Comments about O'Reilly Media iPod: The Missing Manual:

O'Reilly has recently released the eighth edition of iPod in its Missing Manual series and has provided a copy for review. I was interested to see it as I had not seen an iPod Missing Manual since the fifth edition, released in 2006, and the iPod line has moved on in that time.Missing Manual series books are promoted by O'Reilly as 'the book that should have been in the box'. This harks back to the good old days when software and technical items always came with comprehensive manuals instead of leaflets. I often wonder how consumers let the industry get away with it now!The book is in a quality square spine soft cover form with a glossy cover, clear text and lots of colour images. It has 6 pages of table of contents and 284 text pages, including a 16 page index. The authors are J.D. Biersdorfer and David Progue.Comparing the tables of contents of this latest, eighth, edition and the fifth edition I have shows some similarities but a lot of differences and new content. Of course the iPod Touch is new, and covered, but also the iPods today have new functionality, the iTunes Store and iTunes itself likewise.The book's layout includes 13 chapters.As always, I found the manual interesting, and I read it from cover to cover. It even had me grabbing our older iPod Nano and checking out the menus as I read.There is an argument that Apple is so good at developing the human interface with its products that it's obvious how everything works thus a manual is not required. I think that this is only partly true. In the very old days a manual was totally essential for a menu-less environment and all the strange key combinations and function key use that were required. Today things are much better but, even so, lots of things are not obvious. And there is rarely a live expert sitting beside you. That's where the manual comes in.Like everyone, I tend to use a software application or technical product in one out of many possible ways - usually a way I worked out (or happened upon) initially (using a manual or not) and have stuck with since. I find that going back to a manual after developing an initial familiarity with an application or product can be illuminating. Those moments when you realise 'aah - that's why that happens' or 'so - there is a better way'. I also found this manual useful in reading about the iPod Touch and deciding whether it might be a useful addition to my collection.I found the iPod Missing Manual to be of the usual high standard of the series. It was interestingly written and comprehensive, with a good table of contents and index. I could find only one item I could fault it on. I was interested to know how email works on the Touch and how it syncs with email on the Mac. That is, if I download and read an email item on the Touch (via Wi-Fi), will that email item sync back to my Mac and appear there as a read item. The manual indicated that emails on the Mac do not get copied to the Touch but seemed to be silent on my question. Actually, I still don't know the answer and will have to look it up on the Apple website. In the scheme of things a minor issue, I guess.Its worth mentioning that in conjunction with the book O'Reilly offers on-line resources in the form of the "Missing CD" (the CD that you would have had to pay for if it came with the book) at its[@] website. This also is where book updates will be available and where readers can leave their own comments.In conclusion, I think that this is a good, useful book that has something for all iPod and iTunes users.

Comments about O'Reilly Media iPod: The Missing Manual:

My iPod touch didn't come with a manual, but I remember how much I enjoyed the "iPod+iTunes: The Missing Manual, 3rd Edition", so I bought "iPod: The Missing Manual, 8th Edition" and enjoyed this one too! Every iPod owner should have one!