Adding Music from iTunes

When the first version of iMovie appeared, the idea of storing one's music as MP3 files on a hard disk hadn't yet caught on. Now, however, iTunes can rip and store thousands of songs, all of which are ready to be added to your iMovie project.

To locate songs in your iTunes library:

1. Switch to the Audio pane. Your iTunes library is listed in the main window (Figure 10.16).

   Figure 10.16. You don't have to leave iMovie to import your digital music everything in iTunes is available.

   

2. Scroll through the list to find the song you want to use, or click the popup menu to choose from your iTunes playlists (Figure 10.17).

   Figure 10.17. The popup menu lists your iTunes playlists to help narrow your search.

   

   Or, type a word in the Search field if you're looking for a particular song or artist name. The list updates as you type (Figure 10.18). Click the Cancel button (with the white X on it) to clear the field and return to the full list.

   Figure 10.18. Type the name of a song or artist into the Search field to display only the matches in the list.

   

To listen to an iTunes song:

1. Select a song in the iTunes library.

2. Click the round Play Audio button to play the track from the beginning.

   Click the button again to stop playing.

Tips

• Set up a custom iMovie playlist in iTunes that contains the music you want to use for a particular project to help you find songs faster.

• The Search field only looks for song titles and artist names.

To add music from iTunes:

1. Position the Playhead in the Timeline Viewer where you want the song to begin.

2. Click the Place at Playhead button; the audio clip is imported and appears on the Timeline's lower audio track.

   or

   Drag one or more songs from the iTunes list to either audio track in the Timeline Viewer (Figure 10.19).

   Figure 10.19. Drag songs directly from the Audio pane to the Timeline Viewer to add them to a movie.

   

Tips

• Click the column headings to sort the list. For example, I often click the Time column to find songs that fit within a given section of a movie (Figure 10.20).

  Figure 10.20. Sorting the iTunes library by time makes it easy to find music that matches the length of your video clips or sequences.

  

• iMovie can import any file format that iTunes can play, so you're not limited to just MP3 files.

• Music encoded in MP3 or AAC formats in iTunes are compressed, meaning that some audio data have been removed to make the file size smaller. Most people probably won't notice the difference, but some audiophiles can tell. If you need to use the highest-quality music in your movie, import the songs in AIFF format within iTunes.

• It's worth pointing out that nearly anything you import from iTunes is probably copyrighted material. For most people this is no problem, since only friends and family are likely to see their edited movies. But if you're planning to distribute the movie or play it for a lot of people, you need to get permission to use the music.