Organizing Your Music with the iTunes Library, Standard Playlists, and Smart Playlists


So far, listening to music with iTunes isn't that much different from using a regular CD player (aside from the ability to store all your music in one place and download music from the Internet and the iTunes Music Store, that is). The real power of iTunes is in the capability to completely customize your music.

Labeling Your Music

One of the great things about iTunes is that it helps you keep your music organized and accessible with just a few clicks or a quick search. You can also use playlists to customize music to play any way you want it. However, for these tasks to work well, you need to label your music appropriately.

The good news is that most of the time, iTunes handles this for you when you add music from a CD or the iTunes Music Store to your Library. The music's information, such as album title, artist, genre, song titles, and so on, is associated with the music automatically. For those times when the appropriate information isn't found (such as when you add a CD that can't be found in the online database) or when you want to add to or change information associated with music, you can use the Info window to add or change information associated with your music.

The Information window contains the following panes (see Figure 18.15):

  • Summary Use this tab to get general information about the song, such as title, artist, album, encoding method, and so on.

  • Info This tab enables you to apply various tags to the song, such as its artist, album, year, track number, and genre. You can also add comments about the song. These tags are searched when you perform a search using the iTunes Search tool.

  • Options Using this tab, you can change the relative volume level of a song, apply an Equalizer preset, rate it, and control the start and stop playback times.

  • Artwork This tab shows any artwork associated with the song. For example, when you purchase music from the Music Store, the album artwork is downloaded along with the song. You can also add artwork to or remove artwork from a song by using the Add or Delete button on the Artwork tab. You can even associate multiple graphics with the same song and cycle through them with the slider.

Figure 18.15. The iTunes Info window enables you to view, add, and change information related to music in your Library.


To learn how to choose and view album artwork, p. 567.


Viewing Summary Information for Music

To access a song's summary information, use the following steps:

1.

Select a song.

2.

Select File, Get Info; press -I; or select Get Info on the song's contextual menu. The Song Info window will open.

3.

Click the Summary tab if it isn't selected already. Information about the selected song appears (refer to Figure 18.15). The Summary tab provides detailed information (despite being called the Summary tab) about a song, such as where it is stored and the technical information related to how it was encoded.

4.

To see the next or previous song in the selected source, click the Previous or Next button, respectively.

5.

Click OK when you are done viewing this information. The Info window will close.

Viewing or Changing a Song's Tags

To make browsing and searching efficient, you should ensure that your music has the appropriate information associated with it. To view or change a song's tags, use the following steps:

1.

Select a song.

2.

Select File, Get Info; press -I; or select Get Info on the song's contextual menu. The Song Info window will open.

3.

Click the Info tab to see the information that is currently applied to the selected song (see Figure 18.16). If you have imported the song from a CD or purchased it from the iTunes Music Store, the name of the song (which appears at the top of the Song Information window), artist, album, track number, and genre were likely filled in when you added the song to your Library. In many cases, that is all the information you need.

Figure 18.16. The Info tab of the Song Information window provides detailed tags for a song; these are useful for categorizing your music.


4.

To change any of the song's tags, enter or edit the information shown in the various fields. For example, you can change the song's name or add comments about the song in the Comments field.

5.

You can associate the song with a genre by selecting a genre on the Genre pop-up menu.

TIP

You can add your own genres to the Genre pop-up menu. Open the menu and select Custom. The Genre field then becomes editable, and you can type the genre you want to add. It is added to the menu, and you can associate it with songs just like the genres included by default.

6.

Click OK to save the changes you made to the song's information.

Setting a Song's Options

You can configure some specific options for a song by using the Options tab of the Song Information window:

1.

Open the Song Info window for a song and click the Options tab (see Figure 18.17).

Figure 18.17. The Options tab enables you to set a song's relative volume, equalizer, and other settings.


2.

To change the relative volume of the song, drag the Volume Adjustment slider to the right to make the song play louder than normal or to the left to make the song play quieter than normal. This is especially useful when you include songs in playlists from a variety of sources because you can equalize the relative volume levels of those songs.

3.

To apply an Equalizer preset to the song, use the Equalizer Preset pop-up menu. (You'll learn more about the Equalizer later in this chapter.)

4.

To apply a rating to the song, click the dot in the My Rating field for the number of stars you want to give the song, from one to five.

