Thursday nights can be slow at my library (by TTW contributor Justin Hoenke)

Thursday nights can be slow at my library.  The teens have all gone home for the day, and the only ones that remain are the quiet few who are tearing through their homework or have their eyes focused on their internet browser.  Tonight at my library, the scene was the same but before me was a pretty huge question:

My little brother locked me out of my iPod.  He’s five years old and he won’t tell me how to unlock it.  How can I start again?  Do I need to buy a new iPod?

The teen was pretty bummed that he couldn’t access his music.  I’ve seen him here in my library before…he’s always got his headphones on and he’s always got a smile on his face.  You can tell that this kid loves music.  Tonight, I didn’t see that kid.  I saw someone who was really bummed out.  He presented his iPod to me.

HT1212--disabled_connect-001-en

That’s where we were to start.  With a quick Google search, I showed him how to find help on Apple’s website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1212.  He tells me that he didn’t know that there were such helpful things on the internet.

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Our next step was restoring the iPod.  I told him that everything was going to be deleted, and he understood.  He said that all of his music was on his computer (more on that to come)

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After about ten minutes of waiting and watching the iPod slowly restore itself, the teen’s frown turned into a smile.  He was the same kid that I remember seeing every other day in the library.  When Welcome to Your New iPod flashed on the screen.  He threw his hands up in the air.  “YES!  FINALLY!  THANK YOU!”

Next up, we searched for his music.  He had never used iTunes before, so all of his music files were buried in a Real Player folder somewhere on his hard drive.  He helped me locate the folder and I showed him how to drag and drop into iTunes.  He smiled again when his music library showed up.  My final step was telling him about syncing his device.  I told him to use iTunes to manage his music and to always keep iTunes synced to his iPod.  His music library automatically refilled itself and when it was done, he disconnected his iPod from the computer, plugged in his headphones, gave me a fist bump, and walked away jamming out to his music.

Thursday nights can be slow at my library, but they can also be some of the best times I’ve ever spent in a library.

-Post by Justin Hoenke, Tame the Web Contributor