iPod & iTunes: The Missing Manual, Fourth Edition

Visualizer

If you get tired of looking at playlists and just want to zone out, the Visualizations feature (Section 5.6.2) can provide colorful animations in the main iTunes window. This menu lets you make adjustments to the visualization display. Once you’ve turned on the visual display, click Options in the top-right corner of the iTunes window to adjust things like frame rate and song title display.

Turn Visualizer On/Off

The first menu item toggles off and on the iTunes Visualizations feature (Section 5.6.2). Choosing Turn Visualizer On transforms your iTunes window into a psychedelic animation that can make you feel like you’re snowboarding down the DNA helix in living color. Keyboard shortcut: ⌘-T (Mac); Ctrl+T (Windows).

Small, Medium, Large

These are the three sizes you can choose for the colorful onscreen animations (see previous command). Choosing Small or Medium leaves a black letterbox frame around the animation, while Large fills the entire iTunes window.

Full Screen

Visualizations can become a full-blown screensaver when you select Full Screen (as well as Turn Visualizations On). To get your monitor back to normal, click anywhere onscreen to toggle off the Full Screen mode. Keyboard shortcut: ⌘-F (Mac); Ctrl+F (Windows).

Note

If you’ve installed any third-party visualizations, you’ll see them listed at the bottom of the Visualizer menu. To pick the one you want, select it from the menu. A checkmark next to the name tells you which one is currently in use.