The Little iTunes Book, Third Edition
The Little iTunes Book, Third Edition is by the wildly prolific Bob LeVitus. Bob goes way, way back in the Macintosh world and is one of our favorite authors and Macintosh personalities.

Curiously, at 226 pages, The Little iTunes Book, Third Edition, shown in Figure E, and published by Peachpit Press, is larger than both iPod Fan Book and The iTunes for Windows Book.

FIGURE E


The Little iTunes Book, Third Edition isn't so little. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Bob's book is plain ol' black and white, as compared to the color pages within some of the other books. As you might expect from Dr. Mac, the book's quite well-written and quite Mac-centric. It's got some good usage information, but nothing wildly new. It's good for the beginning user as well as those who want to put a little more power into their tunes.

At $19.99, if you're a Mac user and want a good read, this is your book.

OUR RATING: 3 of 5

FIGURE F


I miss TechTV. Roll over picture for a larger image.

TechTV's been gone for a while now, so how come we've got a TechTV-branded book about the iPod in this product shootout? Well, to be fair, this book's been sitting on our review shelf for a while and, originally, I wasn't going to include it in this product shootout. But with so many older iPods for sale on eBay, a good "jack of all trades" book seemed needed for the budget reader.

Although listing for $19.99, you can get Secrets of the iPod for as low as $5 on the Amazon used-book marketplace. Secrets of the iPod is a great book for those with older iPods. It's got descriptions of some of the older software you might find, as well as tips for making those older-generation iPods sing and dance.

Be careful, though, if you're going to try to buy iPods on eBay. eBay iPods are ideal opportunities for scammers to take your money. In one five-minute search, we found a number of suspect offers. One offer, from the UK, showed a picture of an iPod Nano, listed the entry as a 40GB iPod, and had a buy-it-now price of $100. There's a hundred bucks you'll never see again!

In any case, buy Secrets of the iPod if you're looking for older secrets of the older iPods.

OUR RATING: 3 of 5

FIGURE G


The manual's no longer missing. Roll over picture for a larger image.

We like the Missing Manual series. They're usually quite clear and comprehensive. At 402 pages, iPod & iTunes is no different. This book is ideal if you're getting started with your iPod and really want to know how to use it well. This book includes (unlike the others we've reviewed) information on how to install FireWire and USB 2.0 upgrade cards in your PC, a solid troubleshooting chapter, and some useful tips for getting the most out of the iTunes Music Store.

Overall, this is the best general interest book of the bunch. At $24.95, it's the book to buy.

OUR RATING: 4 of 5