The MP3 file format has revolutionized the way music is obtained and listened to. From the Napster controversy to pocket-size MP3 players to being able to store an entire music collection using only a few gigabytes of disk space, MP3 has had more effect on music than almost any other innovation (certainly any digital innovation, anyway). iTunes provides all the MP3 tools you need in order to listen to and create your own MP3 music. NOTE Depending on how you got your copy of iTunes, the Library might contain songs already. For example, if you purchased a new Mac that had iTunes installed on it, Apple might have preloaded some music in your Library. You can use or remove these songs as you prefer. Understanding MP3MP3 is the acronym for the audio compression scheme called Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) audio layer 3. The revolutionary aspect of the MP3 encoding scheme is that music data can be stored in files that are only about one twelfth the size of unencoded digital music without a noticeable degradation in the quality of the music. A typical music CD consumes about 650MB of storage space. The same music encoded in the MP3 format shrinks down to about 55MB. Put another way, a single 3.5-minute song shrinks from its 35MB on audio CD down to a paltry 3MB or so. This small file size opens up a world of possibilities. The other aspect of MP3 that has made it so amazingly popular is that it is quite easy to convert different music formats into MP3. These two factors alone have changed forever the way music is made, distributed, and listened to. The first, and most famous (or infamous depending on your point of view), is the ability to move music files over the Internet. Although downloading a 35MB file is prohibitive for everyone except those who have access to high-bandwidth connections, moving a 3MB MP3 file is practical for just about everyone. In addition to the controversial practice of sharing music (sometimes copyrighted music), MP3 over the Internet also has more legitimate uses. Artists can create MP3 music and distribute it over the Internet without requiring that they sign with a record company. This makes self-promotion possible and can eliminate the "middleman" from the music arena. As never before, music can move directly from the musician to anyone anywhere in the world.
A second benefit of MP3 files' small size is that it becomes possible to store an entire music collection in a relatively small amount of disk space, thus eliminating the need to bother with individual CDs. An entire music collection can be easily stored, organized, and accessed with a few clicks of a mouse. And using playlists, that music can be listened to in many different ways. Third, MP3 has created a new class of portable music devices. Because MP3 files can be stored in small amounts of memory, devices with no moving parts can store and play a decent amount of music. Other devices contain small hard drives and can store huge amounts of music, making it possible to take your entire music collection with you wherever you go. These devices are extremely small and lightweight, and their contents can be easily managed. Following are the two main sources of MP3 music to which you can listen:
Downloading MP3 FilesAlthough illegal sharing of MP3 files is done over the Internet, there are also many legitimate sites from which you can download MP3 files to listen to. You might wonder why musicians would post their music in MP3 format on such sites. One reason is that they feel a desire to freely share their music with the world. Another reason is that the musicians hope that when you listen to their music, you will like it so much that you will purchase more of it (usually on audio CDs). Either way, you win because there is plenty of great music in the MP3 format that you can listen to. To find sites from which you can download MP3 files, I recommend that you start at www.mp3.com. This site has thousands of songs you can listen to online and download to your Mac. You can browse music by genre and you can search for music. Whatever way you do it, you are likely to find more music to listen to than you have time to listen to! TIP The mp3.com music site enables you to preview songs before you download them. You should take advantage of this to prevent wasting the time required to download music that you don't like and will end up deleting later anyway. Downloading MP3 files is done in the same way as other files. To learn how to download files from the Web, see "Downloading and Preparing Files," p. 345. Preparing Your iTunes Music CollectionAfter you start using MP3 music (especially after you have started to encode your own music), you will end up with hundreds of MP3 music files. You should understand how iTunes references these files and where iTunes stores the MP3 files you use it to create. You should also develop a music organization and storage scheme so that you keep your music organized and don't end up losing any of it (or having duplicate copies). By default, iTunes stores all the MP3 files that you use it to create in the following location: Home/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/ In the iTunes folder in your Home's Music directory, you will see the iTunes Music Library file and the iTunes Music folder. Within the iTunes Music folder, the music files are contained within folders that are named with the artist's name. Within each artist's folder, each album has its own folder. The MP3 files you download from the Web will be stored wherever you have set files to be downloaded. It is a good idea to organize music you download in a central location. If you are going to add the songs you download into iTunes, you should store them in the iTunes Music folder, just as iTunes would do if it encoded the files for you. This helps you keep your music organized in a consistent fashion. NOTE If you want to share the music you encode with other users of your Mac, you should store it in your Public folder. Other users can then add that music to their iTunes Library and create their own playlists. Listening to MP3 MusicAfter you have downloaded MP3 files, you add them to the iTunes library. It is a good idea to have iTunes store files you download in the iTunes music folder so that all of your music is stored and organized in the same way.
