iPod 101: Bring in the Noise

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iPod 101: Bring in the Noise
Now that you know where everything is in iTunes and how to access its features, it's time to feed your iTunes library and manage
your music. If you're just getting started with iTunes, read this lesson from start to finish. Otherwise, jump to any section that
interests you.
The cheapest way to load up your iTunes library? Rip songs from your own CD collection!
Set iTunes to Import and Manage Music My Way
Add Music, Movies, and More from My Hard Drive
Add Songs from My CD Collection
Add Song Information, Lyrics, and Artwork to My Tunes
Create Playlists of My Music
Set iTunes to Import and Manage Music My Way
Before you start adding songs to iTunes, let's first make sure that you've got iTunes set to import and manage your music the way
you want.
Setting the Importing Format
If you plan to add music from your CD collection, you can tell iTunes what audio format to convert the CD files to when it imports
them. iTunes is set to use the MPEG-4 AAC Encoder by default, which compresses songs so that you can store a lot more of them
on your hard drive—and the sound quality rivals that of the audio CD itself. If you'd like to make changes, do this:
We modified our AAC encoder to use a higher bit rate and sample rate than the default setting in iTunes for Windows (the Mac
version looks similar).
1. Open iTunes preferences. Mac users: From the iTunes menu, choose Preferences. Windows users: On the Edit menu, click
Preferences.
2. Click the Advanced tab, then click the Importing tab beneath it.
3. From the Import Using pop-up menu (drop-down menu on Windows), choose your preferred audio format. Please note that
while choosing AIFF Encoder or WAV Encoder will produce the best sound quality, the resulting files will be quite large—a
typical 5-minute song will eat up about 45 MB (megabytes) of your precious hard disk space (meaning, an hour-long album
will weigh in at about 540 MB!).
4. If you'd like to change some of the encoder's settings, choose a different bit rate (if applicable) or choose Custom from the
Setting pop-up menu. (In general, a higher sample rate and bit rate give you better audio quality at the expense of a larger
file.) Please note that you may not be able to adjust the setting, depending on what file format you chose in step 3.
5. If you chose Custom, choose your preferred sample rate, bit rate, channels, and what have you from the pop-up menus in
the dialog (these will differ, depending on your chosen file format), then click OK.
6. If you'd like iTunes to play the songs you're importing during the process, choose the "Play songs while importing or
converting" checkbox.
7. If you'd like iTunes to add the track number before the file name when it creates the audio file, choose the "Create file
names with track number" checkbox.
8. Click OK when done.
Configuring iTunes Management
The first time you opened iTunes, you were greeted by the iTunes Setup Assistant, which offered a few options on how iTunes
would manage your music. Just to make sure that you've got things set the way you want, here's how to configure some of the
management activities in iTunes.
To make iTunes our personal music housekeeper, we used these settings in iTunes preferences on a Mac (the Windows version
looks similar).
1. Open iTunes preferences. Mac users: From the iTunes menu, choose Preferences. Windows users: On the Edit menu, click
Preferences.
2. Click the Advanced tab, then click the General tab beneath it.
3. In the resulting pane, the top text box shows you the path to where your iTunes Music folder is housed. The default location
for Mac users is at /Users/your_username/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music. The default location for Windows users is at
C:\Documents and Settings\your_username\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music. If you want iTunes to use a
different location, click Change, navigate to and choose a folder, and click Choose.
4. You can set iTunes to be your own personal music housekeeper, making sure that all imported songs reside in folders
categorized by album and artist, and that all file names are based on a song's name and track number. This makes it a
heck of a lot easier to identify files in your soon-to-be vast music library. To have iTunes manage your music files, choose
the "Keep iTunes Music folder organized" checkbox.
5. If you want to keep all your music in one location—the iTunes Music folder—choose the "Copy files to iTunes Music folder
when adding to library" checkbox. Having everything in one location can help you keep better track of your music than
having your files scattered about everywhere. This allows you to add music to the library from any place on your hard drive,
then safely delete the extra files outside of the iTunes Music folder (though you should keep a backup of your purchased
music).
6. Click OK when finished.
Add Music, Movies, and More from My Hard Drive
If you already have digital music files (MP3, AIFF, WAV, and what have you), audiobooks (Audible—.aa—format only), and video files
(any QuickTime-compatible movie file) on your hard drive, adding them to your iTunes library is easy. Simply locate the files that
you want to add to iTunes and drag them (one at a time or all together) onto the Library icon in the iTunes Source list.
You can add files on your computer hard drive to iTunes one at a time, or choose a bunch and drag them all to the Library icon.
If you set iTunes to copy files to the iTunes Music folder, iTunes will do so and then organize them all within its folder scheme,
according to each file's name and ID3 tag (if it has one), if you set iTunes to manage your music. As a music manager, iTunes
creates a folder for each artist in the iTunes Music folder and subfolders of each artist's albums that contain the individual song
files. If a file lacks an ID3 tag, iTunes creates an "Unknown Artist" folder and an "Unknown Album" subfolder to hold the John Doe
files until you give them an ID3 identity.
If a file has an ID3 tag, you should see a song's (or audiobook's or video's) name, time, artist, and album listing in the song list
pane. If a file lacks sufficient information in the tag, it'll affect the corresponding column (you may find some files with incomplete
tags at the bottom of your song list pane). For example, iTunes may display the file's name in the Name column, but the
information in other columns may be blank (we'll show you how to add ID3 tags in the upcoming section, "Add Song Information,
Lyrics, and Artwork to My Tunes").
Add Songs from My CD Collection
If you've got audio CDs, you can carry your entire CD collection with you on your iPod once you've ripped the files from the discs
with iTunes. Here's how to copy songs from a CD to iTunes.
Show Me How
iTunes provides feedback in the display and in the song list pane to keep you in the loop on its CD-ripping progress. Here, we're
copying eight (the highlighted songs) of the 16 tracks.
1. Insert an audio CD into your computer.
2. If your computer is connected to the Internet, iTunes will automatically display the album title and all track names (if the
album is listed in the Gracenote CD database).
3. To copy all songs from the CD, drag the CD icon in the Source list onto the Library icon. To copy individual songs, choose
the CD in the Source list, then drag the songs you want from the song list pane onto the Library icon in the Source list—to
choose multiple songs, Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Windows) songs before dragging them.
The iTunes display will provide feedback as it copies each song from the disc. iTunes will convert your song files to the file format
you set under the Importing tab in the Advanced pane of iTunes preferences (AAC is the default).
If you have a data CD or DVD full of MP3, AIFF, WAV, or other audio files, you can add them all to iTunes in the same way you would
add files from a folder—just double-click the disc icon to open it, then drag the files onto the Library icon in the Source list.
Add Song Information, Lyrics, and Artwork to My Tunes
All songs purchased from the iTunes Store include ID3 tags that supply song information, including the album title, song names,
music genre, and more. If iTunes found album information when you imported songs from a CD, the resulting files will also include
the proper ID3 tags.
If you ultimately want to provide better iPod navigation, be sure to fill out the Name, Artist, and Album fields for every song you plan
to transfer to your iPod at the very, very least (this doesn't apply to iPod shuffle).
However, some digital music files that you've obtained through other means may lack ID3 tags or if they have them, they may be
incomplete or wrong. If you've downloaded music from a variety of different sources, chances are you've got a few tags that need
a little fixing. While you don't need ID3 tags to play the music files, if you're going to be adding these files to any iPod with a display,
you do want them to show up properly on your player now, don't you?
If you'd like to modify a file's song information, add lyrics, or add artwork to a file (even if it's not the standard album cover), here's
how to edit ID3 tags. Do note that if you set iTunes to manage your music, all changes you make to a file's ID3 tag will affect how
the file appears in your iTunes Music folder hierarchy—in a positive way.
1. Choose Library in the Source list to view all songs in your iTunes library.
2. Carefully look through your songs. The best way of finding delinquent files is to scroll down to the bottom of your song list.
This is generally where you'll find songs that lack artist and album information.
3. When you find a song to edit, choose it, then choose Get Info from the File menu.
4. In the resulting dialog, click the Info tab to display the song information. This pane contains the song name, artist, album,
genre, year, track number, and other details.
5. To change any of the displayed information, either add or type over the existing text in the corresponding fields. You don't
have to fill out everything, but for your iPod's sake, be sure to include the Name, Artist, and Album information. To ensure
that an album's songs get played in proper order, fill out the Track Number information.
6. If you like singing along to your tunes, you can add lyrics to a song in the Lyrics pane (some iPods, such as iPod nano,
allow you to view lyrics by pressing the Center button during song playback until you see the lyrics onscreen). To add lyrics,
click the Lyrics tab, then type all the words in the text box.
Instead of la la la-ing your way through your favorite songs, you can type all the words in the Lyrics pane so you don't miss
a beat.
7. To add artwork to the tag, click the Artwork tab. Then click Add, navigate to and choose an image file, and click Choose.
Alternatively, you can also add artwork to a song that's playing in iTunes by dragging an image onto the Artwork pane in the
iTunes window.
8. Click OK when finished.
Create Playlists of My Music
iTunes allows you to create two kinds of playlists—a standard playlist that lets you add songs and arrange them to play in a specific
order, and a Smart Playlist that iTunes generates dynamically based on certain conditions you set.
With a standard playlist, you can manually choose as many or as few songs as you want to put in the list. If you want to burn a CD
of your music—whether you want to create an audio CD of an album or create a compilation—you will need to create a playlist of
the music you want and burn the playlist to the disc. With a Smart Playlist, iTunes automatically updates the playlist according to
what you add and delete from your iTunes library. You can copy both types of playlists to your iPod to enjoy your latest "mixes"
whenever you want. Here's how to create a standard and Smart Playlist.
Standard Playlist
Show Me How
Once you've added songs to a playlist, you can easily reorder them by simply dragging a song to another location in the list.
1. Click the New Playlist button—the plus sign (+) button in the bottom-left corner of the iTunes window—to create a new
empty playlist.
2. In the Source list, give your playlist a relevant name by typing something over the highlighted "untitled playlist" text (“50’s??,
"Sappy Love Songs," "Tunes About Food," "The Beatles' Greatest Hits Volume 271," or whatever moves you).
3. Choose Library in the Source list to view your entire music library.
4. To add songs to the playlist, choose a song and then drag it onto the playlist icon in the Source list. To choose multiple
songs, either hold down the Command key (Mac) or Control key (Windows) as you click.
