Q: My mom just gave me her iPod and I was wondering if there was a way to restart the iPod and start over, creating my own username or profile?
– Donald
A: Contrary to popular misconception, an iPod is not really tied to any specific iTunes Store account or even iTunes library beyond the information that’s contained on it. You can continue using the iPod touch “as-is” and just configure it for your own content and apps without otherwise worrying about who was using it before you. When you connect the iPod touch to your own iTunes library and set it up for automatic sync, it will replace most of the information on the device with your own content anyway.
That said, if you want to start completely fresh, you can easily restore the iPod touch back to its “out-of-the-box” factory settings, effectively making it act like an entirely new iPod. The easiest way to do this is simply to go into the “Settings” app on the iPod touch and choosing the General section and then scroll down to the bottom and find the Reset item.
This will display a list of various items that can be reset on the device.
Tapping the Erase all Content and Settings option will, after a couple of confirmations, proceed to wipe the device clean, erasing everything on it and returning it to factory settings. You will then need to connect it to a computer running iTunes in order to activate it, in the same way as you would for a new iPod touch.
Note that if you’re connecting it to the same iTunes library that it was previously used with, you may be prompted to restore the previous backup of the device.
