iPod: The Missing Manual, 5th Edition

Chapter 3. In Tune with iTunes

If you read Chapter 1 for a speedy way to get your iPod set up and ready to play, you’ve already dipped a toe in the iTunes waters. But as you may have guessed, beneath its pretty surface, iTunes is a deep well of media-management wonders.

Even without buying music from the online iTunes Store, you can use the program to import music from your CD collection, and add personal ratings, lyrics, and artwork to your song files. Once you check everything into your iTunes library, the program makes it easy to browse and search through all your treasures.

Yes, iTunes is a powerful program. So powerful, in fact, that this chapter is mainly going to focus on introducing you to iTunes most basic and useful tools—everything from flipping through album covers to backing up. Chapter 4 tells you how to make playlists of songs you’ve added to iTunes, Chapter 5 is all about blowing your bucks in the iTunes Store, and Chapter 6 spotlights the video side of iTunes.

But enough of the introductory blah-blah. Turn the page if you want to get to know iTunes better.

The iTunes Window: An Introduction

iTunes is your iPod’s best friend. You can do just about everything with your digital music here, from converting songs on a CD into iPod-ready music files, buying music, listening to Internet radio stations, watching video—and more.

Here’s a quick tour of the main iTunes window ...