5. When you're done adding songs, choose your playlist in the Source list to view all the songs you've added.
6. If you'd like to rearrange the play order, just choose any song in the list, drag it up or down the ranks, and drop it into
place.
Smart Playlist
Rather than browse through and pick tunes, you can create a Smart Playlist and have iTunes dynamically populate the list based on
conditions you set.
1. In iTunes, choose New Smart Playlist from the File menu.
2. In the resulting Smart Playlist dialog, use the pop-up menus (drop-down menus on Windows) and the text fields to set
conditions that limit what songs iTunes adds to the Smart Playlist. For example, if you want the playlist to only include rock
songs from the 70s, do this:
1. From the first (left-most) pop-up menu in the conditions section, choose Year.
2. From the second (middle) pop-up menu, choose is in the range.
3. In the text fields to the right of the second pop-up menu, type
1970
in the first field and
1979
in the second field.
4. Click the round plus sign (+) button to add another condition listing.
5. From the first pop-up menu in the second condition, choose Genre.
6. From the second pop-up menu in the second condition, choose is.
7. In the field to its right, type Rock.
3. You can have iTunes match all or any of the conditions you set by choosing the preferred option from the top pop-up
menu. Be sure that you choose the "Match" checkbox to enable the playlist.
4. Choose whatever other options you want in the dialog—choose the "Live updating" checkbox if you want iTunes to
automatically update this Smart Playlist whenever you add or remove songs from your iTunes library.
5. Click OK to create the Smart Playlist.
6. Type a name for your new Smart Playlist in the Source pane, then choose the playlist to see all the songs that iTunes finds
that match your conditions.
Do keep in mind that iTunes can only match songs that have relevant ID3 tags—in other words, you may have tons of rockin' 70s
songs, but if they're not tagged with the correct year and genre, they won't show up in your Smart Playlist.
Take me to the Crank Up the Tunes index
Take me to Lesson 3: Fill 'er Up!
Keywords: klearn kitunes kipod101 kipodwin
Article ID: 304707
Date Created: November 02, 2006
Date Modified: December 27, 2006
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iPod 101: Fill 'er Up
Now that you've got music in your iTunes library, you're ready to fill up your iPod. You can have iTunes automatically update your
iPod with songs, audiobooks, podcasts, and games in your library whenever you connect your iPod (we'll talk more about podcasts
in "Plug into Podcasts"). Or you can decide to take full control over which audio files and playlists you manually transfer to your
iPod. Here's how to add songs using both methods.
Now that you've got tunes in iTunes, it's time to share your collection with your iPod.
Have iTunes Automatically Fill Up Any iPod with a Display
Have iTunes Automatically Fill Up iPod shuffle
Manually Add Songs, Playlists, Podcasts, and Audiobooks to Your iPod
Have iTunes Automatically Fill Your iPod
If you haven't already set your iPod to automatically sync with your iTunes library in the iPod Setup Assistant, follow the steps below
to have iTunes fill your entire iPod with your music, podcasts, and audiobooks whenever you connect it. If you did set iTunes to
automatically update songs and playlists, just connect your iPod to your computer to start filling it up!
Fill Up Any iPod with a Display
Show Me How
You can set iTunes to automatically update songs, playlists, audiobooks, podcasts, and games on your iPod any time you connect
it.
1. Connect your iPod to your computer. iTunes should open by default (if you set iPod Settings to not open iTunes when you
connect your iPod, open iTunes manually).
2. Choose your iPod under DEVICES.
3. From the iPod Settings that appears, choose the Summary Tab.
4. If you want your iTunes library and your iPod to mirror the same music and video content, make sure “Manually manage
music and videos” is not chosen, then do the following:
To sync your music, choose the Music tab, choose “Sync music”, then choose the “All songs and playlists” radio
button to add everything from your iTunes collection to your iPod. Or, choose the “Selected playlists” radio button
and then choose the playlists you want to include from the list below. If you want to include music videos on your
iPod, choose “Include music videos”. If you want to include the album artwork, choose “Display album art work on
your iPod”.
To sync your movies, choose the Movies tab, choose “Sync movies”, then choose the “All Movies” radio button to
automatically sync all your movies to your iPod. Or, choose the “… unwatched movies” radio button and choose
“all”, 1, 3, 5, or “10 most recent” from the drop-down menu, to sync just those movies to your iPod. If you want
complete control, choose then “Selected movies” radio button and then choose the movies you want to sync from
the list below.
To sync your TV Shows1 , choose the TV Shows tab, then choose “Sync TV Shows” to and choose “all” or the 1, 3 5,
or “10 most recent” or “10 most recent unwatched” to automatically sync those TV shows to your iPod. For
complete control, choose the “Selected TV Shows” radio button and then choose the TV Shows you want to sync
from the list below.
5. If you have podcasts that you'd like to sync too, click the Podcasts tab in iPod Settings, then choose “All podcasts” to
automatically sync all your iTunes podcasts to your iPod. Or, choose “Sync … episodes of” and choose “all” or the 1, 3, 5,
or “10 most recent” or “1, 3, 5, or “10 most recent unwatched” to add just those podcasts to your iPod. To choose exactly
which podcasts to sync, choose the “Selected Podcasts” radio button and then choose each podcast you want to sync
from the list below.
6. If you want to sync your Photos too, check out Put Pics on my Pod.
7. If you want to sync your Contacts too, check out Get Productive.
8. And of course you’ll want your games, so check out Give me Games.
9. When finished, click Apply and iTunes will start filling up your iPod with your chosen audio files. Please be aware that this can
take a while, depending on how large your iTunes library is.
10. When you're ready to start playing with your iPod, disconnect it from your computer by clicking the small eject button to the
right of your iPod icon in the Source pane. When the icon disappears from iTunes and your iPod says that it's OK to be
disconnected, you can safely disconnect your iPod.
Fill Up iPod shuffle
Show Me How
With iPod shuffle, you can set iTunes to Autofill the player with random songs from the library or a particular playlist.
1. Connect iPod shuffle to your computer. iTunes should open by default (if you set iTunes preferences to not open iTunes
when you connect your iPod shuffle, open iTunes manually).
2. Choose your iPod shuffle in the Source pane.
3. From the iPod Settings that appears, choose the Contents tab.
4. Below the song list pane, you'll see several options that allow you to control what songs to automatically transfer to your
iPod shuffle. From the Autofill from pop-up menu (drop-down in Windows), choose Music if you want to copy random
songs from your entire library, or choose any playlist listed to copy tunes from just that playlist.
5. If you already have some songs on your iPod shuffle but want to replace them, choose the "Replace all items when
Autofilling" checkbox. Otherwise, deselect this checkbox to keep your current songs intact—iTunes will then add songs to
your existing collection.
6. If you choose the "Choose items randomly" checkbox, iTunes will choose songs at random from your chosen source. If you
deselect this checkbox, iTunes will fill your iPod shuffle with songs from your chosen source in the order in which they
appear until either your iPod shuffle is full or all songs are copied.
7. If you want iTunes to lean towards copying your higher rated songs, choose the "Choose higher rated items more often"
checkbox. If you're not a faithful song rater, don't choose this checkbox.
8. Click Autofill to make iTunes start filling your iPod shuffle with songs. Please be aware that this can take a while, depending
on how large your iTunes library or playlist is. If you want to add podcasts or audiobooks, follow the next two steps.
9. To add particular podcasts to iPod shuffle, choose Podcasts in the Source pane. Then either choose and drag a podcast title
to the iPod shuffle icon in the Source pane to copy all of the downloaded episodes, or click the disclosure triangle next to
any podcast title and drag any podcast listing to the iPod shuffle icon to add individual episodes.
10. To add particular audiobooks to iPod shuffle, choose Library in the Source pane, choose an audiobook in the song list pane,
and drag it to the iPod shuffle icon in the Source pane.
11. When you're ready to start playing with iPod shuffle, disconnect it from your computer by clicking the small eject button to
the right of the iPod shuffle icon in the Source pane. When the icon disappears from iTunes, you can safely unplug iPod
shuffle.
Shuffle your iPod shuffle order If you've got songs on an iPod shuffle and would like to hear songs play in a certain order, you can
reorder the list any time you've got the player plugged into your computer. Just choose iPod shuffle in the iTunes Source pane to
view your song list. Then choose a song, drag it up or down the list, drop it in your preferred place, and repeat with other songs.
Once you're ready to listen, be sure to move the Shuffle switch on your iPod shuffle to the "play in order" position.
Manually Add Songs, Playlists, Podcasts, and Audiobooks to Your iPod
If you want total control over everything that goes on your iPod, iPod nano, iPod mini, or iPod shuffle, you can add songs, playlists,
podcasts, and audiobooks by simply dragging the content you want onto your iPod icon in the iTunes Source pane.
Show Me How
Disable Auto Update First (iPods with a Display Only)
If you have an iPod with a display and want manual control of your music (this doesn't apply to iPod shuffle users), first make sure
that iTunes isn't set to automatically update songs whenever you connect your iPod. If you need to change this status, do this first:
1. Connect your iPod to your computer and open iTunes if it does not open automatically
2. Choose your iPod under DEVICES in the Source pane.
3. In the resulting iPod Settings, click the Summary tab.
4. Choose the "Manually manage songs and playlists" radio button. This will unselect all sync options in the Music, Movies, and
TV Shows tabs.
5. If you want to manage Podcasts, Photos, Contacts, and Games manually as well, click the Podcasts, Photos, Contacts, and
Games tabs and turn off each of their sync options.
6. Click Apply.
Adding Songs and More
Adding songs, playlists, audiobooks, and podcasts (shown here) to your iPod is a simple drag-and-drop affair.
To add songs, playlists, podcasts, audiobooks, and games to any iPod model, just follow these instructions:
1. Connect your iPod to your computer. If iTunes doesn't automatically open after you connect it, open iTunes.
2. To add songs or audiobooks from your library, choose Library in the Source pane, choose one or more items you want (to
choose multiple songs and audiobooks, Command-click items on a Mac or Control-click items in Windows), then drag them
onto your iPod icon in the Source pane.
3. To add a playlist (which will also copy the songs it contains if they're not already on your iPod), choose the playlist in the
Source pane and drag it onto your iPod icon in the Source pane.
