June 14, 2010

Use Get Info to Edit and Streamline Your Library Information

When you buy music via the iTunes Store or rip it from your CDs, iTunes saves basic information about the tracks and how they were recorded. (For music you rip, make sure "Automatically retrieve CD track names from Internet" is checked in your iTunes General preferences, and that you're online.) You can see what was saved by selecting a track and using the Get Info command in the File menu. If you have information you'd like to add or change -- because you're a stickler for accurate, complete composer information, for instance -- select the Info tab in the Get Info panel to see and use the fields you can edit.

By the way, you can also fine tune your search efficiency via the Sorting tab. To see what it does, select a track from an artist in your library whose name begins with "the" -- the Rolling Stones for instance -- and look at the information under the Sorting tab in the Get Info panel for that track. iTunes automatically eliminates "the" for the sort name for all groups whose names begin with "the." Search for those artists without starting with "the" and they'll appear in the Artist Column under the "t's" as you type, but most likely more quickly than if you'd had to begin with "t." In general it's a technique you can use to customize searching to fit how you personally like to look for particular music.