The other options in the Advanced pane of the iTunes Preferences dialog box bear some mention here. You can use the iTunes Music Folder Location to change the location of your iTunes Music folder. You might want to do this if your startup volume doesn't have a lot of room and you want to store your music elsewhere. Or you might want to store your iTunes music in the Public folder so that everyone who uses your Mac can access it. The Streaming Buffer Size pop-up menu is used to configure the size of the buffer that iTunes uses when it is playing streaming music from the Net. A larger buffer will tend to play music more smoothly because it can handle longer interruptions in the flow of music to your Mac. The Shuffle By buttons determine whether iTunes shuffles music by song or album when you play music in the Shuffle mode. After you have configured iTunes to store the music you add in an organized way, add the music to your library.
The files will be added to your Library. Before you start listening, make sure that the Genre column is displayed when you browse music because this information can help you get to specific artists and albums more quickly.
Finding and listening to music in the Library is a piece of cake. TIP If you have added songs to your library that are scattered all over your Mac, choose Advanced, Consolidate Library to have iTunes place copies of all your music in the iTunes folder. This organizes all of your music files in a single step. After you have added MP3 songs to your library, you listen to them just like songs on an audio CD.
TIP In the panes of the Browse window, you will see All at the top of each list. When you choose All, all the items in that part of the window will be selected (and played if you click the Play button). For example, if you choose an artist in the Artist column, select All in the Album column, and click Play, all of the albums by that artist will be played. Similarly, if you select All in the Album window and then click Play, all of your albums will be played. The other controls work just as they do for a CD, such as the check box, Shuffle button, and so on. You can also use the check box to skip songs and play a song by double-clicking it just as you can when you listen to a CD.
Using the iTunes Library, Standard Playlists, and Smart PlaylistsSo far, listening to music with iTunes isn't that much different from using a regular CD player (aside from the ability to download songs, that is). The real power of iTunes is in the ability to completely customize your music. Earlier you learned about the iTunes Library. This area doesn't actually contain any music its contents consist of a listing of pointers to MP3 files that are stored on your Mac. That is a key reason why I suggested earlier that you let iTunes organize your MP3 files when you add them to your iTunes Library. The benefit of creating and using pointers to music files is that you can create customized sublibraries, called playlists, of songs you want to hear. These playlists act like albums they contain specific sets of songs. There are two types of playlists. Standard playlists contain a fixed set of songs you select. Smart playlists use a set of criteria that you define to select a playlist's contents dynamically. TIP A great way to get a playlist started is to select the songs you want it to contain and then choose File, New Playlist From Selection (or press Shift++N). A new playlist will be created and the songs you selected will be added to it. Creating and Using Standard PlaylistsYou can create your own standard playlists and add any songs in your library to them. The contents of a standard playlist remain the same until you change them manually. You can add the same song to more than one playlist and you can add the song to the same playlist more than one time. To create a playlist and add music to it, do the following:
NOTE As you can see in Figure 16.6, iTunes doesn't always get correct information, especially for music collections and movie soundtracks. (The Artist shown for the music from the movie Braveheart in Figure 16.6 is Various Artists when it should be the soundtrack's creator.) If the incorrect information bothers you, use the Info window to correct it (you'll learn about that later in this chapter). At the bottom of the iTunes window, you will see the number of songs in the playlist, their total playing time (in Figure 16.6, you can see that it would take more than 8 hours to listen to the selected playlist), and the size of the files you have referenced in the playlist. Because a playlist contains only pointers to tracks, its file size is quite small. However, this size information is very useful when you want to place the playlist on a portable MP3 device or when you want to burn a CD. You can use the size information to ensure that the playlist will fit in the device's available memory. Listening to a playlist is just like listening to a CD. Select the playlist you want to hear and use the iTunes playback controls to listen to it. You can delete entire playlists, delete specific songs from a playlist, or remove songs from the Library by selecting the items you want to remove and pressing Delete. You will see a warning dialog box; if you click OK, the playlist or song is removed (when you remove a song from a playlist, the original MP3 file is not affected). If you remove an MP3 file that you created using iTunes, you see a second dialog box asking whether you want