Chapter 16: Work with Digital Music Files

How to…

• Listen to CDs and digital music files

• Manage playlists

• Burn music CDs

• Listen to audio books

When Apple first released iTunes, no one realized just how far the company would go with digital music. This simple jukebox application later spawned Apple’s successful iPod, which lets you carry your digital music with you, and, more recently, the iTunes Music Store, that you can use to purchase and download digital music files.

Digital music files, such as MP3 files, which compress music to about one-tenth of its size, have changed the way music is listened to and stored. You can now put the equivalent of ten CDs on just one compact disc by creating digital music files from your music. If you have an iPod, Apple’s portable digital music player, you can store thousands of songs. The amount of music you can put on your iPod is not measured in hours like for other digital music players, but in days.

iTunes is the Mac OS X digital music nerve center. It lets you rip, or create, your own digital music files from CDs you own; it lets you organize and play back these files; it lets you burn CDs from your digital music files; and it transfers your music to your iPod. You can also use iTunes to purchase music, listen to audio books and Internet radio stations, and even share your music with other users on your network.

In this chapter, I’ll tell you all about iTunes: how to rip digital music files, create playlists, burn music CDs from your files, listen to audio books, access Internet radio stations, and purchase digital music from the iTunes Music Store. I’ll also talk about using an iPod and other MP3 players, transferring music from iTunes to your portable music device.