IN THIS CHAPTER:
iTunes' foremost function is as a digital music organizer, a way for you to replace your bulky CD collection with a flexible, programmable digital music library that fits inside your computer. To accomplish this, naturally, you'll have to get your music into iTunes somehow. Recently, iTunes has added video playback to its repertoiremusic videos, TV shows, short films, videos downloaded from the Internet, and even home movies that you make with your own camcorder. Even though the software is still called iTunes, its features include video organizing methods and playback functions that turn it into a complete multimedia jukebox that stores all your favorite pieces of entertainment. Music you add to the iTunes Library comes from any of the following sources:
Similarly, videos can come from any of the following sources:
The iTunes Music Store, the method for acquiring new music and videos that requires the least effort and the fewest middlemen, is covered in Sign Up for the iTunes Music Store and related tasks in Chapter 4, "Using the iTunes Music Store." The tasks in this chapter cover the remaining methods of building your music and video collection, particularly the one for which the iTunes interface was primarily designed: importing music from your existing CD collection. The chapter begins with an introduction to the kinds of music and video files you will encounter while using iTunes, and the different types of entertainment items that iTunes organizes for you. |