NOTE

You can apply a rating to the songs in your Library to indicate how much you like or dislike them. You can use these ratings to sort the Content pane, and you can use them in smart playlists. To rate a song from the iTunes window, Control-click it and select My Ratings on the contextual menu. Select your rating for the song (from one to five stars).

5.

To start playing the song at some point other than its beginning, check the Start Time check box and enter the start time in minutes and seconds. When you play the song, it starts at the time you input. Using the Start Time option is a great way to get rid of interviews or talking at the start of a track. This content can be interesting once or twice, but probably not every time you hear the song. Just set the song to start when the talking is done and you won't ever have to hear it again.

6.

To stop playing the song before it reaches its end, check the Stop Time check box and enter the time at which you want the song to stop in minutes and seconds. When the song reaches this point, it stops playing.

7.

Click OK to apply the options to the song.

TIP

Many of the items in the Song Information window can be applied to multiple songs simultaneously. For example, you can select several songs, open the Song Information window, and apply a genre to all the selected songs at the same time (you are prompted to make sure you understand you are changing multiple songs). Doing this saves a lot time when you need to apply the same information to a group of songs.


Browsing and Listening to Music in Your iTunes Library

After you have added songs to your Library, you listen to them just like songs on an audio CD:

1.

Select the Library as the source.

2.

Click the Browse action button to open the Browser if it isn't open already.

3.

Select the Genre in which you are interested; leave All selected if you want to browse all genres of music in your Library.

4.

Click an artist or album that contains the songs you want to hear. The lower pane of the window shows the contents of whatever you select in the upper pane of the window. For example, to see all the albums by an artist, click that artist's name. In the Album pane, all the albums for that artist are shown. To see the tracks on an album, click its name in the Album column. In the Content pane of the window, all the tracks on the selected album are listed. To see all the contents of a selected item again, click All.

5.

In the lower pane, select the song you want to listen to and click the Play button, or just double-click the song.

TIP

In the panes of the Browse window, you see All at the top of each list. When you select All, all the items in that part of the window are selected (and played if you click the Play button). For example, if you select an artist in the Artist column, select All in the Album column, and click Play, all the albums by that artist are played.


The other controls work just as they do for a CD, such as the Repeat button, Shuffle button, and so on. You can also use the check box to skip songs and play a song by double-clicking it just as you can when you listen to a CD.

If iTunes can't find a song you have added to the Library, see "iTunes Can't Find a Song in My Library" in the "Troubleshooting" section at the end of this chapter.


Using Playlists to Create Your Own Albums

Playlists are a great way to listen to your music because a playlist is really a custom album you create. Your playlists can contain any music that will play in any order you choose. And you can have as many playlists as you'd like to create.

There are two types of playlists: playlists and smart playlists. Playlists contain a fixed set of songs you select. Smart playlists use a set of criteria you define to select the contents of the playlist, and the contents of smart playlists can be dynamic, meaning they change over time.

Creating and Using Playlists

You can create your own playlists and add any songs in your Library to them. The contents of a playlist remain the same until you change them manually. You can add the same songs to more than one playlist and add songs to the same playlist more than one time. To create a playlist and add music to it, do the following:

1.

Click the New Playlist button; select File, New Playlist; or press -N. You will see a new, untitled playlist in the Source pane.

2.

Name the new playlistyou can just start typing because the name is highlighted and ready to edit immediately after you create it. (You can also edit a playlist name by clicking it and waiting a second or so until the name becomes highlighted.)

TIP

A great way to get a playlist started is to select the songs you want it to contain and then select File, New Playlist From Selection (or press Shift--N). A new playlist is created and the songs you selected are added to it. If all the songs you select are from the same album, the name of the playlist you create will be the album's name.

3.

Click Library to select it as the source.

4.

Browse or search your Library to locate songs you want to add to the new playlist.

5.

Drag the tracks you want to add from the Content pane of the Library onto the name of the playlist you created (the playlist is highlighted when the songs you are dragging are on top of it).

TIP

You can add the same song to the same playlist as many times as you'd like to hear it play.

6.

Continue adding tracks to the playlist.

7.

Select the playlist in the Source pane to see its contents (see Figure 18.18).

Figure 18.18. This playlist contains songs from several instrumental albums.


8.

Set the order in which the tracks will play by dragging them up or down in the Content pane.

At the bottom of the iTunes window, the number of songs in the playlist, their total playing time, and the size of the files you have referenced in the playlist are shown. Because a playlist contains only pointers to tracks, its file size is quite small. However, this size information for the files it references is useful when you want to place the playlist on a portable music player or when you want to burn a CD. You can use the size information to ensure that the playlist will fit in the device's available storage space.

