The iPod & iTunes Pocket Guide, Second Edition

Chapter 4: The iTunes Store 109

tip

On a slowish connection, it takes a while for these

panes to refresh and lists to scroll. You can scan the

contents of these panes far more quickly if you click

the See All link in the top-right corner of each pane.

Arrayed along the top-left side of the main page

are text links that direct you to many of The

Store’s most interesting features, described in

the following sections.

iTunes Store

In this box, placed in the upper-left corner of The

Store’s main page, you choose the kind of media

you want to browse—music, movies, TV shows,

music videos, audiobooks, podcasts, or iPod games

(Figure 4.2). When you click one of these links, you’re

taken to the main page for that kind of media. These

pages are similar to The Store’s main page—offering

lists of top-selling items within that category and

highlighting new releases, for example.

Figure 4.2

Narrow your

media search

via the iTunes

Store links.

Figure 4.2

Narrow your

media search

via the iTunes

Store links.

The iPod & iTunes Pocket Guide110

Music

Longtime iTunes Store customers may fear that some

of their old favorite features—iMix, iTunes Originals,

iTunes Essentials, Collections, and Celebrity Playlist,

for example—have disappeared simply because

they’ve vanished from The Store’s main page. Fear

not. The music-centric items have been moved to

the More in Music area of the main Music page. For

those unfamiliar with these features, here’s how the

most signifi cant music features shake out:

iTunes Collections Clicking iTunes Collections takes

you to something like a “greatest music hits of

The Store” page. Here, you fi nd links to best-selling

iTunes Essentials collections (more on these in the

next couple of pages); featured “The World Of” artist

collections; iTunes Live Sessions (live recordings

sold exclusively at the iTunes Store); and Where You

From?, collections of regional recordings.

iMix iMix is your chance to infl ict your musical

values on the rest of the world by publishing a

playlist of your favorite (or, heck, your least-favorite)

songs. When you click the iMix link, you’re taken

to a page that contains three columns marked Top

Rated, Most Recent, and Featured, all listing iMix

playlists posted by fellow music lovers. Type a genre,

artist name, or keyword (like summer or drive) in the

Search For fi eld to narrow your choices, or just click

an “album cover” to view the songs in an iMix (and

buy them, if you like).

Chapter 4: The iTunes Store 111

As enjoyable as it may be to view others’ iMixes,

it’s more fun to create your own. You can do so by

following these steps:

1. Create a new playlist in iTunes, and give it a really

cool name.

The cooler the name, the more likely others are to

view your iMix.

2. Cruise through your iTunes Library, and drag into

it songs you’d like to publish in an iMix.

Note that your iMix can contain only songs

available for purchase from The Store. If the

iMix contains songs that are not available at The

Store, those songs won’t appear in the published

playlist.

3. Round out your list with songs at The Store that

you don’t own.

An iMix doesn’t require that you actually own

the music you’re recommending; you can drag

previews of any song or audiobook from The

Store into a playlist in iTunes’ Source list. Feel free

to add these previews to your iMix playlist.

4. Click the arrow to the right of your playlist’s

name.

When you click this arrow, a dialog box asks

whether you’d like to give the playlist as a gift or

publish it as an iMix.

5. Click Create iMix.