Apple iPod: How to use the Music app on the iPod Touch

The built-in app that you use to play music on the iPhone or iPod touch is called Music (on iOS 5 or higher; it’s called iPod on iOS 4 or lower). While there are lots of apps that offer music, this is the only one that many people will need.

Playing Music
Browse through your music library until you find the song, album, or playlist you want to listen to and tap it to play. Once the song is playing, a whole new set of options appears as shown by the blue numbers in the screenshot above.

Music App Options
These options allow you to do the following:

Go Back to Music Library
The back arrow in the top left-hand corner takes you back to the last screen you were on.

See All Songs from Album
The button in the top right corner that shows three horizontal lines lets you view all songs from an album in your Music app. Tap that button to see all the other songs from the same album as the song currently playing.

Scrub Forward or Back
The progress bar shows how long the song has been playing and how much time it has left. It also lets you move quickly forward or backward in the song, a technique called scrubbing. To move within the song, just tap and hold on the red line (or circle, in earlier versions of the iOS) on the progress bar and drag it in whatever direction you want to move in the song.

Go Back/Forward
The backward/forward buttons at the bottom of the screen let you move to the previous or next song in the album or playlist you’re listening to.

Play/Pause
Pretty self-explanatory. Start or stop listening to the current song.

Raise or Lower Volume
The bar across the bottom of the screen controls the song’s volume. You can raise or lower volume either by dragging the slider or by using the volume buttons built onto the side of the iPhone or iPod touch.

Repeat Song
The button on the bottom left of the screen is labeled Repeat. When you tap on it, a menu pops up that lets you repeat a song, all of the songs in the playlist or album you’re listening to, or turn repeat off. Tap the option you want and, if you chose one of the repeat options, you’ll see the button change to reflect that.

Create
This button in the bottom center of the screen lets you use the song that’s currently playing to do a few useful things. When you tap the button, you’ll be able to create a Genius Playlist, a New Station from Artist, or New Station from Song. Genius Playlists are playlists of songs that sound good together using the song you’re listening to as a starting point. The other two options let you use the artist/song to create a new iTunes Radio station.

Shuffle
The button on the far right labeled Shuffle lets you listen to your songs in random order. Tap this to shuffle the songs on the album or playlist that you’re currently listening to.