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.

Downloading and Installing iTunes on a Windows PC

It can be better to download a copy of iTunes from the Internet to install it on your computer even if you have a copy on the iPod CD. That’s because the application is periodically updated. When you download a copy from the Web, you get the latest and greatest version. When you install a copy from the CD, you get the latest and greatest version when the CD was produced, which might not be the current latest and greatest.
If you want to download and install a copy of iTunes, perform the following steps:

1. Open your favorite Web browser, such as Internet Explorer.
2. Move to http://www.apple.com/itunes.
3. Click the Download link. You will see the Download page.
4. Scroll down the page until you see the Download iTunes section
5. Click the Windows 2000 or XP radio button.
6. Enter your email address if you want to subscribe to any of Apple’s iTunes newsletters; if you don’t, you can leave this blank.
7. Enter your first and last name if you want to (this is optional information).
8. Choose the area in which you live in the drop-down list.
9. Check the boxes for the Apple newsletters you want to receive (or uncheck the boxes for any Apple newsletters you don’t want to receive). For example, the New Music Tuesdays newsletter lets you know about music that has been added to the iTunes Music Store.
10. Click Download iTunes. In most cases, you will see the Security Warning dialog box. If you don’t have your Web browser configured to present this, you will move directly to the Save As dialog box, in which case you can skip the next step.
11. In the Security Warning dialog box, click Yes to indicate that you want to install and run the iTunes Installer. The InstallShield Wizard will open and start the installation process. After a moment or two, you will see the iTunes for Windows window
12. Read the information in the Installer window and click Next.
13. If you have a lot of time and patience, read the license agreement; when you are done, click Yes if you agree or No if you don’t. (Of course, if you don’t agree, you can skip the rest of these steps and the rest of this part of the book because you won’t be able to use iTunes.)
14. In the resulting Information window, you can read information about iTunes, such as what it can do and what you need to install it. Because you have this book, you don’t really need to read this information, but it can’t hurt to do so! When you are done reading, click Next. You’ll see the Setup Type window (see Figure 13.3) .
15. Check the following options to make them active or uncheck them to make them inactive:
• Install desktop shortcuts—This option places a shortcut to iTunes on your desktop. Unless you don’t like desktop shortcuts for some reason, you should usually leave this option checked.
• Use iTunes as the default player for audio files—This option causes iTunes to be used to play most audio files that you will access on the Internet, your computer, CDs, and so on. If you prefer to use another application, such as Window Media Player, uncheck this check box. However, I recommend that you leave it checked for now. You can always change the default application to be something else after you have become comfortable with iTunes (not that you’ll want to!).
• Use QuickTime as the default player for media files—If you choose this option, the QuickTime Player application will be used when you view video or other multimedia content. Just like the previous option, if you prefer to use a different application, uncheck this check box.
16. Click Next. You’ll see the Choose Destination Location dialog box.
17. If you don’t want to accept the default installation location (which is C:\Program Files\iTunes\), click the Browse button and choose the location you do want to use. Then click Next. You’ll see a window advertising the iPod.
18. Click Next. As the Installer starts to work, you will see the Setup Status window. This window provides you with information about the installation When the process is complete, you will see the Installation Successful window.
19. Click Finish to restart your computer and complete the installation process. When your computer restarts, iTunes will be ready for you.

Installing iTunes on a Windows PC

Over the years, Apple has produced a few applications designed for both Windows PCs and Macintoshes. Thank goodness for Windows users that iTunes is also in this group. (None of the others are worthy of much mention, but iTunes is definitely a crossover hit!)
In order to use iTunes on a Windows computer, you must be running Windows Vista or Windows XP. If you are running Windows 98, Me, or 95, you are out of the iTunes game. (Of course, those older versions of Windows are really old and you should be using a newer version for more reasons than just the ability to run iTunes!)
You have two primary ways to get a copy of iTunes and install it on your computer. (The good news is that neither way will cost you any more money than you have already spent.) First, if you have purchased an iPod, which is a likely case given that you are reading a blog about iPods, a copy of iTunes is provided on the CD included with every iPod. Second, if you don’t have an iPod or if you don’t have the CD that came with it for some reason, you can download iTunes from the Internet.