Take Control of iTunes 12: The FAQ, Second Edition
Take Control of iTunes 12: The FAQ, Second Edition
About the Book
Relying on an easily browsed question-and-answer approach, Kirk shares his love of music and helps you understand the process of bringing media into iTunes, tagging it, adding album artwork, organizing it into playlists, and transferring it to an iPad, iPhone, or iPod. Kirk also sheds light on the many details of the new Apple Music streaming service and iCloud Music Library.
Find answers to questions about how to:
Play: Learn the basics of playing audio and video, and start making quick playlists with Genius and Up Next.
Rip: Add content to iTunes with detailed steps for "ripping" music CDs and audiobooks. (If you want to rip audiobooks so they play nicely from iTunes, don't miss this chapter!) Also, find general advice for ripping video DVDs and learn which file formats work in iTunes.
Buy: Find tips on shopping in the iTunes Store, and get advice on sharing your purchases with family members and among your various Apple devices.
Tag: Kirk describes himself as "tag obsessed." If that description fits you, or if you just want to take control of your tags, this chapter is for you. Tags are descriptive bits of information — known to geeks as "metadata" — that describe your media. You can sort and filter based on tags, giving you myriad ways to manipulate your media. Learn which tags to bother changing, how to work with the new Love tag, how to add lyrics and album art, and more.
View: iTunes has more views than flavors of ice cream at the corner grocery. Get the scoop on how to switch between views, where your album art is (or is not), and so forth.
Organize: Make a simple playlist of romantic songs, workout songs, Apple Watch songs, or whatever theme you like. Also, create smart playlists that, for example, comprise only your 5-star faves (or Loves!) or tunes you haven't heard recently. You'll also find help with operational issues like dealing with a huge library, multiple libraries, and where iTunes puts your media files — including ebooks in 10.9 Mavericks and later.
Search: Find media in iTunes, plus learn tricks for narrowing a search and for locating duplicates.
Sync: You've put all your media in iTunes... now, how do you transfer it to an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch? This chapter considers many different user scenarios and has help for people who have too much music. It also notes options for playing media through a second- or third-generation Apple TV.
Cloud: Should you stream your music from the cloud with Apple Music? Subscribe to iTunes Match? Or both? Or should you run and hide from putting your media online? What exactly comprises an iCloud Music Library? Kirk answers these questions and more. (Editing for this ebook was powered by the Apple Music For You playlist recommendations.)
Share: Find answers to questions about sharing iTunes library media with others, primarily through Home Sharing on a local network.
Burn and Print: Learn how to copy music from iTunes to a CD. Also, get directions for printing a song list, for example, to include in the jewel case of said CD.
Back Up: This short chapter has tips and inspiration for backing up your (potentially irreplaceable) iTunes media.
Extend with AppleScript: Mac users can make iTunes do more with AppleScript. Learn about key AppleScripts that you can download to make iTunes jump through even more hoops.
Coupons in the back of the ebook help you save $5 off Equinux's SongGenie for adding metadata and $5 off Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil wireless audio streaming software.
About the Author
Table of Contents
-
Read Me First
- Updates and More
- Basics
- Links
- What’s New in The Second Edition
- Introduction
- iTunes Quick Start
- What’s New in iTunes 12.5
-
Play
- Play Topics
- How Do I Start Playing Music?
- How Do I Play a CD?
- Do I Have to Play Music in Order?
- How Do I Shuffle My Music?
- Can I Shuffle Albums?
- How Do I Use the MiniPlayer?
- How Do I Sing Along with My Music?
- Can My Mac Tell Me What I’m Hearing?
- What Is Genius?
- How Do I Turn On Genius?
- How Do I Create a Genius Playlist?
- How Do I Play Genius Mixes?
- What Is Genius Shuffle?
- How Do I Replay a Recent Song?
- How Do I Use Up Next?
- How Do I Make My Music Sound Better?
- How Do I Play Media over a Network?
- How Do I Control iTunes Remotely?
- How Do I Display Eye Candy While Listening to Music?
- Is There Anything Special to Know about Listening to Audiobooks?
- How Do I Watch Videos in iTunes?
-
Stream
- Stream Topics
- What Is Apple Music?
- How Do I Turn On Apple Music?
- How Do I Personalize For You?
- How Can I Discover Music on Apple Music?
- How Do I Love Music in Apple Music?
- How Do I Tell Apple Music That I Don’t Like Something?
- How Do I Stream from Apple Music?
- How Do I Add Music from Apple Music to My Library?
- How Do I Download Music for Offline Listening?
- How Do I Delete Apple Music from My Library?
- How Do I Listen to Apple Music Radio?
- What about Internet Radio?
- How Do I Use Connect?
-
Cloud
- Cloud Topics
- What Cloud Services Does iTunes Use?
- How Can I Tell If My Media Is in the Cloud?
- How Do I Re-download iTunes Store Content?
- How Can I Hide Content I’ve Purchased from the iTunes Store?
- What Is iCloud Music Library?
- What Is iTunes Match?
- What Should I Know before I Turn On iCloud Music Library?
- How Do I Start Using iTunes Match?
- How Do I Turn On iCloud Music Library?
- What Does iCloud Music Library Do with My Music Files?
- How Do I Play Music in My iCloud Music Library?
- How Do I Access My iCloud Music Library in iOS?
- How Do I Access My iCloud Music Library on an Apple TV?
- How Does iCloud Music Library Handle Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV Files?
- Can I Use iCloud Music Library to “Upgrade” My Music?
- What Do the iCloud Music Library Status Labels Mean?
