How to protect all your iPod tunes

iTunes: Adding song lyrics to iPod

If you like to sing along with your tunes, you can display song lyrics right on the screen of a supported iPod. This includes:

• iPod nano
• Fifth Generation iPod

1. In iTunes 5 or later, select a favorite song.
2. From the File menu, choose Get Info.
3. Click Lyrics, then enter the words to the song in the text box.
4. Click OK when finished.
5. Copy the song to iPod.

If you've entered song lyrics, you can view them at any time in iTunes 5 or later. Just select the song, Get Info for the song, and then click Lyrics. If you want to view them on iPod, do this:

1. On iPod, start playing any song to which you've added lyrics.
2. Press the Center button repeatedly. The number of times depends on if you have artwork or not. Here's the order of things when you press the Center button:

Play status > Scrubber > Album Art > Lyrics/Description > Rating

If you don't have Album Art or Lyrics, then you'll just see the Rating

Play status > Scrubber > Rating

Lyrics should display correctly in most languages. If they do not, try removing any special characters in the Lyrics pane in iTunes, copy the song back to iPod, and try again.

Note: Some types of files such as WAV and QuickTime files don't support lyrics, though you can convert WAV and QuickTime files into a format that would allow you to add lyrics such as AAC or MP3.

Here's a cautionary tale, plus some tips on how to preserve your tunes if this nightmare scenario happens to you.

Most of us essentially do just that every time we sync our iPod using iTunes, but if you're a power user like Weaser and you have untold thousands of songs on your iPod from multiple sources, the standard iTunes sync won't cut it. Luckily, The Gadgets Page has compiled a thorough list of iPod backup utilities that promise to keep your music safe and sound. Even better, these apps can transfer songs from your iPod back to your PC if, say, the hard drive on your system suffers a meltdown

Just remember that these backup programs aren't sanctioned by Apple, and that using them to rip songs from your buddy's iPod to your PC or Mac is, of course, a no-no.

why can't we put songs from someone else's iPOD on our PC? its pretty much the same as borrowing a CD from them except its on a hard drive not a standard disk. I keep my iTUNES library backed up to DVD, so if I have a crash I don't have to recompile my whole music collection. and yes, I have let friends borrow the discs to put some songs on their computers, is that a crime?

As my friend  has found out, it is easy enough to defeat any of the rights management software codes by just burning a CD with the protected tunes, and then ripping them back into your music library . He wasn't trying to become a digital pirate, just get his tunes from one place to another, tunes that he had legitimately bought and paid for. I told him, operators at the Recording Industry of America are standing by to call his lawyer. But I don't want to get off track here and turn this into a rant against copy protection