OK - so the holidays have passed and many of you (myself included!) received an iTunes gift card!! YEAH!! Perhaps you got one for $10 - or maybe you were really lucky and got a $50 gift card. Either way - you may want to maximize your money.

1. I have a video iPod so I often will buy a few songs I have been coveting and then head straight for the movies/tv shows.  Of course the best way to save your money is to download the freebies on iTunes. If you go to the homepage of the iTunes store and scroll down toward the bottom of the page, iTunes will have a section called Free on iTunes. They change the options every so often. I’ve downloaded episodes of shows like Gossip Girl, ‘Till Death, and Lost for free!!
2. A second way to maximize your money is to find “movie length” tv shows. I’m sure they are elsewhere, but Lifetime has movies for $3.99 instead of the regular $15. They are perfect for a plane ride across the country and I can download 4 for the price of 1. I know what you’re going to say - it’s only for women but you’re wrong. I guauantee there are some men out there who would enjoy some of these movies!
3. A third way to make the most of your money is to RENT movies on iTunes. Most movies are $2.99 and new releases are 3.99. Rental parameters include 30 days to watch the movie and once you have started it - you have 24 hours to finish it. The viewing works very much like Pay Per View.
4. A final way to maximize your money is to start watching Indie films! They range from $2 to $10.

Good luck getting the biggest bang for your buck. If you have other methods - please write in and let us know!!

Its easy to put your iPod on shuffle and let it choose your songs for you. Unfortunately, you may have some music on there that you are not willing to share with anyone. OK - I admit it - I have Barry Manilow on my iPod - but I’m a girl so it’s alright - right? Truth is, I’ve been made fun of because of it. So, my recommendation to you is to use the Shuffle feature in your iTunes. This allows you to control the songs that iTunes selects.

1. Open iTunes and Click the Party Shuffle icon right under your Playlists area.
2. A new pane will pop up on the bottom of the page that enables you to choose your source, display from 5 to 100 recently play songs and upcoming songs. In this area, you can choose to play music from your whole library or a certain Playlist.
3. If you are unhappy with the song list, click on the Refresh (or Shuffle) button on the bottom right of your screen. (This may vary based on iTunes version). This will generate a whole new list for you.
4. After you are generally satisfied, you can manually add and delete songs from the Playlist as you typically do. You can also rearrange the order of the songs. To add songs, make sure your Source is set to “Music” and then drag your selected songs onto the Party Shuffle icon.
5. Click the play button and let the good times roll!!!

Have fun!

I spent a couple of hours on the phone the other night helping my father-in-law put music on his iPod. It can be quite difficult to facilitate these thing over the phone - especially when someone is using an antiquated computer!

I did a little searching and I wish I had this great article: The Beginner’s Guide to Filling Your iPod that I found on iLounge. It is very complete and goes through each of the sections of iTunes that I was referring to on the phone.

I hope this helps some of you shorten those long phone calls!