- The iTunes Interface
- Play CDs
- Import CDs
- Create Your Own Playlists
- Burn an Audio CD
- Play the Radio
- The iTunes Store
- Manage and Play Videos in iTunes
- The Source List
- The Detail Window
- View the iTunes Libraries
- Search the iTunes Libraries
- View Options
- Close, Minimize, and Zoom Buttons
- Controller Buttons
- Video Controller Buttons
- Party Shuffle
- Quick Links
- Share Music Over a Local Network
- Print CD Jewel Case Inserts, Song Listings, or Album Listings
- Song Information and Options
- Status Display
- Rate Your Songs
- Export Playlists as Plain Text, Unicode, or XML Files
- iTunes Preferences
- Music File Formats
- iTunes Visualizer
- iTunes Equalizer
- Connect an iPhone, iPod, or Apple TV
- Back up the iTunes Libraries
- Menu Commands
- Favorite Keyboard Shortcuts
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
The iTunes Store
The iTunes Store is an interactive multimedia store where you can preview and purchase millions of songs, music videos, TV shows, movies, and audiobooks. If you’re not interested in buying anything, you can browse thousands of free items available for download, such as independently produced podcasts and taped college and university lectures in iTunes U. You can even rent movies to watch on your computer, iPhone, iPod, or Apple TV.
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When you purchase songs or videos from the iTunes Store, they start downloading to your computer immediately. Apple will charge your credit card for the item and email you a receipt.
The iTunes Store also has a number of community features that make it easy to share, rate, and discover music. Create an iMix to share your playlist with the world. Rate songs and albums to tell others what you think about them. Scan the “Just for You” section on the iTunes Store home page to discover new music.
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Preview and purchase multimedia content
The first time you try to buy items from the iTunes Store, you’ll be asked to sign in to your existing Apple account or create a new account. After you finish this quick and simple procedure, you can buy songs, albums, TV shows, movies, audiobooks, and more with a single click of the “Buy” button.
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The iTunes Store provides a thirty-second preview of nearly every song, video, movie, TV show, and audiobook. Select an item, then double-click it to play the preview. To purchase an item and download it to your computer, click the “Buy” button.
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Download free content
Previewing and purchasing content isn’t the only thing you can do at the iTunes Store. You can also download thousands of free podcasts, songs, videos, and TV shows.
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Podcasts are especially interesting. Anyone can create these short audio and video programs and then upload them to the iTunes Store. You’ll find everything from professional TV shows to amateur home videos in the podcast section of the iTunes Store (shown below). There are thousands of podcasts freely available to download! You can also subscribe to podcasts, which ensures that new episodes of your favorite podcasts will be downloaded to your computer.
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Apple offers a new “Single of the Week” in the iTunes Store every week. They also offer a slew of free songs, videos, and TV shows in the “Free on iTunes” section. Look for it on the iTunes Store home page.
Another free iTunes Store feature is iTunes U. Originally developed for colleges and universities around the world, this section now features free audiobooks and musical performances by college ensembles, as well as audio and video recordings of lectures, presentations, and seminars. These invaluable educational recordings are made available at no cost to the general public.
Rent movies
If you’d like to watch a movie but you don’t want to purchase one, you’re in luck. You can use the iTunes Store to rent and watch movies on your computer, iPhone, iPod, or Apple TV. There are hundreds of movies available–everything from the newest releases to the black-and-white classics.
Apple puts some limitations on movie rentals. You have 30 days to start watching your movie after you download it. You can transfer the movie between your computer, iPhone, iPod, and Apple TV, but only one device at a time can hold the movie. Once you start watching your movie, you have 24 hours to finish it and watch it again as many times as you want.
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Movies are large files that can take a while to download. Depending on the speed of your Internet connection, movies could take anywhere from a couple minutes to several hours to download. A good rule of thumb is to start the download a couple hours before you plan to watch your rental.
If you transfer movies to your iPhone, iPod, or Apple TV, they’re removed from your computer.
Create and publish your own iMix playlist
Do you have a favorite mix of songs available from the iTunes Store that you’d like to share? If so, you can put them in a playlist and publish them as an iMix. iMix is an iTunes Store feature that publishes song mixes submitted by iTunes users. You must use music available from the iTunes Store. The published iMix plays a thirty-second preview of each song in the mix. It’s fun and useful for sending song discoveries and recommendations to friends.
