Mac OS X to the Max: More Music In this section, you will see a list of iTunes keyboard shortcuts, get an overview of using iTunes to listen to music on the Internet, and learn about some commands on the Advanced menu. Using iTunes Keyboard Shortcuts Table 16.2 lists helpful iTunes keyboard shortcuts. Table 16.2. iTunes Keyboard ShortcutsAction | Shortcut |
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Add to Library |  -O
| Eject Disc | -E | Full Screen (visual) | -F | Get Info | -I | Hide/Show Browser | -B | Hide/Show iTunes Window | -1 | Higher Volume | -up arrow | Lower Volume | -down arrow | Mute | -Option-down arrow | New Playlist | -N | New Playlist From Selection | Shift--N | New Smart Playlist | Option--N | Next Song | -right arrow | Open Stream | -U | Play/Pause | Spacebar | Preferences | -, | Previous Song | -left arrow | Select All | -A | Select None | Shift--A | Show Current Song | -L | Show Song File | -R | Turn Visual On/Off | -T | View Options | -J |
Using iTunes to Listen to Internet Radio You can use iTunes to listen to various Internet radio broadcasts. To do so, follow these steps: Select Radio as the source. The application downloads the current list of available genres and presents them in the Content pane. Click the Expansion triangle next to a genre to view the channels available in that genre. Select the channel you want to play and press the spacebar.
The selected channel begins to stream to your Mac; when the prebuffer is full, it begins to play. When you first select the Radio source, iTunes downloads the list of available genres and channels. You can refresh this list at any time by clicking the Action button, which is called Refresh when the Radio Tuner source is selected. When iTunes plays audio from the Internet, it first stores it in a buffer so it can play back smoothly even if your Internet connection is slow or is getting interrupted. If you experience starting and stopping when listening to Internet sources, adjust the size of the iTunes buffer. Do this by using the Streaming Buffer Size pop-up menu on the Advanced tab of the iTunes Preferences window. Some of the channels are live, whereas some are just large playlists stored on the Internet. When you listen to one that is a playlist, it is repeated until you stop playing it. Using iTunes Advanced Commands The iTunes Advanced menu contains the following commands: Open Stream This command enables you to enter the URL of an audio stream to listen to it. Convert Selection to Format Use this command to convert audio files to the format indicated by Format. The format shown on the menu is determined by the encoding format you have selected on the Importing tab of the iTunes Preferences window. To convert a track into this format, select it and select the command. Consolidate Library Use this command to move copies of all the music you are managing in iTunes but that is currently stored outside the iTunes folder into the iTunes folder. Get CD Track Names When you select an audio CD, use this command to update its song information from the Internet. Submit CD Track Names If iTunes is unable to find a CD, you can use this command to submit track information to the database. Join CD Tracks Use this command to combine tracks on a CD into a single track with no gaps between the songs. Select the tracks you want to join and then select the command. The tracks are played as a unit. Remove Audible Account Use this command to remove the Audible.com account from your Mac. If you haven't configured any Audible content on your machine, you won't see this command. Deauthorize Computer Use this command when you want to remove the current Mac from being one of three allowed to play music you have purchased from the Apple Music Store. Check for Purchased Music Use this to ensure that you have downloaded all the music you have purchased, such as when your Internet connection is interrupted while you are downloading music from the store. Convert ID3 Tags This command is used to convert the tag information among various formats. If the tags for songs you add to your Library are incorrect, you can try this command to see whether you can correct them. You can also use this command if you want to share music with an application that doesn't use the same tag format iTunes does.
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