Listening to a playlist is just like listening to a CD or other source. Select the playlist you want to hear and use the iTunes playback controls to listen to it.

NOTE

Playlists have a light blue icon containing a musical note. Smart playlists have a purple icon containing a gear. These icons enable you to easily understand the type of playlist you are working with.


Creating and Using Smart Playlists

Playlists are cool because they enable you to create custom albums for your listening pleasure. However, building playlists by manually dragging songs into them can get tedious. And, listening to the same playlists over and over can get a bit dull. This is where smart playlists come in.

Smart playlists are generated by defining a set of criteria for the music you want to be included in the playlist rather than selecting individual songs. Even better, each time you play that playlist, the specific songs included can be determined dynamically by applying the playlist's criteria to your Library. For example, iTunes comes with the Recently Played smart playlist. By default, this playlist contains the songs you have played in the past two weeks. The contents of this playlist change over time as you listen to different music, and, unless you listen only to this playlist, it will never be exactly the same twice.

The criteria you use for a smart playlist can be based on one or more attributes, and you can limit the size of the playlists to a specific number of songs.

To create a smart playlist, follow these steps:

1.

Hold down the Option key and click the New Playlist button; select File, New Smart Playlist; or press Option--N. The Smart Playlist window will appear (see Figure 18.19).

Figure 18.19. The Smart Playlist dialog box enables you to create a complex playlist based on multiple criteria.


2.

Select the first criterion on which you want to base the condition on the first pop-up menu. For example, select Genre to base the condition on the music's genre. Artist is selected by default.

3.

Select how you want the criterion to be searched on the second pop-up menu. What appears on this pop-up menu depends on the criterion you selected. For example, if you choose a text condition, such as Genre, your choices include "contains," "is," "is not," and so on. If you choose a numeric condition, such as time, your choices include "is," "is not," "is greater than," "is in the range," and so on.

4.

Enter the text or numbers for the condition in the box that appears at the end of the condition's row. For example, if you select Genre, you could type Jazz or Rock. If you select time, you could enter the length of the songs you want to be included.

NOTE

The specific information you enter as the condition to search by depends on the attribute on which you base a condition. In some cases, you don't enter search text but choose something else such as your rating by selecting the number of stars. In other situations, you can make a choice on a pop-up menu.

5.

Click the plus sign. Another condition is added to the smart playlist.

6.

Repeat steps 24 to configure the condition you added.

7.

If you want to add more conditions, repeat steps 5 and 6.

8.

Keep adding and configuring conditions until you have added all that you want to include in the smart playlist. Notice that at the top of the Smart Playlist window, a pop-up menu appears when you include more than one condition.

9.

On the Match pop-up menu at the top of the window, choose "all" if all the conditions need to be met for a song to be included in the playlist or choose "any" if only one of the conditions needs to be met for a song to be included in the playlist.

TIP

To remove a condition from a smart playlist, click the minus sign next to that condition.

10.

If you want to limit the playlist to a certain number of songs, amount of time, or file size, check the "Limit to" check box. Enter the value you want to use for the limit. Select the parameter by which you want to limit the playlist on the pop-up menu (for example, select "songs" to limit it to a specific number of songs), and then choose how you want the songs to be selected on the "selected by" pop-up menu. Suppose you want to include only 50 songs in the playlist and want them selected by those that are most played. Your input would be 50 in the text box, "songs" on the first pop-up menu, and "most often played" on the second pop-up menu.

11.

If you want the playlist to include only songs whose check box you have checked, check the "Match only checked songs" box. If this check box is checked, skipped songs are also skipped by the playlist. If it is not checked, unchecked songs will be included in the playlist if they meet its conditions.

12.

If you want the content of the playlist to change over time, check the "Live updating" check box. Each time you play the playlist, iTunes selects the songs it plays based on the latest information. For example, if the playlist is based on genre and you add a new album from the genre to your Library, that album would be added to the playlist automatically.

If you don't check this check box, the playlist contains songs based on the music as it existed in your Library when you created the playlist.

13.

Review the conditions to make sure you have defined them as you want them (see Figure 18.20).

Figure 18.20. This smart playlist plays 50 jazz songs I have rated with four or five stars and have played most recently. Because it is updated live, as I listen to music that meets the criteria, that music is added to the playlist automatically.


