Browse Tips
Right-Click Shortcuts
You can right-click songs, playlists, column headings, and many other items in iTunes to do certain tasks more easily. For example, to see all the playlists that include a particular song, right-click the song, then scroll down to Show in Playlist.
Quick Links
To quickly find more music on the iTunes Store from an artist in your library or perhaps a cover of the same song by a different artist, click the arrow next to the artist or song title in your library.
To do so, open iTunes > Preferences (Windows — Edit > Preferences) and make sure you check "Show links to the iTunes Store."
Scrubbing Tracks
To scan forward or back when a song is playing, drag the diamond in the progress bar.
To switch between total, elapsed, and remaining time, click the time display at the top of the iTunes window. (You might need to double-click a song to see the time display.) Click the song title to switch between artist, title, and album name.
Playlist Windows
To open a playlist in a new window, double-click the playlist icon in the Source List. To copy a song from one playlist to another, drag the song to a playlist in the Source List.
Playlists from Albums
To quickly create a playlist from selected songs, select the songs in your library and then choose File > New Playlist from Selection.
Smart Playlists
An easy way to keep track of your music by genre or artist is to create Smart Playlists. A Smart Playlist continuously searches your music library for new tracks meeting the criteria you set. iTunes gives you conditions to set as criteria for Smart Playlists, including Artist, Album, Year, Song Name, (Date) Last Played, Date Added, Genre, Composer, My Rating, Play Count, and more. For example, you may want to have all your R&B/Soul music in one playlist. If you set up a Smart Playlist, it will gather every R&B/Soul song in your library and continuously add to the playlist new R&B/Soul songs imported into your library in the future.
Share Your Playlists
You can share your musical tastes with other people by publishing your playlists on the iTunes Store. Shared playlists include 30-second previews of any songs in your playlist that are also available on the iTunes Store. If a song in your playlist is not available on the iTunes Store, the song isn’t listed in the shared playlist.
To share a playlist, select the one you want to share. Click the Publish arrow to the right of the playlist in the Source List. If you don’t see the Publish arrow, make sure the “Show links to the iTunes Store” checkbox is selected in iTunes > Preferences (Windows — Edit > Preferences).
Changes you make to your playlist after it’s published are not updated automatically on the iTunes Store. You need to click the Publish arrow each time you make a change that you want to share.
Party Shuffle
Let’s get the party started. And just as important — let’s keep it going. iTunes Party Shuffle takes over as DJ, so you can relax and enjoy your party. Open iTunes > Preferences (Windows — Edit > Preferences), click Show Party Shuffle, and then click OK. Select Party Shuffle from the Source List and iTunes creates a random playlist from music in your library. If you like you can change the source (at the bottom of Party Shuffle playlist) from Library to a select playlist.
More Party Shuffle options let you choose to see the last 5-100 songs played or none at all, as well as the next 5-100 songs that will play. Another nifty option lets you direct Party Shuffle to play higher-rated songs more often. Using these options, you can add, remove, and rearrange songs in the random playlist on the fly, leaving you with an awesome playlist and more time to party.
Converting WMA Files
In iTunes for Windows, you can convert your unprotected WMA files to AAC files (or whatever file format is chosen in the Importing pane of iTunes Preferences) without changing the original WMA file. Simply drag the WMA files into your library in iTunes and iTunes does the grunt work, converting them for you. Windows Media Player 9 or later must be installed to convert unprotected WMA files. Protected WMA files cannot be converted.
Playing Authorized Tracks
If you’re listening to the songs in a shared library or playlist and your computer is not authorized to play the purchased songs in the list, iTunes skips the purchased music. To listen to purchased music in a shared library or playlist, you need to double-click the song and authorize your computer to play it.
CD Track Info
If you insert a new CD in your computer and the song names appear in iTunes as “Track 1,” “Track 2,” “Track 3,” and so on, you’ll want to add the real album information before you import the CD. There are two ways to do so.
First, if you’re connected to the Internet you can go to Advanced in the menu bar and select Get CD Track Names. But perhaps your CD is rare and the album information is not in the database online. In that case, you can click the song name twice and then type the title manually. The same applies for the artist and album names.
Adding Songs from CDs
To quickly add a song from a CD to an existing playlist, insert the CD, then drag the song from the list of CD tracks to the playlist. The song is imported into your library and added to the playlist. To add a song from a CD to a new playlist, drag the song from the CD to the white area below the items in the Source List. The song is imported into your library and added to a new playlist.
Editing CD Information
To quickly enter CD information for all the songs on a CD, select the CD in the Source List and choose File > Get Info. You can enter basic CD information once for all the songs on the CD.
