Section 3.2. Searching for Songs | iLife 05: The Missing Manual

3.2. Searching for Songs

You can call up a list of all the songs that have a specific word in their title, album name , or artist attribution, just by typing a few letters into the Search box at the top of the window. With each letter you type, iTunes shortens the list of songs that are visible, confining it to tracks that match what you've typed.

For example, in Figure 3-1, typing train brings up a list of songs by different performers that all have the word "train" somewhere in the song's informationmaybe the title of the song, maybe the band name. This sort of thing could be useful for creating themed playlists, like a mix for a Memorial Day barbecue made from songs that all have the word "sun" or "summer" in the title.

Figure 3-1. The Search box in the iTunes window can quickly find all the songs in the library that match the keyword you enter. To erase the Search box so that you see all of your songs again, click the little circled X button at the right side of the box.

Figure 3-2. When you click an Artist name in the left column, you get a list of all attributed albums on the right side. To see the songs you've imported from each listed album, click the album name. The songs on it appear in the main list area of the iTunes window, beneath the Browser panes.
If you see duplicate songs and suspect there might be more lurking around your iTunes library, choose Edit Show Duplicate Songs to round up the doubles and clear up some hard drive space.

3.2.1. The Browser

The Browse button is the eyeball in the upper-right corner of the window. (It appears only when the Library icon is selected in the source list at the left side of the screen.) It produces a handy, supplementary view of your music database, this time organized like a Finder column view (shown in Figure 3-2).

Tip: Can't get back that full list of albums on the right Album pane after you've clicked on a name in the Artist list in the left pane? Go to the top of the Artist list and click All. The complete album list reappears.

It's worth noting, by the way, that this two-panel Browser can become a three -panel browser, much to the delight of people who enjoy the phrase "drill down." Figure 3-3 has details.

Figure 3-3. The Genre pane in iTunes preferences can add another whole layer of categorizing for your music collection. If you don't see the Genre pane when you start iTunes for the first time, you need to turn it on in Preferences. Press -comma, or choose iTunes Preferences General, and then turn on "Show genre when browsing."