4. To add podcasts, choose Podcasts in the Source pane. Then either choose and drag a podcast title to your iPod icon in the
Source pane to copy all of the downloaded episodes, or click the disclosure triangle next to any podcast title and drag any
podcast listing to add individual episodes.
5. When you're ready to start playing with your iPod, disconnect it from your computer by clicking the small eject button to the
right of your iPod icon in the Source pane. When the icon disappears from iTunes, you can safely disconnect your iPod.
1. Some features for the iTunes Store mentioned in these lessons are not available in all stores, including AOL login, TV shows, and
movies.
Take me to Lesson 4: Play That Funky Music
Keywords: klearn kitunes kipod101 kipod kipodwin
Article ID: 304708
Date Modified: March 30, 2007
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iPod 101: iTunes Initiation
So just how do you get music into your iPod? Simple—use iTunes. iTunes is an all-in-one digital music jukebox, audio encoder and
converter, CD ripper and creator, music manager, online music shop, Internet radio tuner, and more piece of software that comes
with your iPod. If you're new to iTunes, read on to get an overview of the interface and learn about its elements and menus.
Show Me the Interface
Show Me the Controls and Other Elements
Playback Controls (Play/Pause button, Rewind, and more)
Interface Elements (display, Source pane items, and more)
Action Items (Browse/Burn Disc button, Equalizer, and more)
Tell Me about the iTunes Menus for Mac
Tell Me about the iTunes Menus for Windows
The Interface
If you're an iTunes newbie (or want a refresher course on all of its features), this lesson will help you get acclimated with the iTunes
interface regardless of whether you're using a Mac or Windows PC.
For Starters, here's what iTunes looks like on a Mac:
And here's how it looks on a Windows PC:
They're nearly identical. With the exception of a few menu items, all iTunes interface controls function the same on Mac and
Windows. That means our iTunes instruction will be the same whether you use a Mac or PC—of course, when we come across
differences, we'll provide the nitty-gritty for each platform.
Now that you have a visual map of what's what and where, here's a quickie guide to what each of these elements does, by
category, and how to use them. We'll also go through all the stuff you'll find in the iTunes menus on a Mac and on a Windows PC.
The Controls and Elements
Playback Controls
Here's a closer look at the playback controls in Mini Player view (to go mini, Mac users, click the zoom button in the upper-left
window corner; Windows users, on the Advanced menu, click Switch to Mini Player).
Play/Pause—Click this button to play a chosen song, video, audiobook, or podcast, or pause a file that's currently playing.
Previous/Rewind—Click this button while an audio or video file is playing to go back to its beginning; click it twice to go back
to the previous item. Hold down this button to rewind through the currently playing file.
Next/Fast-forward—Click this button while an audio or video file is playing to skip to the next item. Hold down this button to
fast-forward through the currently playing file.
Volume—Move the slider to the right to increase volume, or left to decrease it. You can quickly mute iTunes by clicking the
speaker icon to the left of the slider and just as quickly blast your tunes by clicking the right-side speaker icon.
Interface Elements
Not only does the display let you toggle between progress bar and frequency spectrum views, it displays messages to let you know
what's going on too.
Display—The display possesses multiple personalities. It can show you the currently playing file's progress, display the
audio frequency spectrum of your currently playing file, or display the progress of the current action, such as when copying
songs to your iTunes library or iPod, updating iPod, converting files, or burning a disc.
When playing a file, the display shows file information (such as the song name, artist, and album) and a progress bar with
time information; the number on the left displays the elapsed time, while the number on the right displays the remaining
time. You can quickly scroll forward and backward through a file by dragging the playhead (the diamond) in the progress
bar.
Wanna skip to that amazing guitar solo at the 2-minute mark? Just drag the playhead (the diamond) until the left time reads
"2:00."
Click the small triangle on the display's left side to view the frequency spectrum of your currently playing file. Click the small
curved arrow on the display's right side to view your current selection in the library.
Source pane—This pane holds all the different sections and items you can access in iTunes. When you choose an item in
the Source pane, its content and relevant controls (if any) displays in the right pane (the faint blue and white striped pane
that takes up most of the window). Here are items you'll typically find in this list.
The Source pane houses all the various items you can access to find and play music and videos. Just click any item in the
list to view its content.
The LIBRARY contains everything—music, videos, audiobooks, podcasts, and games—you've added to iTunes. Just choose
any media type under Library in the Source pane to see your stuff listed in the song list pane. To play a file, choose it and
then click the Play/Pause button or double-click the selection.
Movies1 —Choose Movies to view all the movies that you’ve added to your iTunes library. When you purchase and
download movies from the iTunes Store, they appear in the Movie list. To watch a movie, just double-click a movie
file—the movie plays, by default, in the artwork and video viewer. To view the movie in full screen, click the Full
Screen button at the bottom of the iTunes
TV Shows— Choose TV Shows to view all the TV Shows that you’ve added to your iTunes library. Adding and viewing
TV Shows works just like viewing and adding Movies.
Podcasts—When you choose Podcasts, you'll see the names of all of your podcasts in the song list pane. Click the
disclosure triangle to the left of any podcast listing to see the individual episodes. You can also subscribe to and
unsubscribe from podcasts in this pane. (Podcasts will also appear in the library.)
Audiobooks—Choose Audiobooks to see the names of all the audiobooks you bought from the iTunes store in the
song list pane. Just double-click any audiobook and close your eyes to swashbuckle with your favorite hero.
iPod Games—Choose iPod Games to view all games you’ve bought from the iTunes store. The cover art for each of
your games will be displayed in a vertical list to the right of the Source List. Click on any game to view the game
instructions.
Radio—If you're tired of terrestrial radio, you can tune in to tons of Internet radio stations directly in iTunes. Choose
Radio in the Source pane to view all the genres. Click any genre's disclosure triangle to view all the corresponding
Internet radio stations. To tune in to the audio stream, choose a station and then click the Play/Pause button or
double-click your selection.
STORE in iTunes has the links to access the iTunes Store as well as show you your purchased iTunes Store content.
iTunes Store—If you're looking for music, videos, audiobooks, podcasts, or games the iTunes Store offers all that
and more without having to leave your house. You can even preview all content before you buy. Just choose iTunes
Store in the Source pane to go to the store. (We'll give you the grand tour of the store in our "I Need More Music"
section.)
Shopping Cart—If you’ve shopped till you dropped, but haven’t actually checked out, click the Shopping Cart to see
what you’ve been lugging around in your cart. The cart display tells you how much your total purchase is, and lets
you buy any item individually, or just splurge and grab ‘em all!
Purchased—If you’re unsure about what you’ve bought previously (you wouldn’t want to accidentally buy a tune
twice!), click Purchased to see a list of all your past buys listed in the song list.
DEVICES and SHARED will show you music or other iTunes content located elsewhere.
Connected iPod—When your iPod is connected to your computer, it'll show up flaunting its own model likeness in
icon form in the iTunes Source pane. If you see a tiny disclosure triangle to the left of the icon, that means the iPod
contains playlists that you can access—just click the triangle to reveal the playlists. To eject or unmount your iPod,
simply click the eject icon to the right of the iPod icon in the Source pane.
CD—If you have an audio CD in your computer, it'll show up in the Source pane. If your computer is connected to
the Internet, iTunes can access an online database to display your CD's details, such as its title, artist, and track
listings, if the album is listed in the database. To eject a CD from your computer, simply click the eject icon to the
right of the CD icon in the Source pane.
Shared Music—If your computer is connected to a network, you can share your music with other Mac and PC users
(in listen-only mode), and listen to stuff in their iTunes library too (in listen-only mode—you can't download or copy
other people's tunes). Click the Shared Music disclosure triangle to see a list of everyone who's sharing, then choose
a user to view what he or she is sharing.
Tip: If you've got a few "guilty pleasures" in your library, be prepared to take a ribbing from your cohorts if you dare
share. To avoid possible embarrassment, open iTunes preferences (Mac users, choose Preferences from the
iTunes menu; Windows users, on the Edit menu, click Preferences) and click Sharing. Choose the "Share my library
on my local network" checkbox, then choose "Share selected playlists". You can then choose which playlists to
share (or create a playlist of songs specifically for sharing).
You can organize all your tunes and videos into PLAYLISTS by mood, date, or whatever strikes your fancy.
Party Shuffle—If you're a DJ (or are playing one at a party), this feature allows you to create a dynamic playlist
made up of random songs, and edit the content on the fly. You can shuffle songs from your library or any playlist.
Smart Playlist—A Smart Playlist is a playlist that will automatically update its content, based on a list of criteria that
you define, as you add and remove items from your library (iTunes includes a few Smart Playlists when you first
install it, including "Top 25 Most Played" and "My Top Rated"). To create your own Smart Playlist, choose New Smart
Playlist from the File menu. For example, we created a Smart Playlist of our favorite 60s Motown tunes that
automatically syncs its list with songs in our library that were recorded between 1960 to 1969, has R&B listed as the
genre, and is rated (by us) as being a 4- or 5-star song. When we add or remove songs from our library that
match this criteria, our Smart Playlist dynamically updates all by itself.
To create a Smart Playlist, choose your conditions from the menus and set the corresponding criteria. To add more
conditions, click the plus sign (+) button.
Playlist—A standard playlist lets you choose songs from your library and dictate the order in which they play. To
create a playlist, click the New Playlist button, give your playlist a name in the Source pane, then drag songs from
the song list pane onto the playlist icon in the Source pane to add them. For example, you can create a playlist of
all your favorite guitar solo songs, tunes that remind you of a certain someone or time period, songs to sing along
with in the car, sappy ballads, and whatnot. If you want to burn an audio CD, you'll need to create a standard
playlist that contains all the songs in an album (or whatever songs you want) and burn the CD from it.
Song list—This pane takes up the bulk of the iTunes interface (the pane with the alternating blue and white stripes).
Whenever you choose an item in the Source pane, its contents get displayed in this pane. If you chose media under
LIBRARY, you get a list of all files in that library. If you chose a playlist, you'll see songs in that playlist. If you chose your
iPod, click the disclosure next to it, and then choose any iPod library, you'll see a list of that library content from your iPod;
if you chose a particular playlist on your iPod, you'll see only the songs on that playlist.
