Setting up a new iPod with an existing library

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Setting up a new iPod with an existing library

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Q: I’ve had the extreme misfortune of losing my iPod nano, and have purchased a new one of the same model. Can I use the same library with the new nano? How do I set this up?

- Erin

A: Absolutely, and setting it up is truly as simple as just connecting your new iPod nano to your iTunes library.

iTunes will detect this as a brand new iPod and take you through the same setup wizard that you encountered when you hooked up your first iPod nano. If your library is smaller than the capacity of your Nano, you can simply choose to use automatic synchronization and iTunes will simply go ahead and transfer all of your music and playlists to your new iPod nano, and you’ll be ready to go.

If you do have a library that is larger than your iPod nano, then you can either let iTunes choose a selection of music to put on your Nano, you can setup and choose your own iTunes playlists to transfer to your Nano, or you can choose to simply manage the content on your Nano manually.

To let iTunes choose a selection of music automatically, simply choose the automatic synchronization mode as you normally would, and iTunes will advise you that your library is too large to fit on your Nano and will offer to choose a selection of music for you.

Selecting “Yes” will tell iTunes to create a standard playlist containing enough music to fill your iPod, and set that playlist to automatically sync to your iPod. You can change what is placed on your iPod simply by changing the content of that particular playlist, and you can even choose additional playlists to sync to your iPod from within the iPod preferences in iTunes.

On the other hand, if you prefer to either manage your music manually or set up your own playlists to sync to your iPod, then the simplest solution is to DEselect the option to automatically sync music during the setup wizard process. This will basically leave the iPod in manual mode, and not load any specific content onto it. You can then either drag-and-drop any music or playlists yourself from your iTunes library, or go into your iPod preferences and select specific playlists to automatically sync to your iPod.

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