Controlling Your Music

Surrounding those panes are the controls you use to work with and get information about your music. At the top of the window, from left to right, you will see the following areas:

• Playback controls—Here, you can see the familiar Play/Stop, Fast Forward, and Rewind buttons along with the Volume Control slider. These work as you probably expect them to.
• Information window—In the center of the iTunes window is the Information window. In this area, you will see a variety of information about what you are doing at any point in time. For example, when you are playing music, you will see information about the music currently being played. When you import music, you will see information about the import process.
• Search tool—You use the Search tool to search for songs.
• Action button—The Action button changes depending on the context you are in. For example, if you have selected the Library, it becomes the Browse button, which you use to open or close the Browser. If you select a playlist, it becomes the Burn button, which enables you to burn a CD. When you move to the bottom of the iTunes window, you will see the following:
• Add Playlist button—You can use this button to create your own playlists.
• Shuffle and Repeat buttons—You use the Shuffle button to shuffle the music in the selected source so that it doesn’t play in the listed order. You can use the Repeat button to cause songs to repeat within a selected source.
• Show/Hide Album Art button—Songs can have album art associated with them. When you click this button, you will see the Art Album box at the bottom of the Source pane. In it will appear any art associated with the song that is currently selected.
• Source information—This information shows you the number of songs, total playing\ time, and disk space of the selected source. This becomes very useful at certain times, such as when you are burning a CD or building a playlist.
• Equalizer button—This button opens the Equalizer window, which provides you with a graphic equalizer.
• Visualizer button—Okay, this was one of the most promoted features of iTunes when it was initially released, but I didn’t get it then, and I still don’t today. When you click this, the iTunes window fills with a graphic display reminiscent of the 1960s.
• Eject button—When you have selected an ejectable source, such as an audio CD, you can click this button to eject it.

Seeing Through the iTunes Window

The iTunes window, like the windows on your house, consists of a number of panes (see Figure A). Let’s take a quick look at each of these. On the far left of the iTunes window is the Source List. On this list, as you might suspect from its name, are the sources of music with which you can work. To work with a source, such as a CD or the iTunes Music Store, you select it by clicking it. When you select a source, its contents will appear in the Content pane and Browser (if you have the Browser open for a selected source). In Figure A, I have selected the Library as the source; its contents are shown in the Browser at the top of the window while the list of individual songs that make up the Library is at the bottom of the window.
You will use many types of sources, including the Library, the Radio, the iTunes Music Store, audio CDs, playlists, and more. As we work though the rest of this part of the blog, you will get experience with all these kinds of sources.

The Browser presents the contents of the selected source at a summary level, by genre, artist, and album. You can view the contents of the selected source by clicking it in the appropriate column. For example, in Figure A, I have selected the Blues/R&B genre. The Artist column then shows all the artists whose music I have in the selected genre. The Album column shows all the albums for the selected artists. The Browser can be shown or hidden. For example, take a look at Figure B, which shows the iTunes window with the Browser hidden. At the bottom of the iTunes window (or filling it if the Browser is hidden) is the Content pane.
This area lists each song in the selected source. For each song, you will see a variety of information, such as Song Name, Track #, Time, Artist, and so on. You can even choose the information you see on this list. The order in which songs are listed in the Content pane is the order in which they will play when you play the selected source. Going back to Figure A, you can see that several songs by B.B. King and Dave McKenna are listed in the Content pane.

Downloading and installing iTunes on a Mac

The process for downloading and installing iTunes on a Mac is almost identical to what you use to download and install iTunes on a Windows computer. To save a few trees, I haven’t included the steps to do this on a Mac. The most important difference is that you should choose to download the version for Mac OS X (as if you couldn’t guess that!). After that, just follow the onscreen instructions.
You have a number of ways to open iTunes on a Mac, including the following:

• Click the iTunes icon on the Dock.
• Open the Applications folder and double-click the iTunes icon.
• Insert an audio CD into your Mac; by default, iTunes is set to launch whenever you mount an audio CD. The first time you open iTunes, you will need to work through a basic configuration of the application.

