The iPod is a marvel of technological engineering, and is amazingly easy to use, too. Lurking underneath that friendly interface, however, are some functions that go beyond playing music, showing photos and watching movies. The trick is knowing which Click Wheel button combinations will get you there.
Every iPod, save for the shuffle, includes three functions you can access by pressing special button combinations: disk mode, hard reset, and diagnostic mode. Each button combination is activated by pressing and holding the center Select button along with either the Menu, Play, or Reverse buttons. Hereis how to access each one:
| Disk Mode | Play-Select |
| Hard Reset | Menu-Select |
| Diagnostic | Reverse-Select |
Enabling disk mode makes your iPod show up on your Macis Desktop when you connect it via USB. Hard reset is useful if your iPod stops responding. Diagnostic mode allows you to check for any hardware-related problems on your music player.
 Disk (left), Reset (middle), and Diagnostic (right) iPod combinations. |
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If you have an older iPod, there are button combinations to invoke each of these functions, too. Just point your Web browser to the Command-Tab Web site for a color-coded chart.
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