Chapter 1. Getting Music Into iTunes

As the MP3 music craze of the late 1990s swept across the globe, software programs for playing the new music files on the computer began to pop up around the Internet. If you're old enough, you may even remember using Mac programs like SoundApp, SoundJam MP, and MacAmp.

When iTunes debuted in January 2001, Apple reported that 275,000 people downloaded it in the first week. The iTunes software proved to be a versatile, robust all-around music management program made exclusively for Macintosh. And it was free .

Even in that first version of iTunes, you could import songs from a CD and convert them into MP3 files; play MP3s, audio CDs, and streaming Internet radio; create custom playlists; burn audio CDs without having to spring for extra CD burning software; zone out to groovy animated laser-light displays in the iTunes window while songs played ; and transfer music to a few pre-iPod, Mac-friendly portable MP3 players.

Today, iTunes is much more. In fact, it's the hub of the digital hub; it's the only iLife program that communicates directly with all four of the other iLife programs. Among many other feats, it lets you download perfectly legal music files from well-known artists using the Music Store feature and zip them over to your iPod in no time, all from within iTunes and without buying a single CD.

The version that came with your copy of iLife '05 is probably outdated at this point; Apple releases another version of iTunes every few months. But unlike the other iLife programs, iTunes is free. Each time Apple unleashes a new version, you'll be notified by Mac OS X's Software Update feature, which pops up on the screen and offers to update your copy via the Internet. Accept its invitation without fail.