Column headers—The song list pane is divided into distinct columns, including Name, Time, Artist, Album, and Genre, that
allow you to sort your audio and video files the way you want—just click a header to sort the list by your chosen column
(the active header is blue). If you want to alphabetize your library by file name, click the Name header. To sort files by
artist, click the Artist header. You can also reorder the columns by dragging any header to another location.
Search field—The Search field can help you quickly find stuff in your iTunes library, on your iPod or a CD, or even in the
iTunes Store. Just start typing a keyword and iTunes immediately displays results as you type (except for when you're in
the iTunes Store—you'll need to press Return or Enter to view the search results).
Artwork/Video pane—If any of your songs has album artwork attached in its ID3 tag, you can view it in this pane. If you
want to add or modify a file's artwork, just drag an image file (such as a JPEG, PNG, GIF, or TIFF file) onto the Artwork
pane. You can also use this pane to watch videos in iTunes—just add any QuickTime-compatible movie file to your iTunes
library, then double-click it to view.
Action Items
New Playlist—Click this button to create a new standard playlist.
Shuffle—Click this button to turn the shuffle feature on or off. When shuffle is on (the button turns blue), iTunes plays
random songs from your chosen source (for example, the iTunes library, your iPod, or an audio CD).
Repeat—This button changes states as you click it, allowing iTunes to keep repeating a chosen playlist (the button displays
blue circling arrows) or repeatedly play a chosen song (the button displays blue circling arrows with the number 1).
Show/Hide artwork—Click this button to either display or hide the album artwork and video viewer pane.
Show/Hide Equalizer—Click this button to show or hide the Equalizer, which lets you customize a song's sound frequencies
to your liking. The Equalizer comes stock with a bunch of presets that are tailored to optimize certain genres of music,
including Rock, R&B, Electronic, Pop, and Lounge—just choose a preset from the pop-up menu. You can also fine-tune
things by dragging any of the frequency sliders up or down until things sound the way you want (drag up to increase the
frequency and drag down to decrease it—the lower frequencies (affects bass and kick drum sounds) are on the left side of
the Equalizer, while the higher frequency spectrum (affects cymbals and screeching divas) is on the right side).
You can make your music sound even better by choosing a preset in the Equalizer and then fine-tuning the frequencies to
your liking.
Turn On/Off Visualizer—If you really want to chill while you enjoy your tunes, click this button to turn on (or off) the
Visualizer. When a song plays, your eyeballs will be treated to a cornucopia of swirling color and ever-changing animation.
Burn Disc—This button, which appears in the iTunes window's lower-right corner, allows you to burn a CD or DVD from your
chosen playlist (if your computer is equipped with a CD or CD/DVD burner).
To burn a CD of your music, create a standard playlist, drag the songs you want to burn to the playlist, choose the playlist
in the Source pane, then click Burn Disc when ready.
Browse— When you choose Library, iTunes Store, or iPod in the Source pane, the Browse button lets you view your music
by genre, artist, and album in a separate browser pane.
Eject Disc—If you have a disc in your computer, click this button to eject it. Alternatively, you can also click the small
eject button to the right of a disc icon in the Source pane.
Find in iTunes Store—These round icons with an arrow appear next to all your song names, artists, and albums in the song
list pane, and provide a shortcut to that item in the iTunes Store. If you want to see a song that's in your library in the
iTunes Store, click the round button to the right of a song name. To view an artist's catalog in the iTunes Store, click the
button to the right of an artist's name. To view an album in the iTunes Store, click the button next to an album title. (You
can disable these buttons in the Store pane of iTunes Preferences if you want.)
iTunes Menus (Mac)
You can order up many iTunes features right from its menus.
Here are the menus you'll see displayed on the iTunes menu bar (left to right), and the commands you'll find in each. You can
access these commands through the menus, or memorize the keyboard shortcut that's listed to the right of each command if you
prefer quicker keyboard access.
iTunes menu
About iTunes—Displays information about iTunes, including the version number and copyright and licensing information.
iTunes Hot Tips—Takes you to our iTunes Hot Tips webpage (http://www.apple.com/itunes/hottips/).
Preferences—Opens the preferences window, which allows you to set iTunes and its features to your liking (we cover this in
"Set Your Preferences").
Shop for iTunes Products—Takes you to our iPod Accessories webpage (http://www.apple.com/ipod/accessories.html).
Provide iTunes Feedback—Takes you to our Request Music webpage (http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunes.html) if you'd
like to submit requests for albums to appear in the iTunes Store. (This is not a customer support page.)
Check for Updates—Opens the iTunes Update Window, which informs you whether you have the current version or need to
update.
Services—Allows you to integrate the currently chosen file with applications on your Mac. For example, from the iTunes
menu, choose Services, then Mail, then Send File to email someone a song. Or choose iTunes > Services > Search With
Google to start a Google search from the chosen file.
Hide iTunes—Hides the iTunes window from the desktop (this does not minimize the window to the Dock).
Hide Others—Hides all open applications except for iTunes from the desktop.
Show All—Shows all selections.
Quit iTunes—Quits iTunes.
File menu
New Playlist—Creates a new standard playlist.
New Playlist from Selection—Creates a new standard playlist from your currently chosen song or songs.
New Smart Playlist—Creates a new Smart Playlist.
New Folder—Creates a new folder in the Source pane.
Add to Library—Opens a Finder-like window that allows you to navigate to and choose a file or files to add to your iTunes
library.
Close Window—Closes the iTunes window.
Import—Opens a Finder-like window that allows you to navigate to and choose a file or CD to import into iTunes.
Export—Creates a text file of all the songs listed in your library, iPod, or chosen playlist.
Export Library—Exports your iTunes library (.xml) file.
Backup to Disc—Starts iTunes backup, you can elect to backup your entire iTunes collections, your iTunes store purchases,
or do an incremental addition to your last backup.
Get Info—Displays information about the chosen song, including its name, artist, artwork image, file format, volume,
sample rate, and more. This is where you can edit a file's ID3 tag information (we'll show you how to do this in "Add Song
Information, Lyrics, and Artwork to My Tunes").
My Rating—Allows you to rate the currently chosen song. From the File menu, choose My Rating, then choose a star
rating from the submenu.
Edit Smart Playlist—Allows you to edit the conditions in a chosen Smart Playlist.
Show in Finder—Displays the chosen song in a Finder window.
Show Current Song—Displays the current song, movie, TV Show, etc. in your library.
Burn Playlist to Disc—Allows you to burn a chosen playlist to disc.
Create an iMix—Lets you share your own crafted playlist as an "iMix" with everyone on the iTunes Store.
Sync iPod—Updates a connected iPod with songs you add to your iTunes library post connection.
Transfer Purchases from iPod—If there are iTunes Store purchases on your iPod that are not in your iTunes library, this
option copies them to your iTunes library.
Page Setup—Opens a dialog to modify print settings.
Print—Allows you to print a CD jewel case insert, song listing, or album listing of your current selection.
Edit
Undo—Cancels out your last action.
Cut—Deletes information from a chosen field (this command does not delete files).
Copy—Copies the current selection to the clipboard (this does not copy files—only information).
Paste—Pastes information from the clipboard to the current selection.
Delete—Deletes the current item from the list.
Select All—Chooses all items in the list.
Select None—Deselects all items.
Special Characters—Displays the Special Characters dialog box allowing you to find, copy, and paste special characters into
song or movie titles.
Controls
Play/Pause—Plays or pauses the current selection.
Next—Goes to the next item in the list.
Previous—Goes to the previous item in the list.
Next Chapter—Goes to the next chapter in an audiobook or podcast file.
Previous Chapter—Goes to the previous chapter in an audiobook or podcast file.
Shuffle—Turns the shuffle feature on, which plays songs randomly from the iTunes library or a chosen playlist, iPod, or CD.
Repeat Off—Toggles the repeat feature on or off.
Repeat All—Repeats play of all songs in the chosen playlist, library, iPod, or CD.
Repeat One—Repeatedly plays a chosen song over and over.
Volume Up—Increases the volume incrementally.
Volume Down—Decreases the volume incrementally.
Mute—Mutes (turns off) the volume.
Eject Disc—Ejects an inserted disc.
View
Show/Hide Browser— Displays (or hides) the browser to view your songs by genre, artist, and album.
Show/Hide Artwork—Displays or hides the album artwork and video viewer pane.
Show/Hide MiniStore—Displays (or hides) the MiniStore at the bottom of the Song List.
Show/Hide Equalizer—Displays (or hides) the Equalizer.
Turn on/off Visualizer— Turns the visualizer on or off.
Visualizer—If you have visualizers besides the standard Apple visualizer, you can choose them here, and set their display
options.
Half Size—Changes the size of the current video to half size.
Actual Size— Changes the size of the current video to actual size.
Double Size— Changes the size of the current video to double size.
Fit to Screen— Fits the current video to full screen in a window.
Full Screen— Displays the current video to full screen and blacks out unused areas.
Show Duplicates— Displays all duplicate song names in your library. Choose Show All Songs from the Edit menu to view all
your songs again.
View Options— Opens a dialog that lets you choose which columns to display (Album, Artist, Time, My Rating, and so on) in
the iTunes window.
Store
Search…—Opens the iTunes Store advanced search page.
Home—Opens the iTunes Store home page.
Previous Page—Takes you back to the previous iTunes Store page.
Next Page—Moves you forward to the next iTunes Store page, if you’ve used Previous Page before.
Check for Purchases—Checks your iTunes Store account for songs, videos, and audiobooks you've purchased but haven't
downloaded.
Authorize Computer—Opens a dialog allowing you to authorize iTunes to play purchases from up to 5 different iTunes
accounts.
Deauthorize Computer—Sets your computer so that it's no longer authorized to play protected files from the iTunes Store
(this will free up one authorization from your account—you can authorize up to five computers at a time to play music
purchased from the iTunes Store).
Sign In…—Opens the iTunes Store login window.
Sign Out—Signs you out of a currently open iTunes Store account.
Create Account…—Opens a window allowing you to create a new iTunes store account.
View My Account (yourAccountName)—Opens a login dialog for your iTunes account, and on successful login, takes you to
a page where you can edit any of your iTunes Store account information.
Advanced
Open Stream—Allows you to play an audio stream by entering its URL in the resulting Open Stream dialog.
Subscribe to Podcast—Allows you to subscribe to a podcast by entering its URL in the resulting Subscribe to Podcast dialog.