- How Do I Manage My Music with iCloud Music Library?
- What If I Turn Off iCloud Music Library?
- Can More Than One Person Share an Apple Music or iTunes Match Account?
-
Share
- Share Topics
- How Do I Share My iTunes Library over a Network?
- How Do I See a Shared iTunes Library?
- Can I Create an iTunes Music Server?
- How Do I Copy Media from One iTunes Library to Another?
-
Buy
- Buy Topics
- How Do I Shop in the iTunes Store?
- Where Are My iTunes Store Purchases?
- How Can iTunes Automatically Download My Purchases?
- Which iTunes Store Content Has DRM?
- How Can I Share My iTunes Store Content with Family Members?
- How Do I Authorize and Deauthorize My Computer for iTunes Store Purchases?
- How Many iOS Devices Can Log In to My iTunes Store Account?
- How Do I Manage Which iOS Devices Share My iTunes Store Account?
- Why Buy Music If I Have an Apple Music Subscription?
- How Do I Use the iTunes Store Efficiently?
- How Do I Use the Wish List?
- How Do I Add Files I Own to iTunes?
- Can I Get Smarter with iTunes U?
-
Podcasts
- Podcasts Topics
- How Do I Sample a Podcast?
- How Do I Subscribe to a Podcast?
- What about Alternative Podcast Apps?
- How Do I Manage Podcasts?
- How Should I Sync My Podcasts?
- How Do I Sync Podcasts through My iTunes Store Account?
- What Are Podcast Stations?
- How Do I Create a Podcast Station?
- How Do I Customize a Podcast Station?
- How Do I Use Podcast Library Views?
-
Tag
- Tag Topics
- What Are Tags?
- Where Is Tag Information Stored?
- Which Tags Are Important?
- How Do I Add or Change Tags?
- Which Tags Should I Add or Change?
- Which Tags Make Classical Music Easier to Manage?
- What the Heck Is the Compilation Tag?
- How Do I Put Files in the Correct Library?
- How Do I Add Lyrics to My Tracks?
- What Is Album Art?
- How Do I Add Missing Album Art?
- How Do I Rate Songs?
- What Are Plays and Skips?
- How Do I Reset My Plays or Skips?
-
View
- View Topics
- How Do I Use the Sidebar?
- What Are Those Buttons in the Middle of the Navigation Bar?
- How Can I View My Music Library?
- How Do I Show Columns in List Views?
- What Can I Do with Contextual Menus?
-
Organize
- Organize Topics
- On Playlists
- How Do I Make a Standard Playlist?
- How Can I Share Playlists?
- What Can I Do with a Playlist?
- What Are Smart Playlists?
- How Do I Create a Smart Playlist?
- What Interesting Things Can I Do with Smart Playlists?
- Do Smart Playlists Slow Down iTunes?
- How Can I Organize My Playlists?
- How Do I Delete Songs from My Library?
- How Does iTunes Organize My Files?
- Where Have My Ebooks Gone?
- Where Can I Put My Media If I Run Out of Room on My Computer?
- How Do I Move an iTunes Library from a Windows PC to a Mac?
- What’s the Best Way to Deal with My Huge Music Library?
- Can I Have More than One iTunes Library on My Computer?
-
Search
- Search Topics
- How Do I Search in My Library?
- How Do I Search from the MiniPlayer?
- Can I Search by Star Rating?
- How Do I Find Duplicates in My Library?
-
Sync
- Sync Topics
- What Should I Sync to My iOS Device?
- How Do I Connect My Device to iTunes?
- How Do I Sync My Content?
- How Do I Sync This Ebook?
- How Do I Squeeze as Much Music as Possible on My iOS Device?
- Can I Have iTunes Fill My iOS Device?
- How Can Multiple People Sync iOS Devices with the Same Computer?
- How Do I Put Music on an Apple Watch?
- What about Syncing an Apple TV?
- Are There Special Features for Syncing an iPod shuffle?
-
Rip
- Rip Topics
- How Should I Rip My CDs?
- Which Compression Format Should I Use to Rip CDs?
- Which Bit Rate Should I Use to Rip CDs?
- What Other Settings Are Important When Ripping CDs?
- How Do I Rip a Music CD?
- How Do I Rip an Audiobook CD?
- How Do I Convert Audio Files to a Different Format?
- How Do I Rip Videos to Use in iTunes?
- Why Won’t My Video Sync?
- Can I Rip Just the Music from a Concert DVD?
-
Burn
- Burn Topics
- How Do I Burn CDs of My Music?
- What Music Won’t Burn?
- Can I Burn DVDs of Videos?
-
Print
- Print Topics
- Why Would I Want to Print from iTunes?
- What Can I Print with iTunes?
-
Back Up
- What’s the Best Way to Back Up Media Files?
-
Bonus: Extend iTunes with AppleScripts
- Bonus Topics
- What Are AppleScripts?
- Where Do I Get AppleScripts?
- What Can I Do with AppleScripts?
- What If I Use Windows? How Can I Do All These Great Things?
- Learn More
-
About This Book
- Ebook Extras
- About the Author
- About the Publisher
- Copyright and Fine Print
- Drobo Coupon
- Rogue Amoeba Coupon
About the Publisher
This book is published on Leanpub by Take Control Books
With its Take Control series of ebooks, alt concepts inc. covers a wide range of technology topics, with a special emphasis on Apple products and services. Our catalog comprises over 100 titles, and we’ve sold hundreds of thousands of ebooks in the process of providing expert advice and technical know-how to tens of thousands of readers around the world. Join us today!
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