Here you will discover different ways of listening to music on your favourite Apple device. To enjoy it on iPod and iPhone 4, the very first thing you need to do is to add the tracks in iPod/iPhone format onto iTunes library, and only then sync it to your gadget.

Purchase tracks from iTunes Store

Easy as to zip your lovely iPhone 4 cover. In order to find and purchase songs from the iTunes Store, all you need to do is just to click on the link saying "iTunes Store" – the one located under "Store," in the iTunes left column. After getting in, you will be greeted with the iTunes Store interface, which links you from the left side to Music, Music Videos, TV Shows, Movies, Podcasts, and Audiobooks. Select a track or album to purchase, then click on the "Buy" button and you're done. Perhaps, zipping your iPhone 4 case would take you even more effort than that.

Import CDs into iTunes

Another option is to import your own CDs into iTunes for your gadget. It sounds reasonable - if you have already spent money on these songs, why should you do that again just to enjoy them on iPhone 4? It's Apple that makes it easy for you to rip your CD to the library. Note that iTunes rips tracks to AAC format by default, which is not so widely‐supported as the omnipresent MP3, though AAC is one of a very high‐quality. Still, it's MP3 that is supported by every music player human knows, including Apple iPod and iPhone 4. So, in order to make sure your music gets greater portability and prevents you from finding yourself locked into one product (since you have inadvertently ripped all your songs in one format), ripping the CDs as MP3s is highly recommended. The scheme is simple: go to "Preferences" in "Edit," and click "Import Settings" in the General tab there. The pop-up window of "Import Settings" should appear where you need to choose MP3 Encoder from the dropdown menu called "Import Using." Also don't forget to select higher Quality in the "Setting" dropdown.

Moreover, if you are subscribed to more subscription music services, like Napster, Rhapsody, or Zune Marketplace, they will let you purchase or rent songs. The only problem is that the tracks coming from those stores have a Digital Rights Management (DRM) system encrypted, which is incompatible with iTunes and the Apple devices. This means that such tracks are protected from being played back in any music players not supporting their specific standard. It's something like non‐iPod music players are not able to play back most songs from the iTunes Music Store. However, any problem can be solved. In our case, a software tool named TuneClone Audio Converter can help you to remove DRM from the abovementioned music services and convert the tracks to MP3, WAV and unprotected WMA. So, the advice to those willing to transfer their Zune/Rhapsody/Napster songs to iTunes, is to try and download this application to get the music DRM removed and the song converted to MP3.

Although this method may seem more complicated as the other ones, especially because it can't be compared to zipping up your device into the iPhone 4 case, there're also online digital music stores like eMusic that sell DRM‐free tracks. This means that there're quite a few sites where you can find and download free and legal MP3 songs not containing DRM, so that they can be imported into your Apple device – this time, without any effort.

Import MP3s into iTunes

After you have downloaded MP3 tracks onto your PC, it's a very simple process leading to having them imported into iTunes. The first step is to create a new playlist by clicking "New Playlist" in the "File" menu. You can name it whatever you like. Then choose this playlist in iTunes and drag your songs in MP3 format from the hard drive into the right panel. It will make iTunes begin importing your songs and populating the playlist with tracks. After completing the process, you can play the tracks or sync them to your iPhone 4 like the rest of your library.

Import WMAs into iTunes

The process of importing unprotected WMA tracks repeats that of importing MP3 songs, but with one additional step. If iTunes works with WMA files, it automatically transcodes them and switches their format from WMA to the one set as a default audio encoder in your iTunes Preferences. Actually, it's not important to know how MP3s, WMAs, and AACs differ, as the only thing you need to know is that when WMAs get imported, the original files remain untouched while new files are created. Also, before importing DRM-protected WMA files, you need to remove the DRM. The abovementioned TuneClone Audio Converter is also handy in this case, as it can convert DRM-protected WMA files to MP3. All the tutorials on the process are located on its website.