iPod and iTunes Hacks

iTunes Keyboard Shortcuts

The first rule of any power user is to use keyboard shortcuts. This hack introduces you to all the shortcuts available to iTunes users.

Apple engineers have been kind enough to include a veritable bounty of keyboard shortcuts in iTunes. In fact, after learning all of these shortcuts, you can toss your mouse out the window—well, not quite. However, Mac and Windows users alike can control iTunes much more quickly and easily with these keyboard shortcuts than by navigating with a mouse.

Tables 4-1 through 4-13 list the keyboard shortcuts available for iTunes. Windows users should substitute the

key with the Control key. Of course, you can also right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) to display a list of commonly available options.

Table 4-1. Playback shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Play the selected song immediately	Return
Listen to the next or previous album in a list	Option–right arrow or left arrow (or Option-click the Skip Forward or Skip Backward controls in the upper-left corner of the iTunes window)
Rewind or fast-forward to the next song in a list	-left arrow or right arrow (or click the Skip list Forward or Skip Backward controls in the upper-left corner of the ...