iTune Tricks
If you are one of the many people who found a new iPod under your Christmas tree this year you’ll want to get it connected and start downloading music, videos, audiobooks and movies. We’ve all looked at iTunes but even if you’ve had an iPod before many people have never purchased from iTunes or discovered its many secrets. Let’s dive in and have a look.
The INFO window.
Have you ever got a CD from a friend filled with new music and popped it into the computer only to be confronted by Track 1 to 12 with no song titles and no artist names? You can’t import the songs without this info, as it won’t be properly filed. Fixing this one is easy. First don’t say yes when the dialogue box appears say NO. Then if the CD is all the same artist and album highlight all the songs on the CD and right click. See the Get info line? Click it. Here is your info window. You need to select the INFO tab and there you want to fill out the Artist, Album Title, Year and Genre. Then click OK. Now the whole CD has the Artist, Album, Year and Genre entered. Now select the first song and right click again, choose the info tab and fill in the song title. Repeat for each song. When your done look in the bottom right corner for the Import CD button and click it.
NOT Taking It With The Works
Have you ever wanted to import a CD into iTunes but you only wanted a couple of the songs not the whole disc? To do this click NO when you get the prompt to import your CD. Now look in front of each song title for a little box with a check mark in it. UNCHECK any songs you don’t want to import and click the import CD button in the bottom right.
Making More Than One iPod Play Nice on a Single Computer.
This one drove me nuts for a while. My daughter and I don’t have the same musical taste and she was not impressed she went to update her iPod with the latest Hilary Duff and found it stuffed with her Dad’s music. The way I fixed this was to make a playlist for my daughter’s music and directed her iPod to import only from this playlist. Here’s how:
When her iPod is attached to the computer select it from the sidebar menu and choose the music tab. Choose the Selected Playlists button rather than the defaulted All Songs and Playlists and select only her playlist from the file list.
Staying In Touch and On Time
Your iPod can store your address book with all your phone, fax, email and addresses and your calendar. Again find your iPod in the iTunes sidebar and click the Contacts tab. Check the Sync with Address Book and Sync iCal boxes and click the Sync button in the bottom right.
The Shuffle Button
Well its not called shuffle and that’s the problem. It’s a Party Shuffle. Click it and the computer randomly chooses a variety of tunes from your music library and randomly plays them. Hook up a set of speakers to your computer and you’ve got a never-ending party mix of your favourite tunes. Don’t like the current selection hit the refresh button and the computer instantly chooses some new tunes. I like to put all my dinner party music into a playlist then direct the party shuffle to play only from that list. That way I get a steady diet of crooners and Jazz at the party rather than Led Zeppelin or AC-DC.
iTunes is a wonderful way to organize your tunes. Next issue let’s have some fun and create three different priced audio systems that take advantage of all iTunes has to offer.
The INFO window.
Have you ever got a CD from a friend filled with new music and popped it into the computer only to be confronted by Track 1 to 12 with no song titles and no artist names? You can’t import the songs without this info, as it won’t be properly filed. Fixing this one is easy. First don’t say yes when the dialogue box appears say NO. Then if the CD is all the same artist and album highlight all the songs on the CD and right click. See the Get info line? Click it. Here is your info window. You need to select the INFO tab and there you want to fill out the Artist, Album Title, Year and Genre. Then click OK. Now the whole CD has the Artist, Album, Year and Genre entered. Now select the first song and right click again, choose the info tab and fill in the song title. Repeat for each song. When your done look in the bottom right corner for the Import CD button and click it.
NOT Taking It With The Works
Have you ever wanted to import a CD into iTunes but you only wanted a couple of the songs not the whole disc? To do this click NO when you get the prompt to import your CD. Now look in front of each song title for a little box with a check mark in it. UNCHECK any songs you don’t want to import and click the import CD button in the bottom right.
Making More Than One iPod Play Nice on a Single Computer.
This one drove me nuts for a while. My daughter and I don’t have the same musical taste and she was not impressed she went to update her iPod with the latest Hilary Duff and found it stuffed with her Dad’s music. The way I fixed this was to make a playlist for my daughter’s music and directed her iPod to import only from this playlist. Here’s how:
When her iPod is attached to the computer select it from the sidebar menu and choose the music tab. Choose the Selected Playlists button rather than the defaulted All Songs and Playlists and select only her playlist from the file list.
Staying In Touch and On Time
Your iPod can store your address book with all your phone, fax, email and addresses and your calendar. Again find your iPod in the iTunes sidebar and click the Contacts tab. Check the Sync with Address Book and Sync iCal boxes and click the Sync button in the bottom right.
The Shuffle Button
Well its not called shuffle and that’s the problem. It’s a Party Shuffle. Click it and the computer randomly chooses a variety of tunes from your music library and randomly plays them. Hook up a set of speakers to your computer and you’ve got a never-ending party mix of your favourite tunes. Don’t like the current selection hit the refresh button and the computer instantly chooses some new tunes. I like to put all my dinner party music into a playlist then direct the party shuffle to play only from that list. That way I get a steady diet of crooners and Jazz at the party rather than Led Zeppelin or AC-DC.
iTunes is a wonderful way to organize your tunes. Next issue let’s have some fun and create three different priced audio systems that take advantage of all iTunes has to offer.
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