iTunes to place the original file in the Trash. If you click OK, the file will also be moved to the Trash. If you click Cancel, the original file will remain on your Mac (you can add it back to the Library if you want to listen to it again). Creating and Using Smart PlaylistsStandard playlists are cool because they enable you to create custom albums for your listening pleasure. However, listening to the same playlists over and over can get a bit dull. This is where smart playlists come in. These playlists are generated by defining a set of criteria for the music that you want to be included in the playlist. Then, each time you play that playlist, the specific songs included are determined dynamically by applying the playlist's criteria to your library. For example, Apple includes the Recently Played smart playlist in iTunes by default. By default, this playlist contains the songs you have played in the past two weeks. The contents of this playlist will change over time as you listen to different music, and, unless you listen only to this playlist, it will never be exactly the same twice. The criteria you use for a smart playlist can be based on one or more attributes, and you can also limit the size of the playlists to a specific number of songs. Different icons are used to differentiate smart playlists from standard ones (see Figure 16.1). To create a smart playlist, follow these steps:
You play smart playlists just like standard playlists. For example, when you select a smart playlist, its current contents appear in the Source pane (a dynamic list's contents will change over time). To play the playlist, click the Play button. The difference is that if you have enabled the live updating feature, a smart playlist might be different each time you play it. You can also edit the default smart playlists that Apple has provided for you or smart playlists that you create.
Browsing PlaylistsYou can browse playlists just as you browse your entire library.
Configuring Views for SourcesYou can customize the columns shown for each source in the Source pane, including playlists, CDs, and so on.
TIP You can also customize the view for a source by holding down the Control key while you click in a column heading. A pop-up menu will appear and you can quickly add or remove individual columns. You can also have iTunes automatically size one or all columns in the window. The custom view you create is saved and it returns each time you select that source. You can have different view options for each source you view (meaning your library, every playlist, each CD, and so on). Using the Info Window for a TrackYou can view various items of information, input information, and change several options using the Info window for tracks. To see a track's Info window, select it and choose File, Get Info (+I). The Song Information window will appear (see Figure 16.9). Figure 16.9. The Info window for a track enables you to view information about a track, and you can also add your own information about that track.Click the Info tab to see the Info pane of the window. On this pane, you can see detailed information about that track, including the kind of file it is, its time, its size, where it is stored, the application that encoded it, and so on. In the name field at the top of the window, you can edit the track's name. NOTE The Prev Song and Next Song buttons open the Info window for the previous or next songs in the selected source, respectively. Click the Tags pane to see the tag information for the track tag information is the data that appears in the Contents pane for that track (see Figure 16.10). The information you see was downloaded by iTunes from the Internet. You can change any of the information shown and add your own information to any empty fields (such as the Comments field). Figure 16.10. You can edit the tag information for any song in your Library.Click the Options tab to view the Options pane (see Figure 16.11). In this pane, you can use the Volume Adjustment slider to set the relative volume of a track. You can choose the Equalizer preset that should be used to play the song (you'll learn about the Equalizer later in this chapter). You can rate the song by clicking one of the dots in the My Rating box; when you do, stars will appear according to your rating (click the third dot and get three stars). You can also control the song's start and stop time. Figure 16.11. One of the best uses of the Options control is to set the relative volume of tracks.Creating MP3 Music with iTunesThe second source, and probably the more important one, of MP3 files for your iTunes Library is your own audio CD collection. You can encode the music on your audio CDs into the MP3 format and add those MP3 files to your music Library (and then add the songs to any playlists you want). In iTunes lingo, this is called importing music. In more general lingo, this process is called ripping tracks. Either way, creating MP3 tracks from your audio CDs is really powerful. CAUTION Some audio CDs use copyright protection schemes that prevent you from listening to the CD on a computer (with the idea being that you won't be able to make MP3 versions of the songs for illegal purposes). Unfortunately, not only will these CDs not work in your Mac, but they can actually cause damage. Before playing a CD in your Mac, check the label carefully to make sure its label doesn't contain any warnings about playing the CD in a computer or that the CD is not copy-protected. If it does, don't try to use the CD in your Mac. Encoding Music with iTunesEncoding audio CDs into MP3 files is straightforward. About the only complexity you will encounter is the choice of specific encoding settings you want to use. NOTE If you set the preference to encode CDs when you insert them, each track on a CD that you insert in your Mac will be imported. By default, music plays while you encode as well. To encode music from a CD into the MP3 format, use the following steps:
