Customizing iTunes and Your Music

iTunes provides extensive control over how its window looks and how your music sounds when you play it. You can customize the iTunes window itself, and there are several ways you can control how your music sounds. For example, you can configure the iTunes effects preferences and can use the built-in iTunes Equalizer.

Configuring the iTunes Window

There are several ways in which you can customize the iTunes window.

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Remember that you can control iTunes from the Dock or by using the iTunes widget. Sometimes, hiding iTunes and just using the Dock or widget controls to control your tunes is most convenient.

If you click the Maximize button (the green one), the iTunes window shrinks down so that only the playback controls and information window are shown; this is called the mini-player (see Figure 18.22). In this mode, you will see the window, playback, and volume controls along with the Information window. You can drag the resize handle to the left to further reduce the size by hiding the Information window. Click the Maximize button again to restore the iTunes window to its previous size.

Figure 18.22. In this mode, the iTunes window takes up much less screen real estate.

Of course, in the full-size mode, you can manually resize the window by dragging its resize handle. Making it larger displays more information; making it smaller displays less. The window has a minimum size that is quite a bit larger than the reduced size you get with the Maximize button.

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If you click the Close button in the iTunes window, its window disappears but the music continues to play. When you move from iTunes into another application, such as the Finder, and then back into iTunes, its window appears again. You can also display the window by selecting Window, iTunes.

You can also change the relative size of the Source pane or Browser by dragging their resize handles; these are dots that appear in the center of the bars between the various panes.

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Unfortunately, iTunes doesn't have a full-screen command (except when you use the Visualizer). You have to set the maximum size of the iTunes window manually using its resize handle.

Configuring Views for Sources

As you have seen, iTunes displays a lot of information for the songs shown in the Content pane, such as song name, track number, artist, and so on. What you might not know is that you can choose the information shown. Even better, you can choose to display different information for different sources; iTunes will remember your preferences for each source and use them each time you view that source. Use the following steps to configure the information that will be displayed for a specific source:

1.	Select the source whose information you want to configure.
2.	Select Edit, View Options (-J). The View Options window will appear; the name of the selected source appears at the top of the window. The rest of the window consists of check boxes for each attribute you can choose to display (see Figure 18.23). Figure 18.23. Using the View Options window, you can configure the information shown for the source displayed at the top of the box.
3.	Check the check boxes for the attributes (the columns) you want to see in the Content pane when you select that source. You can select from among many options, including Album, Artist, Comment, Date Added, Genre, and so on.
4.	Uncheck the check boxes for those columns you don't want to see when you view the source.
5.	Click OK. When you select the source, you will see only the columns whose check boxes you checked.

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You can also customize the view for a source by holding down the Control key while you click (or right-clicking) in a column heading. A pop-up menu appears and you can quickly add or remove individual columns. You can also have iTunes automatically size one column or all the columns in the window.

The custom view you create is saved and appears each time you select that source. You can have different view options for each source you view (meaning your Library, every playlist, each CD, and so on).

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Remember that you can drag columns around in the window to change the order in which they appear, resize them, and so on. These tools enable you to completely customize the Content pane for any source you use.

Using iTunes Effects

iTunes includes three effects preferences you can set to control how music sounds. These effects are configured on the Audio pane of the iTunes Preferences dialog box:

1.	Open the iTunes Preferences window and click the Audio icon. The Audio preferences pane will appear.
2.	Use the Crossfade Playback check box and slider to control the amount of silent time between songs in your playlists. To control this time, check the box and use the slider to set the amount of silent time. If the slider is set to 0, there will be no silence; one song will fade directly into the next. Set the slider to a value up to 12 seconds to have that amount of silence between tracks.
3.	The Sound Enhancer check box and slider enable iTunes to apply digital effects to your music to improve its quality (that is a matter of opinion, of course). To use this feature, check the Sound Enhancer check box and use the slider to set the relative amount of enhancing iTunes does.
4.	To have iTunes automatically adjust the volume of each song as it plays to the same relative level, check the Sound Check check box. This avoids dramatic changes in volume level when you listen to various music.
5.	Click OK. The effects you configured are applied to all your music as you play it.

Using the iTunes Equalizer

iTunes includes a graphic equalizer you can use to fine-tune the music you listen to. As with hardware graphic equalizers, you can adjust the relative volume levels of various audio frequencies to suit your preferences. Unlike with hardware graphic equalizers, you can select different preset configurations and create your own configurations. You can apply an equalizer configuration to your music even down to individual songs so each tune can have its own equalization.

To work with the Equalizer, perform the following steps:

1.	Click the Equalizer button; select Window, Equalizer; or press -2. The Equalizer window will appear (see Figure 18.24). Figure 18.24. These Equalizer settings are designed to emphasize bass and treble frequencies.
2.	To activate the Equalizer, check the On check box (it is on by default).
3.	Select the Equalizer preset configuration you want from the pop-up menu. All iTunes music you play is adjusted according to the preset you selected.

Use the following ideas as you equalize your own music:

• Use the Preamp slider to change the relative volume level for a song. This is useful when a piece of music is recorded at a particularly high or low volume level.

• Create your own Equalizer settings by dragging the slider for each frequency to the relative volume level at which you want that frequency to be played. When you do so, Manual appears in the pop-up menu to indicate you are using manual settings.

• Add your custom Equalizer settings to the pop-up menu by configuring the Equalizer and selecting Make Preset from the pop-up menu. In the Make Preset dialog box, name your preset and click OK. Your preset will be added to the list and you can choose it just as you can one of the default presets.

• Edit the list of presets by selecting Edit List from the pop-up menu. The Edit Presets dialog box will appear. You can use this to rename or delete any of the presets, including the default presets.

When you configure the Equalizer, it will be applied to all the songs you play. However, you can also associate Equalizer presets with specific songs:

1.	Select the song to which you want to apply a preset.
2.	Select File, Get Info or press -I. The Song Info window will appear.
3.	Click the Options tab.
4.	On the Equalizer Preset pop-up menu, select the preset you want to be used for that song.
5.	Click OK. When that song plays, the Equalizer settings will be used.

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If you frequently apply equalizer presets to individual songs, use the View Options window to have the Equalizer column displayed in the Content pane. This column includes an Equalizer preset pop-up menu from which you can choose a preset for the songs shown in the Content pane.