iphone 4 - Master the iPod app

Turn your shiny new iPhone 4 into a portable entertainment centre

There are so many features packed into the iPhone 4 that it's easy to forget the one that started Apple's mobile revolution: the iPod. The music and video player is very much alive and kicking, meaning you always have an entertainment system right there in your pocket.

Once you've transferred your music and videos onto your iPhone, playing them is wonderfully simple. Tap the iPodapp and you'll see your playlists appear. Select one to listen to, then either choose the song you want or tap Shuffle, and you're away. Audio will continue to play even if you switch to other apps.

Across the bottom of the iPod app is a dock with buttons including Playlists, Artists and Songs. These give you quick access to your music and video files. Tap the More button for further categories. The ones that appear in the dock as standard may not be the most useful for you, and you can change them by pressing Edit. So if you listen to a lot of podcasts but don't use the Songs option much, drag the Podcasts icon down onto Songs to swap them around, The one you've replaced will still be accessible by tapping More,

"If you love exploring your music visually, turn your iPhone on its side, to switch the app into Cover Flow"
 

 If you love exploring your music visually, turn your iPhone on its side when you're in the iPod app, which will switch the screen into Cover Flow mode. Now you can browse through your albums, arranged alphabetically by artist name. When you come to one you'd like to listen to, tap its cover to view a list of songs. Touch the title of the track you want to hear to play it. Press the little i icon in the lower right corner to flip the album over again, and continue browsing,

The in-wire controller in the headphones that came with your iPhone can control the iPod app. Play/pause with a single click, two clicks skips to the next song, and three to the previous. Adjust the volume with the + and - buttons.

QUICK TIP

With the iPod controls displayed, you can shake your iPhone to shuffle the songs in the current playlist randomly, provided that option is enabled in the iPod options, These can be accessed via the Settings app on your Home screen.

HOW TO / Create a playlist right on your iPhone

 01 -  Tap Playlists, then Add Playlist..., type in a name and press Save. Browse to the songs you'd like to add and select the ones you want in your playlist. If you add any by mistake, you can remove them later. Tap Done when you've chosen the tracks you want.

   02 - Your playlist is now ready to enjoy. To add some more songs, tap Edit, press the + button at the top and then add tracks as you did in the previous step. To remove songs from this playlist, tap Edit, press the red minus icon next to the track and choose Delete

 03 - When you're finished customising your playlist, tap Done. You can delete an entire playlist, or clear all the songs out of it using the buttons at the top of the screen. Your new list of music will appear at the foot of your main Playlist screen in the iPod app,

HOW TO / Play music and video and buy new content

   04 - Tap Videos in the iPod's dock and select the one you want to watch. Turn your iPhone on its side to enjoy the show. Touch the screen to view the playback controls, and use the bar along the top to skip through the video. Tap Done to return to the iPod.

   05 - You can download music, audiobooks, films and more while you're out and about, using the (Tunes app, which is just like App Store (see page 44). Load it up and use the dock at the bottom to browse the various categories or search for the media you want.

 06 - You can watch or listen to a short fragment of the item you're after before you part with any money. Simply tap an individual song title, or select the video and press Preview If you like what you see or hear, tap the price twice to download.

 07 -  Enter your iTunes password if prompted and your download will begin, Note that you can only download files over 20MB if you're connected to a Wi-Fi network. Songs you buy are automatically added to a Purchased playlist in the iPod app.

   08 - When your iPhone screen goes off while you're playing music, double-clicking the Home button gives you quick access to the iPod controls. Here, you can pause the audio you're listening to, skip through tracks and alter the volume.

   09 - If you're using another app while listening to your favourite artist, double-click Home. Swipe the list of apps you see to the right to view the name of the song you're listening to and get at the iPod controls. Touch the orange icon to load the app.