Tips for Customizing and More


Customizing Columns

You can specify which columns of information iTunes displays in its windowsto remove columns you never use, or to add ones that iTunes normally doesn't display.

One way to customize columns is to use the Edit menu's View Options command. Here's an easier way: Control-click on any column heading, and uncheck or check columns in the shortcut menu.

You can also use the shortcut menu to automatically resize columns to fit the longest item in each one. And you can change the order of the columns themselves, moving them left and right to suit your tastes. To move a column, click on its heading and then drag left or right.

It's worth mentioning that you can customize columns on a playlist-by-playlist basis. For example, if you want to see the Composer column when viewing a favorite classical music playlist, click on the playlist's name in the Source list, then display the Composer column using the techniques described here.

Customizing Link Arrows

As described on page 39, link arrows appear next to all the songs in your library. Click a link arrow, and iTunes beams you to the music store and displays relevant songs. Option-click an arrow, and iTunes switches into browse mode and displays relevant songs in your library.

By using an AppleScript that you can download from this book's companion Web site, you can reverse this behavior so that a simple click switches you to browse mode and an Option-click takes you to the music store.

To download the script and instructions, go to www.macilife.com/itunes.

Rating Your Songs

iTunes lets you express your inner music critic by assigning a rating of between one and five stars to songs. You don't have to assign ratings, but if you do, you can use the Ratings category as a criterion when creating smart playlists. You can also have iTunes take ratings into account when compiling Party Shuffle playlists (page 77).

The fastest way to rate a song is to Control-click on it and then choose the desired rating from the My Rating popup menu.

You can also rate songs by clicking within the My Ratings column in the iTunes window or by opening the Options portion of the Song Info dialog box. And finally, you can rate the song that is currently playing by using the iTunes icon in your dock. Control-click on the iTunes icon, and a pop-up menu appears. Use the My Ratings submenu to assign a rating.

Your Own PDFs

On page 39, I mentioned that some songs on the iTunes Music Store include liner notes in PDF form. You can add your own PDFs to your iTunes music library. Scan a CD booklet, and then save it as a PDF. Find some lyrics on a Web site? Save them as a PDF. (Mac OS X makes it easy to create a PDF: just choose a program's Print command and then use the PDF options in the Print dialog box.) Then, drag the PDF into your iTunes window to add it to your library.

Doug Adams has created an AppleScript that associates a PDF with a specific artist or album. The script is called PDF Adder, and you can get it at Doug's site (www.dougscripts.com).

Watch Me Listen

While you're listening, iTunes is watching: the program keeps track of how many times you listen to a song and when you last listened to it.

iTunes displays this audio odometer in its Play Count and Last Played columns. This means you can sort your music library or a playlist according to how many times you listened to a song (click the Play Count column heading) or when you last listened to it (click the Last Played column heading). Note that you'll probably have to scroll the iTunes window to the right to see these columns.

Get links for even more sources of free music, radio, and video. www.macilife.com/itunes


You can also use these data as criteria when creating a smart playlist (see pages 5053)have iTunes create a playlist of your favorite songs or of those you haven't listened to lately.

iTunes uses its play-count records for other tasks. Play count can factor into whether a song is included in the Party Shuffle playlist (page 77). Play count also comes into play if you've told iTunes to create an iPod Selection playlist (page 101).

Customizing the Source List

I've mentioned it elsewhere, but it's worth repeating: you can customize the Source list by using the Preferences dialog box. Most of your customizing opportunities lurk within the General pane: that's where you can change the font size iTunes displays; show or hide Party Shuffle and Videos; and show link arrows.

To control whether the Music Store and Radio items appear in the Source list, use the Parental portion of the Preferences dialog box. Note that if you disable the music store, you'll also lose link arrows and, therefore, the ability to jump to related songs in your local library.

Tip

When the Preferences dialog box is open, you can use keyboard shortcuts to access specific panes. Press -1 for General, -2 for iPod, -3 for Podcasts, and so on.


More iTunes Food: Free Music and More

I've already mentioned that Apple offers a free weekly song download. Many Web sites also publish links to freebies; see iLounge (www.ilounge.com) and Playlist magazine (www.playlistmag.com/downloads).

Peer-to-peer networks. Although record industry executives wouldn't want me to say so, you can also download music using utilities such as Acquisition (www.acquisitionx.com) and LimeWire (www.limewire.com), both of which access peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. Put on your eye patch firstmost of the songs available through file-swapping networks have been shared without the permission of their copyright holders.

The Internet Archive. Another bottomless repository of free musicand videois the Internet Archive (www.archive.org). Here you'll find tens of thousands of public-domain or otherwise free recordings, live concert and club recordings, cartoons, films, and more.

Most the audio files are available in MP3 format, and the video files are often provided in multiple formats. (As described on page 97, you can use iTunes and other tools to convert video into formats playable on an iPod.)

Podiobooks. Check out www.podiobooks.com, where you can download free audiobooks in podcast form.

RadioLovers. Like old-time radio? At www.radiolovers.com, you can download thousands of old shows, from Gunsmoke to Buck Rodgers and beyond.

Democracy. This innovative "software tuner" software brings Internet TV to your desktop and makes finding interesting video easier than ever. You can learn more and download the free software at www.getdemocracy.com.

You. With products such as El Gato's EyeTV, you can record favorite TV shows and then add them to your iTunes libraryand your iPod. And, of course, you can create your own music and movies in GarageBand and iMovie HD and add your efforts to your iTunes library.

Regardless of where your other items come from, you can add them to your iTunes music library by simply dragging them into the iTunes window or by using the File menu's Add to Library command.

For details on adding items to your iTunes library, see the following pages.




The Macintosh iLife '06
The Macintosh iLife 06
ISBN: 0321426541
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 229
Authors: Jim Heid

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