17.5. CD Music If you don't use iTunes to organize your music, you can also snag a track or two directly from an audio CD. You just insert your favorite music CD (Carly Simon, Rolling Stones, the Cleveland Orchestra, or whatever), choose the track you want to swipe, and the deed is done. Here's the procedure: -
Open the Audio panel, if it isn't already open . Do so by clicking the Audio button shown in Figure 17-3. -
Insert the music CD into your Mac . After a moment, a list of songs on the CD appears in the list. At first, they're probably called Track 1, Track 2, and so on. Unfortunately, audio CDs were invented before the advent of computers that could read them, and so the text of their track names isn't stored on the disc. Clearly, it would be a lot easier to find the music you want if you could see the actual names of the songs on the CD. That's why, after a moment, iMovie automatically begins to download the list of songs on your CD, assuming that you're online. (iTunes may also open automatically, depending on how you've set up the CDs & DVDs panel in System Preferences.) Behind the scenes, it's consulting the Gracenote Internet CD databasea worldwide repository of track and album information. After a few moments, switch back into iMovie. You'll see that both the track names and the name of the album have now been typed in for you. You'll also notice that the pop-up menu above the Audio palette has changed to identify the name of the album. -
Find the song you want . To do so, double-click one of the songs in the scrolling list (or click a song and then click the Play triangle button below the list). Click the Play triangle again to stop the music. Unfortunately, there's no way to fast-forward. -
Insert the song into one of your audio tracks . FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION
Fun with Copyright Law | | Don't I break some kind of law when I copy music from a commercial CD, or use iTunes Music Store music in one of my movies? Exactly what constitutes stealing music is a hot-button issue that has tied millions of people (and recording executives) in knots. That's why some iMovie fans hesitate to distribute their iMovie films in places where lawyers might see themlike the Internet. Frankly, though, record company lawyers have bigger fish to fry than small-time amateur operators like you. You're perfectly safe showing your movies to family and friends , your user group , and other limited circles of viewers . In fact, Apple encourages you to use iTunes Music Store purchases in your movies; after all, Apple is the one who made them available right in iMovie. You'll risk trouble only if you go commercial, making money from movies that incorporate copyrighted music. Still, if your conscience nags you, you could always use one of your GarageBand compositions. And even if you're not especially musical, the world is filled with royalty-free musicmusic that has been composed and recorded expressly for the purpose of letting filmmakers add music to their work without having to pay a licensing fee every time they do so. Some of it's even free. For example, check out www.freeplaymusic.com, a Web site filled with prerecorded music in every conceivable style, that you're welcome to use in your movies at no charge. If that's not enough for you, visit a search page like www.google.com, search for music library or royalty-free music , and start clicking your way to the hundreds of Web sites that offer information about (and listenable samples of) music that you can buy and use without fear. (Many of these sites require a RealAudio plug-in, an add-on for your Web browser that you can download and install from www.real.com.) | You can use either of the techniques identified in the previous step 3 (Section 17.5). Either click the Place at Playhead button beneath the song list, or drag the song name out of the list and into position on one of your audio tracks. A progress bar appears as iMovie copies the song file off the CD and into your project's Media folder. When it's finished, you'll see a new colored bar in your audio track representing the imported song and bearing its name. When you're finished importing music, you're free to eject the CD (by holding down the Eject button on your keyboard, for example), insert another one, and nab another selection of music. iMovie no longer requires the first CD. |