CDs from Albums
To make your own CD from an album in your library, click Library and choose View > Show Browser (if you see only Hide Browser, then the Browser is already visible). Drag an album from the Album list in the top-right section of the library to the white area below the items in your Source List. Click the album's playlist icon to select it, then choose File > Burn Playlist to Disc.
To avoid the message that appears when you insert a blank CD, click the Burn button before inserting the blank CD.
Print CD Inserts
You can print a list of the songs in your library or a selected playlist to use as a CD jewel case insert, or simply to have a song or album list. Select your library or a playlist and choose File > Print. Choose whether you want to print a CD jewel case insert or song or album list. Select a printing theme from the Theme pop-up menu. Themes allow you to change how the information is printed. When you're done, click Print.
Compilation Albums
To see all the songs on a compilation CD grouped together in your library, make sure "Group compilations when browsing" is selected in iTunes > Preferences (Windows — Edit > Preferences). In Mac OS X, you can open Preferences from the iTunes menu, or in Windows, choose Preferences from the Edit menu. If this checkbox is deselected, artists from compilation CDs appear individually in the Artist list in Browse view.
iTunes Shopping Cart
As a preference in iTunes, you can choose to save items you want to buy to a shopping cart until you’re ready to confirm your purchase and download all your music at once. This is a convenient feature if you have a slow Internet connection at one location with your laptop, if you’re trying to restrain your impulse shopping tendencies, or if you want to approve your children’s selections before purchasing them.
To turn on your iTunes Shopping Cart, go to iTunes > Preferences (Windows — Edit > Preferences).
In Preferences, click the green Store icon and choose "Buy using a Shopping Cart."
iTunes 1-Click
By default, music is purchased using 1-Click, which means the music you buy is immediately charged to the credit card listed on your Apple account and downloaded into your iTunes library. If you turn on "Buy using a Shopping Cart" and want to return to using 1-Click instead, open iTunes > Preferences (Windows — Edit > Preferences). Click the Store button at the top of the window and make sure "Buy and download using 1-Click" is selected. Then click OK.
iTunes Store Downloads
If you've downloaded something from the iTunes Store but don't see it in your Purchased playlist or elsewhere in your iTunes library, make sure your Internet connection is active and choose "Check for Purchases" from the Store menu in iTunes to resume your download.
iTunes Store Previews
To listen to a preview of a song in the iTunes Store, double-click the song. If your network connection is slower than 128 Kbps, the preview may sound jittery. Choose iTunes > Preferences (Windows — Edit > Preferences), and in the Store pane select the "Load complete preview before playing" checkbox.
Make a Wish List
You can add previews of any song in the iTunes Store to a playlist and create a wish list of songs that you want to buy at a later date. First create a new playlist. Then drag the individual song preview from the iTunes Store to the new wish list playlist. Listen to the song preview or buy the song directly from your playlist by clicking the Buy button.
After you buy a song using the Buy button, the song remains in your wish list playlist, but double-clicking it plays the entire song instead of just the preview, and the price for the song no longer appears.
iTunes Store URLs
To include the URL to an iTunes Store page in an email or other program, drag a link, track, or graphic from a page in the iTunes Store to your email program or other application. You can also right-click the item and choose Copy iTunes Store URL.
Allowances, Gift Certificates & Gift Cards
Give your kids a way to download their favorite songs with music allowance accounts. They can access the iTunes Store without using a credit card. You set the limit on how much they can spend with an allowance that refreshes monthly. You can cancel the allowance or adjust the amount at any time.
An iTunes Store gift certificate makes gift giving easy, and you can email it for speedy delivery (great for last-minute gifts).
If you’re interested in creating an allowance account or purchasing an iTunes gift certificate, visit the iTunes Store and select Buy iTunes Gifts from the Quick Links menu on the right. You can also purchase iTunes Gift Cards from the Apple Store and many other retailers.
View Options
In iTunes you can customize your view of library and playlist columns however you like. What track information is most important to you — Song Name, Time, Album, Artist, Genre, My Rating, Last Played (date), Date Added, Year, Play Count? In View > View Options, you can show or hide columns in your jukebox. You can even move the columns around by clicking and dragging the column headings. It’s your jukebox. You can lay it out any way you choose.
Total Times
To switch between the approximate time and precise time for all the songs in the selected playlist or the library, click the time displayed at the bottom of the iTunes window.
Buffer Sizes
If you have a fast Internet connection (DSL or cable modem), you can have the music that’s streamed to your computer (previews, radio stations, shared music libraries) begin playing more quickly by choosing the Small streaming buffer size in the Advanced pane of iTunes > Preferences (Windows — Edit > Preferences). If you have a slower Internet connection (dial-up), you can choose the Large buffer size for smoother streaming playback.
