows, for example, is equipped with an interface that, like iTunes, allows for one-touch syncing of your iPod device to its music player, updating your iPod in only a few minutes. Winamp, Floola and Songbird are three other free software programs that handle this same function.
  
  

Two-Way Transfers

• Other programs exist to allow the possibility of two-way transfers between iPods and computers and are particularly useful in the event of computer crashes. SharePod, for example, which is available for a free download with an encouraged donation to the developer, allows you to transfer individual songs to your iPod -- and remove whichever songs you'd like from it to put on your computer. iCopyBot is similar, although it -- unlike SharePod -- doesn't support the iPhone and iPod Touch.