September 26, 2011
Closed captioning for the hearing impaired is now available in iTunes for new TV episodes as well as thousands of movies and iTunes U video episodes. As you browse the store you can determine whether the particular content you're looking at has closed caption support by looking for the small cc icon in the info on the left side of their pages. The cc icon also appears in lists of TV episodes and in iTunes U offerings with multiple episodes (e.g. Developing Apps for iOS, from Stanford). To find all the content with closed captioning in Movies, TV or iTunes U, click the Power Search link in Quick LInks in the iTunes store, select the category you want to search within from the Results popup, and check the option to search only for closed captioning before you use the Search button.
If you're watching the video on your computer, you can turn closed captioning on and off via the speech bubble icon near the right of the controls that appear across the bottom of the window when you point there. On iPhone and iPod touch, Select iPod in General Settings and scroll down to the Video section. On iPad look for the switch in Video in General Settings.
September 19, 2011
All of the podcast and iTunes U content is free, as are many of the apps in the App Store. In addition, open iTunes on your computer and click Free on iTunes in Quick Links each week to see which music and TV episodes are available in addition to featurettes from the movies section, plus a gateway to the free apps in the App Store, and a listing of new and notable podcasts. There's also a Free Music on iTunes link in Quick Links in the Music section and a Free TV Episodes link in Quick Links in the TV section (and at the bottom of the Featured page in TV Shows in iTunes on the iPad).
September 12, 2011
Finding what you're looking for in the iTunes Store is as simple as typing into the Search box on the upper right of the iTunes window, clicking Return, and looking through the results. But if you want to search specifically for an oft-recorded song by a particular artist, for instance, or just want results for a specific type of content such as movies or apps, go to the iTunes Store main page and click Power Search in the Quick Links section. Use the Power Search menu on the left to pick the section you want to search, and use the fields that will appear to specify what you're looking for. A Power Search button also appears on the upper left whenever you do a regular search in the Store. For a quick tour of the available filters for each of the sections, search for a term like "pop" that will produce results in all the Store sections, click the Power Search button, and then use the results menu to look through the options for each Store.
September 6, 2011
If you've received a free download code or iTunes gift card, you can instantly redeem it with your Apple ID. While in the App Store, iTunes Store, or the iBookstore, click or tap Redeem, enter the code, and then your Apple ID. If you don't have an Apple ID, you can use the link there to create one. You don't need a credit card number, but you can enter card information if you wish.
To redeem on your computer, open the iTunes Store and click Redeem on the right side under Quick Links. On your iPhone or iPod touch, Redeem is at the bottom of the Featured page in the App Store, and at the bottom of the main Music, Movies, and TV Shows pages in iTunes. In the iBookstore, it's at the bottom of the Featured page. On your iPad, it's at the bottom of main pages in iTunes, the App Store, and the iBookstore.