Following are the steps you need to perform:

1. Launch iTunes. You will see yet another License Agreement screen. (I guess Apple was kidding with the others.)
2. Click Agree. You will see the iTunes Setup Assistant, which will guide you through the rest of the process .
3. Click Next. You will see the Internet Audio Settings window. These settings control whether iTunes is the default application for audio content from the Internet and if iTunes should automatically connect to the Internet when it needs to.
4. Click both Yes radio buttons and then click Next. You’ll see the Find Music Files window.
5. If you want iTunes to search for music on your Mac and then add that music to the iTunes Library, click Yes. If you don’t want this to happen, click No. Click Next. You’ll see the iTunes Music Store window.
6. Because we will explore the iTunes Music Store in detail later, click the No radio button and then click Done. The iTunes window will open and you will be ready to tour the application in the next section.

Installing iTunes on a Macintosh

Because iTunes is developed by Apple, it is as integrated into the Macintosh operating system as much as any application can be. You have a number of ways to get iTunes installed on your Mac, including the following:

• Install Mac OS X. When you install Mac OS X, iTunes is also installed, unless you specifically tell the Installer not to install it. If you have installed OS X on your Mac, you don’t need to do any installation, but you should make sure you have the current version installed
• Buy a new Mac. Okay, this might be the most expensive option, but, hey, you get a free Mac with your copy of iTunes!
• Install iTunes from the iPod Software CD. The software installation CD included with an iPod also enables you to install iTunes.
• Buy a copy of the Apple iLife suite. In addition to iTunes, you’ll get iMovie, iPhoto, iDVD, and Garage Band.
• Download and install iTunes from the Internet. You can always download and install the latest version of iTunes from the Internet.

If you have installed Mac OS X on your computer, you probably don’t need to do any installation because it is likely that you already have iTunes installed on your machine.
To use one of the CD options, just insert the CD, launch the installer, and follow the onscreen instructions.
If you don’t already have some version of iTunes installed on your Mac, you can download and install a copy from the Internet. This is often the best option because you are sure to get the most current version of the application.

Launching and Performing the Initial Configuration of iTunes on a Windows PC

Whichever path you have taken to this point, I am sure all is well and you are ready to start cutting your teeth on iTunes.
To open the application and perform the initial configuration (which you need to do only the first time you open the program), follow these steps:

1. Open iTunes. You have several ways to do this. You can use the desktop icon to open it (assuming you chose to have an icon placed there). You can also choose Start, All Programs, iTunes, iTunes to launch the application from the Start menu. Or, you can click the shortcut that was conveniently placed in the taskbar for you. After you have used one of these methods, the iTunes window will open. The first time you launch the application, the iTunes Setup Assistant will appear. The helpful assistant will guide you through the few configuration decisions you need to make before you start working with the application. As with other assistants, you will move through the iTunes Setup Assistant by reading its information, making choices, and using the Next button.
2. Click Next to move to the Find Music Files screen. The purpose of this screen is to indicate whether you want iTunes to search your Music folder to find any existing music and then add that music to your iTunes Library. If you have music in this folder, I recommend that you let iTunes add it to your Library. If you want iTunes to search for music on your computer, click the Yes radio button (which isn’t really necessary because it is the default selection) and then click Next. If you want to skip this search, click No and then click Next.
3. Use the Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized window to indicate whether you want iTunes to automatically rename and organize the music in your iTunes Music folder when you change that music’s information (such as genre). Unless you have a very specific reason not to want this feature, click Yes and then click Next. If you do have some reason why you don’t want iTunes to rename or move your music files, click No and then click Next.
4. Use the iTunes Music Store window to determine whether you want to move to the iTunes Music Store immediately after the Setup Assistant is done. Because you will learn about the iTunes Music Store in detail in Part III, “The iTunes Music Store,” click the No radio button and click Finish. The Setup Assistant will run and you will see the iTunes window . If you indicated that you want iTunes to find any music in your Music folder and add it to the iTunes Library, you will see the music that the application found.

Now you are ready to learn about the major elements of the iTunes window.