Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The illustration on the cover of iPod and iTunes Hacks is a set of spoons. The spoon is commonly known as an eating and cooking utensil, but has also known more colorful usage in music, combat, and even courtship. In an old Welsh tradition, a hopeful suitor would carve a spoon from a durable local wood such as sycamore, decorate it with carved symbols of his romantic intent, and then present it to the object of his affection; if she accepted the spoon, a courtship ensued. The oldest known existing "love spoon" dates to 1667. Jamie Peppard was the production editor and the proofreader for iPod and iTunes Hacks. Rachel Wheeler was the copyeditor. Marlowe Shaeffer and Claire Cloutier provided quality control, and Julie Hawks wrote the index.

Emma Colby designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is an original photograph. Clay Fernald produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's Helvetica Neue and ITC Garamond fonts.

David Futato designed the interior layout. This book was converted by Julie Hawks to FrameMaker 5.5.6 with a format conversion tool created by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, Neil Walls, and Mike Sierra that uses Perl and XML technologies. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Helvetica Neue Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Jessamyn Read using Macromedia FreeHand 9 and Adobe Photoshop 6. This colophon was written by Jamie Peppard.