Building Your iTunes Music Library in a Hurry

The import process moves along pretty quickly, but you can make it even faster by following these steps:

1. Gather a pile of your CDs in a location close to your computer.
2. Set the import preferences (encoder and quality) for the import session.
3. Open the General pane of the iTunes Preferences dialog box.
4. Choose Import Songs and Eject on the On CD Insert menu. This causes iTunes to immediately begin the import process when you insert a CD. When the import process is complete, the CD will be ejected automatically.
5. Click OK to close the dialog box.
6. Insert the first CD you want to import. iTunes will start importing it automatically.When the process is complete, the CD will be ejected automatically.
7. Insert the next CD you want to import. Again, iTunes will import the music and eject the disc when it is done.
8. Repeat step 7 until all the CDs have been imported. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you can build a Library, even if you have a large number of CDs. When you are done batch importing your CDs, you might want to reset the On CD insert menu to Show Songs to prevent unintentionally importing a CD.

Adding Audio CDs to Your Library

Use these steps to add a CD to your Library:

1. Configure the encoder you want to use for the import session.
2. Insert the CD you want to add to your Library. iTunes will attempt to identify it. When it does, the CD will appear in the Source List and will be selected. Notice that the Action button in the upper-right corner of the screen is now the Import button.
3. If there are songs that you don’t want to add to the Library, uncheck their Selected check box. Only songs with their check boxes checked will be imported. Unless you really hate a song or disk space is at a premium for you, it is generally better to import all the songs. You can use the Selected check box in another source, such as in your Library, to cause those songs to be skipped when you play that source.
4. Click the Import button. It will become highlighted, and the import process will start . If you left the Play songs while importing preference active, the music will begin to play as it is imported.

The Information window will show information related to the import process, such as the name of the song currently being imported and the rate at which the import process is happening. The rate of the import process depends on the hardware you are using and the import settings. In most cases, the import process will occur at a much greater rate than the playing process. For example, with moderate hardware, you can usually achieve import rates of 10, meaning 10 minutes of music will be imported in 1 minute of time. An orange circle with a “squiggly” line inside it marks the song currently being imported. When a song has been imported, it is marked with a green circle containing a check mark.
5. Eject the CD.

Configuring iTunes to Import Music

When you add music to your Library, you start by choosing the import options (mainly format and quality levels) that you want to use. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Open the Importing pane of the iTunes Preferences dialog box
2. Select the format in which you want to add music to your Library on the Import Using menu. For example, to use the AAC format, choose AAC Encoder. To use the MP3 format, choose MP3 Encoder. The other encoder options are WAV and AIFF. For music, you should use AAC or MP3.
3. Choose the quality level of the encoder you want to use on the Setting menu. The options you see in this list depend on the format you selected in step 1. If you chose AAC Encoder, you have two quality options: High Quality and Custom. If you chose MP3 Encoder, you have four options: Good Quality, High Quality, Higher Quality, and Custom. The Custom option enables you to configure specific settings that the encoder will use. Because you don’t typically need to do this, we won’t explore doing so in this chapter. If you want to check it out, choose Custom on the Setting menu and explore the options you see. In the Details box, you will see a summary of the settings you have selected. For example, you will see the data rate of the encoder, such as 128Kbps, and the processor for which the encoder has been optimized. (Do you need to worry about these details? Not really.) If you use the AAC encoder, the High Quality setting will likely be all you ever need. If you use the MP3 encoder, try the High Quality setting. If music at this quality sounds good to you, try the Good Quality setting to see whether you can detect any difference. If not, use that setting. If the High Quality setting doesn’t sound good enough, increase the quality to the Higher Quality setting.
4. If you want music you add to your Library to play while it is being added, check the Play songs while importing check box. This is a personal preference, and it doesn’t impact the encoding process significantly.
5. If you want the files that iTunes creates when you import music to include the track number in their filenames, check the Create filenames with track number check box. Because this helps you more easily find files for specific songs, I recommend that you keep this preference active.
6. The Use error correction when reading Audio CDs check box causes iTunes to more closely control the encoding process. You should use this option only if you notice problems with the music you add to your Library, such as cracking or popping sounds. If that happens, check this check box and try the import process again.
7. Click OK to close the dialog box.