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iTunes Five Minute Tune-up
You can make iTunes better, much better, in five minutes. First, check you have iTunes 7.0 or later, if you don’t go to Help (Windows) or (Mac) iTunes and Check for updates, follow the download links. OK, set the stopwatch and away we go.
Preferences The most powerful part of iTunes is found via the Preferences section. Look under Edit (Windows) or iTunes (Mac) and click Preferences. A control panel opens, from here you can quickly and simply transform your use of iTunes.
The first tab to click on is General. Here you can get iTunes to automatically download updates just by clicking the box at the bottom, and download missing artwork – more on this later.
Next, click on Playback. See ‘Sound Check’ - if you click on this iTunes will adjust the sound volume of all your songs so they’re consistent. No more sudden loud tracks.
The Sharing tab opens up one of iTunes most powerful features if you computers linked by a network. If you check the first box ‘Look for shared libraries’ your computer will seek out others with iTunes and access their music as if it was on your computer. You need to ensure that the other computer has the second box ‘Share my library on my network’ ticked; you can even give that a cute local name. If all your computers are set up to share music you’ll have a giant shared music library, without the bother of transferring files.
The Store tab lets you select how you buy music from the iTunes Store. If you click the first button you get an instant download – and charge – for any tracks you buy. The second option, the Shopping Cart, lets you vet your selection before finally placing the order. This gives you a chance to change your mind before your credit card gets hit. This is the biggest money saving tip an iPod owner can implement.
The Advanced tab opens three key areas of iTunes. General lets you select where iTunes actually puts your digital music files, the default option is normally OK. If you tick the second box iTunes will neatly organise your music into folders for each artist – worth ticking.
Importing is the next tab, from here you can take a simple step to dramatically improve the quality of your music. Look at Setting – the default is 128 kbps. By clicking on this bar you can increase sound quality. Try Custom and use one of the settings greater than 128 kbps, the sound will be much, much better. If you’re looking for a single action to improve sound quality, this is it.
The third advanced tab is Burning. If you have any problems burning DVDs, set the speed setting from ‘Maximum Possible’ and reduce it to half the rated speed of the media you use. For example, if the disc says ‘16x’ try 8 times.
Then click on OK and you’re done, these few simple steps will make life with iTunes easier – and your music will sound far better. Got some more time?
Go to View from the main iTunes menu, and click on Show Equalizer. A control panel will pop up, ignore the individual sliders for a moment and click the ‘On’ box and look at the options that appear when you click the options bar to the right. Each one will adjust the way your music is played, leaving the original file unchanged. You can boost bass (or reduce bass), fine tune for Pop, R&B, spoken word and more. If you’re using a laptop or ordinary computer speakers try the Small Speakers setting for an immediate improvement.
If you have live albums you might feel frustrated by gaps iTunes between tracks. With iTunes 7 you can regain the original unbroken sound. Select the album, then highlight all tracks (click first track, hold down the Shift key, then click on the last track). Go to the track data (Apple + I on Mac; right click and Get info on Windows) and look at the settings options at the bottom. If you make this a Gapless Album it will play right through without pausing.
Finally, a few words on album art. iTunes will automatically download missing art, but you need to take two steps. First you need to create an iTunes Store account. You won’t be charged for any art you download but without an account the facility doesn’t work. Go to Store and follow the steps to create an account. When that’s done, go back to Preferences and make sure on the General tab the box you saw earlier – Download missing artwork – is ticked. Next time you rip a CD, iTunes will go away and find the album art (if that album is available from Apple).
The first time you do this you can force iTunes to find all missing art by going to Advanced from the main menu and selecting Get Album Artwork.
Not seeing your artwork on your computer? Go to View and choose Show artwork.
Now you can enjoy better sounds, great album art, and share songs all in a few minutes.
Jeff Underwood joined the computer industry at the height of the mainframe boom, he’s lived through mini computers and the PC revolution on Windows and Mac computers. Starting as a programmer he moved to sales and then to computer based business services.
Three years ago he founded podServe (http://podserve.co.uk) to save time and hassle for iPod owners who had better things to do than slot CDs into a computer. Today podServe is an acknowledged market leader in music CD ripping and has been endorsed by the Sunday Times and the Rough Guide series. His e-mail address is ju@podserve.co.uk
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