Customizing Music PlaybackiTunes 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 two general ways you can control how your music sounds. You can configure the iTunes effects preferences, and you can use the built-in iTunes Equalizer. Configuring the iTunes WindowThere are several ways in which you can customize iTunes for music playback. TIP Remember that you can control iTunes from the Dock. Sometimes, hiding iTunes and just using the Dock 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 display area are shown (see Figure 16.21). You can use the resize handle to reduce the size of the window even further until only the playback, window, and volume controls are shown. Click the Maximize button again to restore the iTunes window to its full size. Figure 16.21. 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. TIP 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. Using iTunes EffectsiTunes includes three effects preferences you can set to control how music sounds. These effects are configured on the Effects pane of the iTunes Preferences dialog box:
Using the iTunes EqualizeriTunes 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:
Use the following ideas as you equalize your own music:
You can also associate Equalizer presets with specific songs:
If you frequently apply equalizer presets to songs, use the View Options dialog box 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 a song. |