Convert Selection to AAC—Converts your chosen file(s) to the file format you specified under the Importing tab in the
Advanced pane of iTunes preferences (the current format—AAC, AIFF, Apple Lossless, MP3, or WAV—will appear in the menu
when you choose a file).
Convert ID3 Tags—Allows you to convert the version of ID3 tag that iTunes uses for that song and translate text
characters (useful for editing song information in other languages).
Consolidate Library—Copies all the music listed in your library to the iTunes Music folder.
Get Album Artwork—If you have an authorized iTunes Store account, automatically searches your iTunes collections for
missing artwork—for example, missing music CD cover art—and adds it to our collections.
Get CD Track Names—Makes iTunes look for song information about a chosen file using an online music database.
Submit CD Track Names—Allows you to submit song information of a chosen file to the online database if iTunes doesn't
find any information for it.
Join CD Tracks—Converts all chosen contiguous tracks into one track file. This is especially useful to eliminate pauses
between live concert tracks and classical music that contains interludes.
Deauthorize Audible Account…—Opens a dialog allowing you to authorize your computer to play files downloaded from and
Audible.com web site.
Window
Minimize—Minimizes the iTunes window to the Dock.
Zoom—Toggles the iTunes window between the Mini Player and normal view.
iTunes—Sets the iTunes window as the active window.
Bring All to Front—Brings all iTunes windows to the front (helpful if you've got a bunch of other application windows open).
Help
iTunes Help—Opens the built-in iTunes Help guide.
iTunes Service and Support—Opens the iTunes product support page on the Apple Support site
(http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/).
Keyboard Shortcuts—Opens the "Keyboard Shortcuts" section of the iTunes and iTunes Help guide to show you all the
keyboard shortcuts you can perform in iTunes.
iPod Help—Opens the built-in iPod Help guide.
iPod Service and Support—Opens the iPod product support page on the Apple Support site
(http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/family/).
iTunes Menus (Windows)
You can order up many iTunes features right from its menus.
Here are the menus you'll see displayed along the top of the iTunes window (from left to right), and the commands you'll find in
each. You can access these commands through the menus, or memorize the keyboard shortcut that's listed to the right of each
command if you prefer quicker keyboard access.
File menu
New Playlist—Creates a new standard playlist.
New Playlist from Selection—Creates a new standard playlist from your currently chosen song or songs.
New Smart Playlist—Creates a new Smart Playlist.
New Folder—Creates a new folder in the Source pane.
Add to File to Library—Opens a Browse window that allows you to navigate to and choose a file or files to add to your
iTunes library.
Add to Folder to Library—Opens a Browse window that allows you to navigate files and folders and add a new folder to your
iTunes library.
Close Window—Closes the iTunes window.
Import—Opens a Finder-like window that allows you to navigate to and choose a file or CD to import into iTunes.
Export—Creates a text file of all the songs listed in your library, iPod, or chosen playlist.
Export Library—Exports your iTunes library (.xml) file.
Backup to Disc—Starts iTunes backup, you can elect to backup your entire iTunes collections, your iTunes store purchases,
or do an incremental addition to your last backup.
Get Info—Displays information about the chosen song, including its name, artist, artwork image, file format, volume,
sample rate, and more. This is where you can edit a file's ID3 tag information (we'll show you how to do this in "Add Song
Information, Lyrics, and Artwork to My Tunes").
My Rating—Allows you to rate the currently chosen song. From the File menu, choose My Rating, then choose a star
rating from the submenu.
Edit Smart Playlist—Allows you to edit the conditions in a chosen Smart Playlist.
Show in Windows Explorer—Displays the chosen song in an Explorer window.
Show Current Song—Displays the current song, movie, TV show, etc. in your library.
Burn Playlist to Disc—Allows you to burn a chosen playlist to disc.
Create an iMix—Lets you share your own crafted playlist as an "iMix" with everyone on the iTunes Store.
Sync iPod—Updates a connected iPod with songs you add to your iTunes library post connection.
Transfer Purchases from iPod—If there are iTunes Store purchases on your iPod that are not in your iTunes library, this
option copies them to your iTunes library.
Page Setup—Opens a dialog to modify print settings.
Print—Allows you to print a CD jewel case insert, song listing, or album listing of your current selection.
Exit—Exits iTunes.
Edit
Undo—Cancels out your last action.
Cut—Deletes information from a chosen field (this command does not delete files).
Copy—Copies the current selection to the clipboard (this does not copy files—only information).
Paste—Pastes information from the clipboard to the current selection.
Delete—Deletes the current item from the list.
Select All—Chooses all items in the list.
Select None—Deselects all items.
Preferences—Opens the preferences window, which allows you to set iTunes and its features to your liking (we'll cover all
this in "Set Your Preferences").
Controls
Play/Pause—Plays or pauses the current selection.
Next—Goes to the next item in the list.
Previous—Goes to the previous item in the list.
Next Chapter—Goes to the next chapter in an audiobook or podcast file.
Previous Chapter—Goes to the previous chapter in an audiobook or podcast file.
Shuffle—Turns the shuffle feature on, which plays songs randomly from a chosen playlist, the library, iPod, or CD.
Repeat Off—Toggles the repeat feature on or off.
Repeat All—Repeats play of all songs in the iTunes library or a chosen playlist, iPod, or CD.
Repeat One—Repeatedly plays a chosen song over and over.
Volume Up—Increases the volume incrementally.
Volume Down—Decreases the volume incrementally.
Mute—Mutes (turns off) the volume.
Eject Disc—Ejects an inserted disc.
View
Show/Hide Browser— Displays (or hides) the browser to view your songs by genre, artist, and album.
Show/Hide Artwork—Displays or hides the album artwork and video viewer pane.
Show/Hide MiniStore—Displays (or hides) the MiniStore at the bottom of the Song List.
Show/Hide Equalizer—Displays (or hides) the Equalizer.
Show/Hide Visualizer— Turns the visualizer on or off.
Visualizer—If you have visualizers besides the standard Apple visualizer, you can choose them here, and set their display
options.
Half Size—Changes the size of the current video to half size.
Actual Size— Changes the size of the current video to actual size.
Double Size— Changes the size of the current video to double size.
Fit to Screen— Fits the current video to full screen in a window.
Full Screen— Displays the current video to full screen and blacks out unused areas.
Show Duplicates— Displays all duplicate song names in your library. Choose Show All Songs from the Edit menu to view all
your songs again.
View Options— Opens a dialog that lets you choose which columns to display (Album, Artist, Time, My Rating, and so on) in
the iTunes window.
Store
Search…—Opens the iTunes Store advanced search page.
Home—Opens the iTunes Store home page.
Previous Page—Takes you back to the previous iTunes Store page.
Next Page—Moves you forward to the next iTunes Store page, if you’ve used Previous Page before.
Check for Purchases—Checks your iTunes Store account for songs, videos, and audiobooks you've purchased but haven't
downloaded.
Authorize Computer—Opens a dialog allowing you to authorize iTunes to play purchases from up to 5 different iTunes
accounts.
Deauthorize Computer—Sets your computer so that it's no longer authorized to play protected files from the iTunes Store
(this will free up one authorization from your account—you can authorize up to five computers at a time to play music
purchased from the iTunes Store).
Sign In…—Opens the iTunes Store login window.
Sign Out—Signs you out of a currently open iTunes Store account.
Create Account…—Opens a window allowing you to create a new iTunes store account.
View My Account (yourAccountName)—Opens a login dialog for your iTunes account, and on successful login, takes you to
a page where you can edit any of your iTunes Store account information.
Advanced
Switch to Mini Player—Shrinks the iTunes window down to Mini Player mode. Click the window's Maximize button to bring
the iTunes window back to its normal state.
Open Stream—Allows you to play an audio stream by entering its URL in the resulting Open Stream dialog.
Subscribe to Podcast—Allows you to subscribe to a podcast by entering its URL in the resulting Subscribe to Podcast dialog.
Convert Selection to AAC—Converts your chosen file(s) to the file format you specified under the Importing tab in the
Advanced pane of iTunes preferences (the current format—AAC, AIFF, Apple Lossless, MP3, or WAV—will appear in the menu
when you choose a file).
Convert ID3 Tags—Allows you to convert the version of ID3 tag that iTunes uses for that song and translate text
characters (useful for editing song information in other languages).
Consolidate Library—Copies all the music listed in your library to the iTunes Music folder.
Get Album Artwork—If you have an authorized iTunes Store account, automatically searches your iTunes collections for
missing artwork—for example, missing music CD cover art—and adds it to our collections.
Get CD Track Names—Makes iTunes look for song information about a chosen file using an online music database.
Submit CD Track Names—Allows you to submit song information of a chosen file to the online database if iTunes doesn't
find any information for it.
Join CD Tracks—Converts all chosen contiguous tracks into one track file. This is especially useful to eliminate pauses
between live concert tracks and classical music that contains interludes.
Deauthorize Audible Account…—Opens a dialog allowing you to authorize your computer to play files downloaded from and
Audible.com web site.
Help
iTunes Help—Opens the built-in iTunes Help guide.
iTunes Service and Support—Opens the iTunes product support page on the Apple Support site
(http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/).
Keyboard Shortcuts—Opens the "Keyboard Shortcuts" section of the iTunes and iTunes Store Help guide to show you all the
keyboard shortcuts you can perform in iTunes.
iPod Help—Opens the built-in iPod Help guide.
iPod Service and Support—Opens the iPod product support page on the Apple Support site
(http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/family/).
iTunes Hot Tips—Takes you to our iTunes Hot Tips webpage (http://www.apple.com/itunes/hottips/).
Shop for iTunes Products—Takes you to our iPod Accessories webpage (http://www.apple.com/ipod/accessories.html).
Provide iTunes Feedback—Takes you to our Request Music webpage (http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunes.html) if you'd
like to submit requests for albums to appear in the iTunes Store. (This is not a customer support page.)
Check for iTunes Updates—Checks our servers for a later iTunes update than what you're using.
Run Diagnostics…—Allows you to check an audio CD in your drive.
About iTunes—Displays information about iTunes, including the version number and copyright and licensing information.
movies.
Take me to Lesson 2: Bring in the Noise!
Article ID: 304706
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iPod 101: Play That Funky Music
In this lesson, we show you how to use the controls on your iPod to play and navigate through your audio files. And if you have an
iPod with a display, learn how to create a playlist directly on your iPod.
