AppleThe Apple StoreiPhoneiPod+iTunes.MacQuickTimeApple SupportMac OS X
Guided SearchDownloadsManualsSpecificationsDiscussionsTrainingProducts

 
 
topic image
 Play the Movie Learn More learn more button
 

Browsing and Searching Your iTunes Library

Sometimes you don’t know what you want to listen to, and sometimes you know exactly what you want to hear. If you’re not sure what music you want to listen to, you’ll want to browse your music collection. You can use the Browse pane in iTunes to see the names of all the artists in your collection. When you find the artist you want to listen to, you can see every album by the artist that you’ve imported. You can also browse by genre.
 
But even when you know exactly what song you want to hear, it can be a daunting task to find that song, especially if you’ve forgotten who sings it, or which album it’s on. With iTunes, you can search through your entire music collection in seconds to find exactly what you’re looking for.
 
 
 
Tips Step-by-Step
 
 

Make other columns visible when browsing

To change which columns appear in the iTunes window, go to the Edit menu, and then choose View Options. In the window that appears, notice that all the currently visible columns appear with checkmarks. To make a new column visible, select which columns to show, and then click OK. Notice the new columns appear in the iTunes window.

Find just what you’re looking for

By default, when you’re searching for music, iTunes checks the Artists, Albums, Composers, and Song Name fields. You can narrow your search by choosing just one of these fields. To do so, click the search icon in the Search field, choose which category you want to search by, and then type your criteria in the Search field.

How much music is in your library

As you add music to your iTunes library, you may become curious about how much music is in your collection. With Library selected in the Source list, you can see the total number of songs, their combined duration, and the amount of space they occupy on your hard disk at the bottom of the iTunes window.

If you can’t see all the information about a song

If you find that there’s not enough room in a column to display the complete song or artist name, for example, you can change the width of the column right in the iTunes window. When you move the pointer over the lines that separate the columns, the cursor changes. You can drag the column border to the right to enlarge the column, or to the left to narrow the column.

Use browsing and searching to find songs in your music library by following these steps:
  1. Select Library in the Source list.
  2. Click the Browse button in the upper-right corner of the iTunes window.
  3. Select an artist in the Artist list. Albums displayed to the right are albums by the selected artist.
  4. Click the Browse button to close the browser and return to your iTunes library.
  5. To search for a song, type a word (or words) in the Search field to quickly find songs, artists, or albums that match your entry. Notice how the songs displayed in the iTunes window update as you type more letters in the Search field.
  6. To return to the iTunes window and display all the music in your library, click the gray-and-white “X” icon in the Search field.
  


Home > Support > iTunes Windows > Tutorial > Browsing and Searching Your iTunes Library