Q: How can I put photo albums onto my iPod touch using Windows? I’ve been told that I can only make photo albums on a Mac.
– Russ
A: Actually, you can create “photo albums” on the iPod touch itself via iTunes on either platform. The only major difference with the Mac platform is that new Mac computers include the “iPhoto” application which allows you to manage and organize your photos. iTunes can read iPhoto directly and transfer pictures onto your iPod based on their album organization within iPhoto.
On a PC, similar functionality is available with Adobe Photoshop Elements or Adobe Photoshop Album, but these are not normally included with your PC and instead have to be purchased separately.
A photo management application is not required, however. On either the PC or Mac platform, you can instead choose to simply synchronize a folder of photo images directly. To do this, you simply connect your iPod, select the “Photos” tab from the main iPod configuration screen, and then choose the folder that you would like to synchronize your photos from (ie, “My Pictures”).
In this configuration, each first-level sub-folder under the main folder is represented as a photo album, and you can select which photos “albums” (ie, folders) that you wish to sync to your iPod. To add or remove individual photos, you simply either add the photo to a synced folder, or remove it from that folder and store it elsewhere on your computer. The next time you sync your iPod, any photos that have been added will be added to your iPod, and any photos that you have removed from these folders will be removed.
You can find more information and some detailed instructions in our iPod tutorials section, specifically in our Complete Guide to Displaying Photos on iPod + iPhone.