Once you press the Play button, an iPod with a display provides the details of your aural enjoyment on its screen.
Playing Songs, Audiobooks, and Podcasts on an iPod with a Display
Playing Songs, Audiobooks, and Podcasts on iPod shuffle
Creating a Playlist on an iPod with a Display
Playing Songs, Audiobooks, and Podcasts on an iPod with a Display
Playing songs, audiobooks, podcasts, and games on any iPod with a display is a no brainer—simply choose a file from a menu and
press the Play/Pause button to start play; press the button again to pause. You can use the Next/Fast-forward and
Previous/Rewind buttons to navigate through songs, audiobook and podcast chapters, or playlists. (Forgot how to use these
buttons? Scope out your iPod model in the lesson, "iPod Anatomy: The Lay of the Land.")
When a song, audiobook, or podcast is playing, your iPod will display the song details onscreen, such as the song name and artist
(or audiobook name and author). You'll also see a progress bar that displays how long the file has been playing on the left and how
much time is left on the right. If you have an iPod with a color display and have artwork attached to a file (see "Add Song
Information, Lyrics, and Artwork to My Tunes"), you'll also see the artwork onscreen.
If you want to turn the volume up or down, scroll the Click Wheel while an audio file is playing; the progress bar magically turns into
a volume meter, allowing you to eyeball the volume's loudness or softness. If you press the Center button when the progress bar is
displayed, a diamond appears in the bar, allowing you to scroll the Click Wheel left or right to scrub (audibly rewind or fast-forward)
through the audio file. Press the Center button again or wait a few seconds for the regular progress bar to display again.
Show Me How
Locating Files to Play
You can find songs to play on your iPod in a variety of different ways—by artist, album, song name, genre, and more. We
introduced you to all the menus on iPods with a display in the "What's on the Menu?" lesson. Now we'll take this a step further by
showing you all the different ways you can navigate the menus to play songs, audiobooks, and podcasts.
First, go to the Music menu (highlight Music in the main menu and press the Center button). As we said before, the submenus
within the Music menu allow you to find and play songs, audiobooks, podcasts, and games on your iPod. Here's how to play audio
files when you follow the navigational path for each of the following submenus (from top to bottom) in the Music menu.
Here are some of the submenus you'll find in the Music menu—see where these will lead you in the navigation guides below.
Playlists (Music > Playlists > your playlists > songs in the playlist)
This menu gives you quick access to every playlist you have on your iPod, whether you created the playlist in iTunes (see "Create
Playlists of My Music") or on iPod itself (we show you how in "Creating a Playlist on an iPod with a Display," below).
To start playing songs in a playlist, use the Click Wheel to scroll to the desired playlist and press the Center button to choose it. For
example, if you want to choose the On-The-Go playlist (the one that you can create and edit on your iPod), highlight On-The-Go
and then choose it (in iPod menu speak, you'd choose Music > Playlists > On-The-Go).
The screen displays a list of all songs in your playlist in the order you set. The first song in the list is highlighted by default; press
the Play/Pause button to start playing the entire playlist, or scroll to a preferred song and choose it if you'd rather start play from a
particular point.
Artists (Music > Artists > artist's albums > songs on album)
If you want to search for songs by artist, choose this menu. Once you do, the Artists menu displays a list of every music artist
you have on your iPod. When you highlight and choose one, you'll see another menu that lists all albums you have on your iPod by
that artist. When you choose an album, you'll go to another menu that lists the songs you have from that album. From that point,
you can press the Play/Pause button to start playing the album, or scroll to a particular song and start play from that point.
Hey, some of my artists are missing!
As you browse for songs by artist, album, composer, or other criteria, you may notice that some of the artists, album titles,
composers, and whatnot that you have on your iPod are missing from the corresponding menu listings, or that song names don't
display correctly. This can happen if any song file is missing some information from its ID3 tag, song data included with an audio file
that details the artist, song title, album, genre, and more.
You can find out how to add and edit this information using iTunes in "Add Song Information, Lyrics, and Artwork to My Tunes."
Albums (Music > Albums > songs on album)
If you want to search for songs by album, choose Albums. The Albums menu displays a list of every album stored on your iPod,
even if you have only a couple songs from an album. To choose an album, scroll to its name using the Click Wheel, then press the
Center button. You'll see another menu that lists the songs you have on that album. You can then press the Play/Pause button to
start playing the album, or scroll to a particular song and start play from that point.
Songs (Music > Songs > all song titles)
If you want to see a list of all the songs you have on your iPod, choose Songs. All songs in the Songs menu appear in alphabetical
order. Use the Click Wheel to highlight the song you want and then press the Play/Pause button to hear it.
Podcasts (Music > Podcasts > podcast episodes)
If you have podcasts (radio-style shows that you can download from the Internet) on your iPod, they should show up in the
Podcasts menu. Just choose the Podcasts menu to view a list of all your podcasts. If you don't see some of your podcasts listed
here, you can find them in other relevant menus (for example, choose Music > Genres > Podcast to view all files tagged with the
"Podcast" genre, or choose Music > Albums to find podcasts by title).
To play a podcast episode, scroll to a podcast title, press the Center button, scroll to an episode in that podcast subscription, and
press the Play/Pause button. Just like when it plays songs, your iPod displays the podcast details and progress on the screen (if
you have an iPod with a color display, you may see artwork as well). If a podcast contains chapter markers, you can use the
Next/Fast-forward and Previous/Rewind buttons to skip around.
When you press the Play/Pause button to play a podcast, the podcasts's details and progress are displayed in the Now Playing
screen (iPod with color display models may show artwork too).
Genres (Music > Genres > corresponding artists > artist's albums > songs on album)
If you're in the mood for a particular style of music, choose the Genres menu to see a list of various musical styles (Rock, Pop,
R&B, Punk, Jazz, Blues, and what have you). When you choose the style of music you want, you'll see a menu that lists all artists
on your iPod that match that style (as long as the files are tagged properly). Some of the classification is subjective—if you'd like to
change song genres and other information, see "Add Song Information, Lyrics, and Artwork to My Tunes" for instructions.
Once you choose an artist, you'll get a menu that lists all albums you have by that artist on your iPod. Choose an album and you'll
get a menu that lists the corresponding songs. You can then press the Play/Pause button to play the album, or scroll to a particular
song and start play from that point.
Tip: Wish that you could hear a mix of all artists in a particular genre? Create a Smart Playlist in iTunes that sorts songs by genre
and add it to your iPod. Find out how in "Create Playlists of My Music: Smart Playlist."
Composers (Music > Composers > corresponding albums > corresponding songs on album)
For you classical music fans, the Composers menu will help you find songs by composer instead of by artist (as long as your files
have this information in their ID3 tags). This comes in handy when you want to, say, see all the songs you have by Beethoven,
instead of having to scour the Artists menu to find all the various symphony, orchestra, and choir listings that play Beethoven
songs. Of course, if you don't have classical music on your iPod, you can check out all the folks responsible for writing the tunes
you have too.
Just choose a name in the Composers menu and you'll get another menu that lists the albums that contain songs written by your
chosen composer. Choose an album and you'll get a list of the specific songs written by the composer. You can then press the
Play/Pause button to play all the songs in the order listed, or scroll to a particular song to start play from that point.
How well do you know your music?
If you're up for a fun little challenge, choose Music > Composers and then try to guess the band or artist, or the song name, that
corresponds with any chosen composer. This, of course, only works if you've got a few tunes that include a name in the Composer
field of the song's ID3 tag.
Audiobooks (Music > Audiobooks > all audiobook titles)
If you have audiobooks (spoken word audio files) in Audible file format (.aa) on your iPod, you can easily get to them by choosing
Audiobooks. All book titles will be listed in alphabetical order in the Audiobooks menu. Just highlight a book and press the Play/Pause
button to either start the book from its beginning (if this is the first time you're playing the audiobook) or from the spot where you
last left off (iPod and iTunes include a bookmark feature that automatically bookmarks the spot when you stop or pause an
audiobook file).
As with songs and podcasts, the Now Playing screen will display your audiobook's details, progress, and, if you have an iPod with a
color display, any artwork attached to the file. You can use the Next/Fast-forward and Previous/Rewind buttons to skip chapters,
or hold down either of these buttons to scrub forward or backward, respectively, through the audio to get to the good parts.
Games (Extras > Games > gameName)
Playing a game is as simple as choosing Extras > Games > GameName. Learning how to play the four games that came with your
iPod—Brick, Music Quiz, Parachute, or Solitaire—is just as simply, just experiment with the iPod buttons to see what happens.
You’ve probably already played other versions of these games so figuring them out on an iPod will be a snap. With Fifth Generation
iPods, you can get some seriously challenging games. While you may have played some of these before, you may want a refresher
on the rules, and how to use the iPod controls to play the game. All purchased game rules and instructions are displayed in iTunes.
Just open iTunes, choose iPod Games under LIBRARY in the Source pane, and click any game icon stacked vertically next to the
Source pane. The game’s rules, instructions, and play hints are displayed for your edification.
Playing Songs, Audiobooks, and Podcasts on iPod shuffle
iPod shuffle allows you to play your audio files in a couple different ways—you can play songs, audiobooks, and podcasts in the
order in which they appear on your player, or let iPod shuffle work its namesake magic for you (that is, shuffle the files by playing
them randomly).
Show Me How
If you want iPod shuffle to play audio files in the order in which they appear on the player, move the switch on the top of the iPod
shuffle to the play in order (circular arrows) position. If you want iPod shuffle to play songs in random order, move the switch to the
shuffle (crossed arrows) position.
This iPod Shuffle is set to shuffle.
To play music, an audiobook, or podcast, just press the Play/Pause button. To skip to the next song (or a different song if you're
in shuffle mode, or a different chapter if you're listening to an audiobook or podcast), press the Next/Fast-forward button. To
fast-forward through the audio, hold down the Next/Fast-forward button. To go back to the beginning of a song (or the previous
chapter), press the Previous/Rewind button; press this button twice to go to the previous song or hold it down to rewind through
the file.
To stop play, press the Play/Pause button during play. To turn off iPod shuffle, move the switch to the Off position (you shouldn't
see green beneath the switch).
Creating a Playlist on an iPod with a Display
You don't need a computer to create a playlist—all iPods with a display allow you to create a playlist any time you're on the go.
