- Browsing Through Your Library
- Searching for Songs
- Sorting Songs
- Playing and Pausing Songs
- Moving Around in a Song
- Options for Playing Multiple Songs
- Accessing and Playing Podcasts
- Controlling Volume
- Listening to Radio Streams
- Viewing Artwork
- Accessing and Playing Video
- Rating Songs
- Sharing Your Music
- Playing Music from Others' Libraries
- Dealing with Firewalls
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Listening to Radio Streams
The first thing both of us ever used iTunes for (oh so many years ago!) was listening to Internet radio streams while working, largely because all we needed to gain access to a reasonable selection of music was iTunes and an Internet connection. This is still the case.
iTunes provides access to a fairly large collection of streams. Some of these streams are offered by radio stations that also broadcast over the airwaves; others operate like radio stations (playing one song after another) but are Internet-only.
To listen to a radio stream:
- Click Radio in the Source pane (
Figure 3.28
).
Figure 3.28 Click Radio in the Source pane to get a list of the categories of streams available to you.
- Click the disclosure triangle to the left of one of the categories.
The triangle turns downward. After a second or so, a list of available radio streams appears (
Figure 3.29
).
Below the Detail pane, the number of streams available to you is listed.
Figure 3.29 Click the disclosure triangle next to a category to have iTunes contact the tuning service and return a list of streams available in that category.
- Play any of the radio streams listed by double-clicking one (or by using any of the other methods for playing a song described in "Playing and Pausing Songs" earlier in this chapter). Sometimes it takes a while to contact the server that's providing the streams.
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Ways to stop radio play:
- Click the Stop button (the square), located where the Pause button would normally be (
Figure 3.30
).
Figure 3.30 When you listen to an Internet radio stream, there's no Pause button—only a Stop button.
- Press the spacebar.
- From the Controls menu, choose Stop.
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To view the latest list of categories:
- Click the Refresh button at the top right of the iTunes window (refer to Figure 3.29), and iTunes will recontact the tuning service.
TIPs
- Dial-up-modem users should pick stations that are listed at 56 kbps or less.
- On the Advanced tab of the Preferences window, you can select a streaming buffer size of Small, Medium, or Large (
Figure 3.31
). The buffer size is a reflection of how much audio data should be downloaded before iTunes will play. If you request a small buffer, the stream will start more quickly, as long as you have a fast connection. If you have a slow connection (such as a dial-up modem), you'll want a large buffer, so enough music will be available for playback without stuttering.
Figure 3.31 If you have a slow Internet connection (such as dial-up), pick a larger buffer size.
- Once you locate a favorite radio stream, drag it to your library or to a playlist so you can access it quickly (
Figure 3.32
). This also lets you search for it, since iTunes can't search the Radio source. You'll be able to tell which are radio streams by the broadcast icon and by the fact that the time is listed as "Continuous."
Figure 3.32 Radio streams you've added to your library look like the selected listing above. Notice the broadcast icon and the fact that time is listed as "Continuous."
- To open all or close all of the Radio categories, Command-click (Mac) or Ctrl-click (Windows) any one disclosure triangle.
- Not ever going to use the iTunes Radio? You can get rid of it in the Source list. Open the Preferences window, make sure you're on the General tab, and, in the first group of checkboxes (labeled "Show") uncheck Radio.
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