14.

Click OK, and the new smart playlist appears in the Source pane.

15.

Rename the smart playlist as needed (iTunes attempts to name the playlist based on its conditions; this might or might not result in the name you want to use).

16.

Select the playlist. Its current contents will be displayed in the Content pane.

You can play a smart playlist just like other sources with which you work. If it is a dynamic playlist, it contents will change over time.

TIP

One great use for smart playlists is to automatically collect all the music in your Library from the same artist. Create a smart playlist with the artist's name as a condition and enable the live updating feature. Whenever you add more music from that artist to your Library, such as by importing a CD or buying music from the iTunes Music Store, the new music is added to the smart playlist automatically.


You can also edit the default smart playlists Apple has provided for you or smart playlists you create:

1.

Select the smart playlist you want to edit.

2.

Select File, Get Info (-I) or select File, Edit Smart Playlist. The Smart Playlist dialog box will appear. Because you selected an existing smart playlist, its search conditions will be shown in the window.

3.

Use the controls to edit a smart playlist in the same way as when you create a smart playlist.

4.

When you are done making changes, click OK. The playlist will use the updated conditions the next time you play it.

NOTE

The Purchased Music source is actually a special smart playlist that collects all the music you purchase from the iTunes Music Store. As you purchase music, each song you buy is added to the Purchased Music playlist automatically. (In case you are wondering, you can't change this playlist.)


Browsing Playlists

You can browse playlists just as you browse your entire library:

1.

Select the playlist you want to browse.

2.

Select Edit, Show Browser or press -B. The Browser appears at the top of the window, and you can view the genre, artist, and album information for the songs included in the playlist.

Opening Playlists

If you double-click a playlist, it opens in a separate and independent iTunes window. This makes working with playlists easy, especially when you are building them. You can open a playlist's window and more easily drag tracks from the iTunes window onto the playlist's window to add them to it. You can also use a playlist window to reorganize it, play it, and perform other playlist tasks.

Deleting Music from the iTunes Library

You can delete entire playlists, delete specific songs from a playlist, or remove songs from the Library by selecting the items you want to remove and pressing Delete. You then see a warning dialog box; if you click OK, the playlist or song is removed (when you remove a song from a playlist, the original file is not affected). If you select a track in the Library to remove the related file you created using iTunes, you see a second dialog box asking whether you want iTunes to place the original file in the Trash. If you click OK, the file is also moved to the Trash. If you click Cancel, the original file remains on your Mac (you can add it back to the Library if you want to listen to it again).

Listening to Your Music with the Party Shuffle

The Party Shuffle playlist, which is on the Source pane by default, enables you to choose a variety of music to listen to on-the-fly. When you use the Party Shuffle, you choose a source, which can be any of the other playlists shown in the Source pane or the entire Library. When you play it, iTunes will shuffle and play the music in the playlist that you select (which is where the name came from, I suppose).

TIP

If you don't want the Party Shuffle playlist to be visible, uncheck its check box on the General pane of the iTunes Preferences window.


To use the Party Shuffle, perform the following steps:

1.

Click Party Shuffle on the Source list. The current contents of the playlist will be shown in the Content pane.

2.

On the Source pop-up menu, located at the bottom of the Content pane, choose the playlist from which you want the Party Shuffle to play music (see Figure 18.21). On this menu, you will see the Library along with all the playlists that appear in the Source pane. The current song is highlighted with a 3D effect. Songs that have already played are above the highlighted song and are grayed out. Upcoming songs are shown below the current song.

Figure 18.21. The Party Shuffle playlist is a great way to listen to your other playlists because it randomly selects the order of the songs it plays.


3.

If you rate your music and want the songs you rate higher to be played more frequently, check the "Play higher rated songs more often" check box.

4.

Use the two Display pop-up menus to configure how songs are shown in the Content pane. Use the upper pop-up menu to determine how many songs that have already played are shown in the pane. Use the lower pop-up menu to show how many upcoming songs are shown.

5.

Use the playback controls to play the Party Shuffle. iTunes will start playing the highlighted song and continue through the playlist in the order in which the songs are shown on the list.

TIP

Click the Refresh action button to cause the Party Shuffle to select a new set of upcoming songs.




Special Edition Using MAC OS X Tiger
Special Edition Using Mac OS X Tiger
ISBN: 0789733919
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 317
Authors: Brad Miser

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