If you choose Music > Playlists on your iPod, you'll see a playlist called "On-The-Go." This playlist allows you to create a playlist
directly on your iPod whenever you're away from your computer. You can add individual songs, all songs in a chosen playlist, all
songs by a chosen artist, and all songs on a chosen album to the On-The-Go playlist.
To add a song to the On-The-Go playlist, navigate to any song (or audiobook or podcast) on your iPod and scroll the Click Wheel so
that the item is highlighted. Then press the Center button for 3 seconds until you see the highlight flash, which tells you that iPod
has added your song. You can then choose Music > Playlists > On-The-Go to see your song in the list.
To add a playlist, all songs by an artist, or an album to the On-The-Go playlist, choose the Playlists, Artists, or Albums menu.
Then highlight a playlist title, artist name, or album name, and press the Center button for 3 seconds until the highlight flashes to
add all the respective content.
Once you've assembled your playlist, you will need to either play a song in the On-The-Go playlist (any song, audiobook, or
podcast) or, if you have an iPod with a Click Wheel, choose the Save Playlist command to save your playlist (in menu speak,
choose Music > Playlists > On-The-Go > Save Playlist > Save Playlist). If you don't, you may lose your selections if you don't
use your iPod for more than 36 hours.
If you want to start fresh with a new On-The-Go playlist, choose Music > Playlists > On-The-Go > Clear Playlist > Clear Playlist
to delete all items in the playlist.
Take me to Lesson 5: Plug Into Podcasts
Article ID: 304709
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iPod 101: Plug into Podcasts
If you haven't heard of it by now, podcasting is the new generation of entertainment media that allows listeners to subscribe to
radio-style shows available on the Internet that get downloaded to their computers automatically. It's like listening to a radio show
on demand.
With podcasts, you're no longer strapped with having to wake up early, stay up late, or hunker down at work or in class with
headphones on just to catch a radio show—you can choose when and where to listen to shows. With iTunes 4.9 and later, you can
browse for podcasts, preview episodes, subscribe to and download podcasts, play them, and sync them to your iPod for play while
you're on the go.
Rather than scour the web, you can find tons of podcasts to subscribe to (for free!) in the iTunes Store.
Podcasts come in a lot of varieties—everything from glossy news, music, or talk shows to verbal blogs from regular folks from
around the globe. The ones offered on the iTunes Store are free, but others may charge a subscriber fee. You'll find professionally
created podcasts from major broadcasters (such as ESPN, NPR, CNN, the Wall Street Journal, and Disney), shows from known
personalities (including Rick Steves, Ebert & Roeper, the Simpsons, and Adam Curry), and plenty of stuff from lesser knowns who
are finding new celebrity in this new medium. For more information about podcasts, be sure to visit our Podcasting page.
iTunes displays podcasts you've downloaded in the Podcasts section in the Source pane too, making finding them easy. Just choose
Podcasts in the iTunes Source pane to view the pane. Of course, if you haven't subscribed to any podcasts, your list will be empty,
but it doesn't have to stay that way for long. One of the best sources to find podcasts is none other than the iTunes Store, and
these podcast subscriptions won't cost you a penny.
Show Me How
Browse, Preview, Subscribe to, and Play Podcasts
To find, preview, subscribe to, download, and play a podcast from the iTunes Store and then copy it to your iPod, do this:
1. In the Podcasts pane in iTunes, click the "Podcast Directory" link at the bottom part of the iTunes window. The iTunes Store
opens in your iTunes window, displaying a selection of podcasts.
2. If any podcast displayed or listed on the podcast homepage catches your eye, you can click it to access it. Or browse for
podcasts by typing a word or words in the “Search iTunes Store” field in the upper-right corner of iTunes, clicking a category
of interest from the Categories list below search, or clicking the item in the CATEGORIES list in the right-column. For
browsing purposes, click the "Comedy" link under CATEGORIES.
3. You'll see podcast listings organized by provider, popularity, release dates, and other helpful categories in the resulting
window. Scope out the contents. Then click on any show name or graphic that catches your eye to view its details.
4. A typical podcast's page includes details such as the show name, description, subscription fee (if any—most say "Free"),
and associated website (if applicable). It'll also list all available podcast episodes. To preview an episode, choose one from
the list and double-click it. Most will provide a 1 minute, 30 second preview of the show. Others will stream the whole show
to you. Listen to as many previews as you like. If you see an "i" icon next to an episode description, you can click it to
reveal more details about the show.
5. When you find a podcast that you like and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button. A dialog opens, asking if you're
sure that you want to subscribe. If that is your intent, click Subscribe.
To subscribe to a podcast, simply click its Subscribe button in any page.
6. iTunes downloads the most recent episode and will automatically download future episodes whenever you open iTunes. To
view your new subscription, choose Podcasts in the Source pane. If the individual episodes aren't displayed, click the
disclosure triangle to the left of the podcast name to reveal them. If an episode is dimmed, it hasn't been downloaded to
your computer (these are older episodes); if you want it, click the Get button next to it.
7. To play a podcast in iTunes, simply double-click the episode to hear it.
8. To copy a podcast to your iPod, either enable podcast syncing (see the "Have iTunes Automatically Fill Your iPod" section in
"Fill ’er Up!") or drag any episode to your iPod icon in the Source pane.
Voice Your Own Podcast
If you're looking to break into the broadcasting industry or simply want to take blogging (or your opinions) to an audible worldwide
level, consider creating your own podcast. All you need is a computer with recording software to capture your talent, a server to
host the file, and a little imagination and planning.
Whether you use GarageBand or other audio recording software, you can create your own podcast without much effort.
If you're using a Mac and have GarageBand, you can easily create your own podcast complete with music, pictures, and web links.
We provide some guidance, tips, and instruction on our "GarageBand: Recording Your Podcast" page. You can also use QuickTime 7
Pro; see "Creating Podcasts with QuickTime 7 Pro" for instructions.
If you're a Windows users, you can follow the same instructions for GarageBand but substitute your preferred audio recording
application for GarageBand (the concepts and principles are the same). Or follow the same instructions for QuickTime 7 Pro.
Take me to Lesson 6: Set Your Preferences
Keywords: klearn kitunes kipod101 kipodwin kipod
Article ID: 304710
Date Modified: June 19, 2007
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iPod 101: Set Your Preferences
If you enjoy doing things your own way, you're in luck. iTunes allows you to change some of its settings to your own liking. If you
followed our instructions to make iTunes automatically fill up your iPod, you're already a little familiar with iTunes preferences. If
you'd like to have your way with some other options, here's an overview of the preferences you can set.
Mac users—From the iTunes menu, choose Preferences.
Windows users—On the Edit menu, click Preferences.
The iTunes preferences dialog features a bunch of tabs up top (on a Mac, they look more like icon buttons)—General, Podcasts,
Playback, Sharing, Store, Advanced, and Parental Control. Some of these tabs even feature their own set of subtabs. Here's a look
at what you can set in each of these preference panes.
Show Me the General Pane
Show Me the Podcasts Pane
Show Me the Playback Pane
Show Me the Sharing Pane
Show Me the Store Pane
Show Me the Advanced Pane
Show Me the Parental Control Pane
General
The General pane in iTunes preferences lets you choose various iTunes display options, as shown on a Mac (left) and in Windows
(right).
This pane allows you to set how and what iTunes displays, and enable or disable some of its functionality. In the upper part of the
pane, you can change the size of the display text by choosing either Small or Large from the Source Text and Song Text pop-up
(drop-down in Windows) menus. By default, iTunes displays "Party Shuffle," "Radio," and "Videos" in the Source pane. If you don't
want to see one or more of these items, deselect the respective Show checkbox.
The middle part of the pane lets you decide whether iTunes shows genres and compilations columns in the browser (click the
Browse button in the upper-right corner of the iTunes window to display the browser). You can also choose whether or not to have
iTunes display the arrow links in the song list pane that link to the iTunes Store. You can also choose whether to show content
ratings in the library, whether to automatically download missing album artwork—you must have an iTunes account for this—and
whether or not to remember the view setting for each source.
For video playback, choose the "Play videos" checkbox to allow iTunes to play videos (by default, videos play in the artwork and
video viewer pane in the main window). If you want to choose another default view for video playback, choose in a separate
window or full screen from the pop-up menu.
In the bottom part of the pane, choose the "Check for iTunes update automatically" checkbox (this makes iTunes connect to the
Internet) if you want to stay up to date.
Click OK to save your changes or click another tab to set other preferences.
Podcasts
If you've got a passion for podcasts, use the Podcasts pane to set how often iTunes checks for episodes and what to do with
them.
If you subscribe to podcasts, click the Podcasts tab to tell iTunes how often to check for episodes and what to do when it finds
them. To set how often to check, choose an interval from the Check for new episodes pop-up menu (drop-down in Windows). You
can choose Every hour, Every day, Every week, or Manually.
To set what iTunes does when it finds episodes, choose an action from the When new episodes are available pop-up menu. You
can choose Download all, Download the most recent one, or Do nothing (you can manually download episodes by clicking the Get
button next to an episode when you choose Podcasts in the iTunes Source pane).
You can make iTunes do a little housekeeping—or not—by choosing how many episodes you want iTunes to keep from the Keep
pop-up menu. You can choose All episodes, All unplayed episodes, Most recent episode, Last 2 episodes, Last 3 episodes,
Last 4 episodes, Last 5 episodes, or Last 10 episodes. If you need to reconfigure which podcasts get copied to your iPod, click OK
to close preferences, click your iPod under DEVICES in the Source pane, and then use the Podcasts tab to change sync options.
Playback
Use the Playback pane to set sound preferences in iTunes on a Mac (left) or in Windows (right).
iTunes has a few audio features that you can set to your liking; just click the Playback tab. Choose the "Crossfade playback"
checkbox, which fades out the ending of a song while fading in the beginning of another—kind of like what you'd hear on the radio or
at a dance club. Use the slider to set how many seconds of overlap you want. You may want to test out your timing with a few
songs—too much overlap between two distinctly different songs can sound odd.
If you choose the "Sound Enhancer" checkbox, iTunes "enhances" the sound of your audio files by increasing the treble and bass
response, depending on how you set the slider. Think of it kind of like the "Loudness" button found on an old home stereo system,
but adjustable. If you move the slider toward the "high" end, iTunes boosts more of the equalization, meaning things will generally
sound punchier and crisper. If you move it towards the "low" end, iTunes will decrease the same frequencies.