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- Create a playlist that contains only music available from the iTunes Store. When you select any playlist in the Source list, an iMix publish button (a white arrow in a circle) appears to the right of the playlist name (shown circled below).
- Click the iMix button to publish the playlist as an iMix. In the window that opens, click “Create iMix.” In the next window that opens, click “Create” (shown below).
- Sign in with your Apple ID and password.
- On the page that opens (shown below), type a title and description.
- Click the “Publish” button.
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Use Search, Power Search, or Browse to find specific songs
To search, type a complete or partial artist, album, or item name in the Search field, then hit Return on the keyboard. The search results appear in the bottom section of the iTunes window, as shown below.
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To Power Search, choose “Power Search...” from the Search pop-up menu. In the Power Search pane, shown below, enter as much information as possible, then click the “Search” button.
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Use the Browse button to search for audiobooks, movies, music, music videos, podcasts, and TV shows. Click the “Browse” button to show the Browser pane, circled below. Different columns will be available for different types of media. If you’re searching for music, select a genre from the “Genre” column, select an item from the “Subgenre” column, choose an artist from the “Artist” column, then choose an album from the “Album” column. After you make your selections, the matching results show in the bottom section of the window.
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Get support from the iTunes Store
If you’re having problems purchasing items or accessing the items you purchased from the iTunes Store, you may need to submit a support request to Apple. Fortunately, the iTunes Store has an excellent support team waiting to respond to your issue. Click the “Support” link in the Quick Links section of the iTunes Store home page to get started.
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Giving iTunes Gifts
You’ve seen how easy it is to click the “Buy” button and download music through your Apple Account. But what if you’d like to buy music for someone else and let him download it to his own computer? The iTunes Store provides several easy and convenient ways to do this.
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Allowance: Set up an allowance when you want to let your kids buy a preset amount of music without a credit card. You can set a monthly amount between $10 and $200.
- Click the “Buy iTunes Gifts” link on the iTunes Store home page, and then click the “Allowances” link.
- In the setup window that opens, fill in the required information (the recipient needs an Apple Account), then click “Continue.”
- A window opens asking you to confirm your purchase. Check the information, then click the “Buy” button.
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Gift certificates: Because gift certificates can be emailed and printed, they’re a great idea for last-minute gifts that otherwise don’t have a chance of getting there on time.
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- Click the “Buy iTunes Gifts” link on the iTunes Store home page, then choose a delivery method: “Email” or “Printable.”
- In the form that opens, fill in the required information. Use the “Amount” pop-up menu to select an amount from $10 to $200. Click “Continue.”
- Enter your Apple Account ID and password, then click “Continue.”
- In the “Confirm Your Purchase” window, click the “Buy” button.
Gift cards: Here’s another solution for a gift or for someone who doesn’t have a credit card—purchase gift cards. To redeem an iTunes Gift Card, the recipient clicks on the “Redeem” link on the iTunes Store home page, then follows the instructions. You can also redeem gift cards on the iPhone and iPod Touch.
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Gift music: You can purchase music and videos for others using the “Gift This Music” option. Just click the “Gift This Music” button on any page in the iTunes Store. iTunes will help you select the songs and send your gift.
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You can also create a playlist on your computer and then send the entire playlist as a gift.
- Create a playlist, and then fill it with songs and videos.
- Click the Gift button to send the music to others. In the window that opens, click the “Give Playlist” button.
- Enter the recipient’s information, click the “Continue” button, and then click the “Buy Gift” button.
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Shopping cart: Use a shopping cart if you want to store song selections and buy them later, or if you want to review the music that your children have chosen before it’s purchased. To set up a Shopping Cart:
- From the iTunes menu, choose “Preferences....”
- Click the “Store” button to open the Store preferences pane.
- Select “Buy using a Shopping Cart.” Music is added to your cart when you click an “Add” button. To purchase and download a
single song in the shopping cart, click its “Buy Song” button. To purchase and download all songs in the shopping cart, click “Buy Now” at the bottom of the window.
To remove songs from the shopping cart, select “Shopping Cart” in the Source pane. Select a song in the Shopping Cart and click the tiny Delete button that appears to the right of the “Buy Song” button.
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