TIP You can cancel the encoding process by clicking the small X at the right end of the encoding progress bar in the Display area. iTunes will begin to encode the songs you selected. Depending on how fast your Mac is and the number of songs you selected, this process can take from a minute or two to half an hour or so. You can see the progress of the encoding process in the iTunes display window (see Figure 16.12). Figure 16.12. This iTunes window shows a CD being encoded; information about the song currently being encoded is shown in the Display area.TIP You can listen to the music you are encoding while it is being encoded. You can also listen to other songs in your Library or playlists at the same time that you are encoding other songs. When the encoding process is completed, the song is marked with a green circle containing a check mark. The resulting MP3 files are added to your Library and you can listen to them from there and add them to playlists. The MP3 files that iTunes creates are organized by artist and album and by default are stored in the following directory: Home/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/ You can find the location of any song in your Library by selecting it and choosing File, Show Song File (+R). A Finder window containing that MP3 file will be opened and the file will be highlighted. Just as with other MP3 files in your iTunes Library, pointers to these files, rather than the files themselves, are stored in the Library. You can also use the MP3 files that iTunes creates just like other MP3 files, such as by adding them to playlists or changing their information. TIP The fastest and easiest way to encode your CDs is to use the General pane of the iTunes Preferences dialog box to choose Import Songs and Eject on the On CD Insert pop-up menu. Each time you insert a CD, all the songs on it will be encoded, and when the process is complete, the CD will be ejected automatically. Setting the Quality of MP3 EncodingAlthough the default MP3 encoding settings are probably fine, you should understand that you can make adjustments to the particular encoding settings that iTunes uses to convert your music to MP3. The reason that you might want to do this is to get the smallest file sizes possible while retaining an acceptable quality of playback. The quality of encoded music is determined by the amount of data that is stored in the MP3 file per second of music playback. This is measured in KiloBits Per Second, or Kbps. The higher the number of Kbps, the better the music will sound. Of course, this means that the file size is larger as well. The goal of MP3 encoding is to obtain an acceptable quality of playback while minimizing the size of the resulting MP3 files. The encoding level you should use depends on several factors, which include the following:
iTunes provides three standard levels of encoding: Good, Better, and High. As an experiment, I encoded the same 4-minute song using each of these levels; the results are shown in Table 16.1. These results might or might not match the particular encoding that you do, but they should give you some idea of the effect of quality level settings on file sizes. In this case, I couldn't detect much difference between the quality levels in the sound of the music, so I could save almost 0.5MB per minute of music by sticking with the Good quality level.
You can also use custom encoding levels if the standard levels aren't suitable for you. The encoding settings that iTunes uses are accessed with the Preferences command.
If the "Play songs while importing" check box is checked, the music you encode will play while you are encoding it. The encoding process will finish much earlier than the playing process so music will continue to play after the encoding is done. This can be a bit confusing. If you choose the Import Songs and Eject option on the On CD Insert pop-up menu in the General pane of the Preferences window, the CD will be ejected when the encoding is done. This is a good reminder that you can encode the next CD. (The music from the previous CD will continue to play.) If the "Create file names with track number" check box is checked, the MP3 files that iTunes creates will have the track number included as a prefix in the filename. TIP You can vary the quality level you use from album to album or even from song to song. For example, if you want to play certain songs on a portable MP3 player, you might want to use a lower level for those songs so that you can download more of them to the player. You might want to create one version of the tracks at low-quality levels and another version at high-quality levels. You could then create a lower-quality playlist to import to an MP3 player. You can also create and use custom encoding levels if the standard choices aren't suitable. When you set custom encoding, you have the following options:
To set custom encoding, follow these steps:
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