If the volume in your songs, audiobooks, and podcasts are all over the map, choose the Sound Check checkbox, which adjusts all
audio files so that they have the same playback volume. If you want songs on your iPod to also play at the same volume level as
each other, be sure to choose this option and let iTunes adjust your music library before you copy the songs to your iPod.
For those times when you shuffle your music (as opposed to choosing songs or playing a playlist), you can give iTunes a few
pointers on how to handle the mix by using the Smart Shuffle setting to dictate how likely you are to hear songs by the same artist
or album in a row. You can also tell iTunes what type of items to shuffle. Choose Songs to have iTunes play random songs. Choose
Albums to have iTunes play all songs on an album in order and then choose the next album randomly. Or choose Groupings to have
iTunes play all songs of a grouping in order and then choose another grouping randomly.
Sharing
Want to share your tunes with friends, family, or coworkers connected to your network? Just enable sharing in the Sharing pane.
If your computer is connected to a local network—either wired or wireless—you can not only share your music with others (up to
five computers at a time), you can play music found in your fellow iTunes sharers' libraries too. (Make sure that you're using iTunes
4.5 or later.)
If you want to be able to look through other people's iTunes music and play their tunes (they must be using iTunes 4.5 or later,
have sharing turned on, and be on the same local network as you), choose the "Look for shared music" checkbox. You can then
access all shared libraries or playlists by choosing the name of a sharer's collection in the iTunes Source pane.
If you want to share your stuff, choose the "Share my music" checkbox, then choose either the "Share entire library" radio button
to share everything, or choose the "Share selected playlists" radio button to share only the playlists you choose below that option (if
you've got a few "guilty pleasures" in your library, you can avoid embarrassment by sharing only selected playlists). Type a name
for your shared collection in the "Shared name" field. If you want to control who has access to your tunes, choose the "Require
password" checkbox, then type a password in the field (give this password to your chosen ones for access).
Store
Planning a music shopping spree? Set your iTunes Store purchasing preferences in the Store pane.
Whether you want to shop for tunes or simply preview albums for sale, you'll find various iTunes Store options in the Store pane. If
you have an iTunes Store account (we show you how to set one up in "Set Up an iTunes Store Account" if you don't), you can make
the purchasing process easier by choosing the "Buy and download using 1-Click" radio button, which lets you buy tunes and
download them to your iTunes library with a single click of a button. Or you may prefer to avoid "accidental" purchases by choosing
the "Buy using a Shopping Cart" radio button, which lets you buy music in a more traditional online purchase environment.
If you just have to be the first on your block with new music and videos, and have pre-orders set-up, or subscriptions to seasons
passes, you can see iTunes to automatically download these purchases as soon as they are available, just check “Automatically
download pre-purchased content??.
To have iTunes automatically create playlists when buying song collections, choose the aptly named checkbox. If you want to hear
your song once it's done downloading, choose the "Play songs after downloading" checkbox. If you're browsing the iTunes Store over
a slower Internet connection such as a dial-up modem (a broadband connection is highly recommended), choosing the "Load
complete preview before playing" checkbox can improve playback when you preview songs in the store.
Advanced
The Advanced pane contains an assortment of user-adjustable settings for managing, importing, and burning your music.
The Advanced pane features a number of settings that let you control how iTunes manages (or doesn't manage) your music,
imports your audio files, and burns stuff to disc. It's divided into three sections—General, Importing, and Burning.
General
Click the Advanced tab and then click the General tab below it to view the management and playback settings. In the top boxed-out
part of the pane, iTunes displays the path to the location where your iTunes Music folder lives. If you want to change the location,
click the Change button. In the resulting window, navigate to and choose a location, then click Choose. To return the iTunes Music
folder back to the original location, click the Reset button.
If you want iTunes to automatically manage your music whenever you import tracks from CDs or add files to your iTunes library,
choose the "Keep iTunes Music folder organized" checkbox. iTunes will create a folder hierarchy of artist and album names that
contains all relevant audio files with the correct track names and order. To keep all your music in one place instead of having iTunes
point to various files all over your hard drive, choose the "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" checkbox.
On a Mac, if you want to use iTunes for all Internet music playback, click the Set button. On Windows, choose the "Use iTunes as
the default player for audio files" checkbox if that's what you desire.
Depending on your Internet connection speed, you may want to choose a different buffer size from the Streaming Buffer Size
pop-up (drop-down in Windows) menu; you can choose Small, Medium (the default), or Large. If you have a slower connection
(such as with a dial-up modem), choose Large to improve playback; the audio stream will take longer to start playing, but the
playback should be smoother. If you have a fast Internet connection (such as with a DSL or cable modem), choose Small to start
streaming content playback more quickly.
If you have an AirPort Express, choose the "Look for remote speakers connected with AirTunes" checkbox to display a speakers
pop-up menu at the bottom of the iTunes window. You can then choose any stereo system you've connected to AirPort Express
from this menu to stream your iTunes music. You can also choose the checkbox below this option if you want to control volume
from the remote speaker source instead of from iTunes.
If you like using iTunes in its Mini Player state (see "The Controls and Elements" section of "iTunes Initiation") and want it to float
above all other windows, choose the "Keep Mini Player on top of all other windows" checkbox.
Windows users can also choose the "Show iTunes icon in system tray" checkbox and "Minimize iTunes window to system tray"
checkbox if you'd prefer to stash iTunes there whenever you minimize the window.
If you use the visualizer regularly, you can set how much eye-candy it provides by controlling the visualizer screen size. Set
Visualizer Size to Small, Medium, or Large, or check “Display Visualizer full screen??.
Importing
The Importing pane in Advanced preferences lets you control the format and quality of your imported or converted audio.
We showed you how to use the Importing pane in "Set iTunes to Import and Manage Music My Way," but we'll give you a little
overview of it again here if you don't want to jump back. Just click the Importing tab in the Advanced pane.
If you want to copy songs from an audio CD (aka rip tunes), the Importing pane lets you set what file format to convert the songs
to and the quality. The b pop-up menu (drop-down in Windows) allows you to choose what iTunes should do when you insert an
audio CD into your computer. Choose Show Songs to have iTunes simply display the songs on the CD in its interface, choose Begin
Playing to also make iTunes start playing the CD, choose Import Songs to have iTunes import all songs from the CD into your
iTunes library, or choose Import Songs and Eject to have iTunes import all songs from the CD into your iTunes library and then
eject the CD from your computer when it's done.
To set an importing file format, choose a format from the Import Using pop-up menu; you can choose AAC Encoder (the default),
AIFF Encoder, Apple Lossless Encoder, MP3 Encoder, or WAV Encoder. Each of these encoders offers differences in sound quality
and file size (AIFF and WAV offer the best sound quality, but the files are substantially larger than the other formats). For more
information about these encoders, see "About import settings and hard disk space" in the iTunes Help guide (choose iTunes and
iTunes Store Help from the Help menu in iTunes).
The Setting pop-up menu allows you to set a quality for the encoding, depending on the file format you chose (the current settings
are displayed in the Details pane). You can leave it at the default setting if you wish, choose a higher or lower quality (if applicable),
or choose Custom to make your own settings. Keep in mind that the higher you set the Stereo Bit Rate and Sample Rate, the better
quality sound you'll get—at the expense of a larger file size.
If you want to set your own sample and bit rates, choose Custom from the Setting menu, then choose your preferences
If you want to hear the songs as iTunes imports them, choose the "Play songs while importing" checkbox. If you want to make sure
you get the correct track names for your tunes, choose the “Automatically retrieve CD Track names from Internet??. If you want
your song files to appear in the correct order when viewing them in a window, choose the "Create file names with track number"
checkbox (otherwise, they may be listed alphabetically or in some other set order). If your newly ripped songs don't sound right,
choose the "Use error correction when reading Audio CDs" checkbox and then re-rip the CD.
Burning
To create an audio CD, MP3 CD, or burn files to a CD or DVD, use the Burning pane to choose your options.
iTunes allows you to burn audio CDs that can be played in any CD player, MP3 CDs that can be played in any system that can read
MP3 discs, and data CDs and DVDs (great for backing up your music) that you can access on a computer. If you're creating an
audio CD, you'll need to create a playlist of the songs you wish to burn to actually burn the disc.
Click the Burning tab in the Advanced pane to view your options. The pane displays your computer's CD or DVD drive next to "CD
Burner." You can choose how fast you want your drive to write a disc from the Preferred Speed pop-up menu (drop-down in
Windows); for example, choose Maximum Possible to have your drive write content at its top speed for the disc. Select the type
of disc you want from the "Disc Format" options—"Audio CD," "MP3 CD," or "Data CD or DVD."
If you choose the Audio CD radio button, you can set how much of a gap to place between songs. Just choose an interval from the
Gap Between Songs pop-up menu (the default is 2 seconds); for live albums or audio that plays continuously through multiple
tracks, choose none to nix all gaps. If you want to have all songs play back at the same volume, choose the "Use Sound Check"
checkbox.
Parental Control
If you're a parent, you can enforce your parental control over what your kids can access in iTunes. You must be an administrator of
the computer on which you're laying down the law.
iTunes 6 and later features Parental Control, which allows you to set some restrictions on accessible content in iTunes. Just click
the Parental tab on a Mac or the Parental Control tab in Windows to view your options.
If you'd like to disable podcasts, radio, the iTunes Store, or shared music (or any combination of the four), choose the appropriate
checkbox to disable the selection. If you allow trips to the iTunes Store but want to bar explicit content from enticing young minds,
choose the "Restrict explicit content" checkbox next to iTunes Store. (These albums will still appear in the store, but you won't be
able to preview or purchase items that are marked as being explicit.) Likewise, if you’d like to restrict the movies or TV Shows1
that can be downloaded to certain ratings, check the “Restrict movies to?? or “Restrict TV Shows to?? checkboxes and choose a
rating from the drop-down menus.
To lock your changes in place, click the lock icon. In the resulting dialog, type in your administrator password, then click OK. If you
ever need to update your controls, click the locked icon and then type your administrator password when prompted to access the
controls again.
movies.
Take me to the I Need More Music index
Keywords: klearn kitunes kipod101 kipodwin kipod
Article ID: 304711
Date Modified: December 27, 2006
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iPod 101: Bring in the Noise

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