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You don't need an iPod to take advantage of iTunes. We show you all the best features in the latest version, writes Jacqueline Wilson

Although the iPod Nano portable music player is undeniably covetable, its release wasn't the only exciting news from Apple last year. The company also launched version 7 of its free digital music organiser, iTunes. From creating music compilations to turning your computer into a digital jukebox, this powerful tool has something for everyone, even those who don't own an iPod. We'll be looking at its handiest features and introducing some of the best new tools in iTunes 7 in this feature.

Back to basics

For those new to iTunes, we'll start with a whistlestop tour of the basics. If you don't have iTunes, download it from www.apple.com/itunes. Once installed, iTunes will offer to find all the music and video on your hard disk and add it to its library. Now take a look at the pane on the left-hand side of the main iTunes screen, where there are three headings: Library, Store and Playlists.

The Library is the archive of all the digital music, videos and audiobooks stored on the computer's hard disk. To sort them by medium, click on one of the headings listed under Library and all the relevant files will be displayed in the main pane. To play a music track, double-click it, or highlight it and use the playback controls above the left-hand pane. The slider controls volume. To search for a track, use the search box in the top right-hand corner of the main screen.

You can copy music tracks from a CD by inserting the disc into the computer's CD drive and following the onscreen prompts. iTunes will automatically label tracks, provided the computer is connected to the internet.

Just below the Library heading is the Store heading. If the computer is connected to the internet, clicking on this link will give access to the iTunes web store where you can purchase and download songs, videos, audiobooks and free podcasts.

Download podcasts individually or click on Subscribe and iTunes will download new episodes as they become available. Alternatively, select Advanced, then Subscribe to Podcast and type in the web address of any podcast. There's also a brand new iPod Games section in the iTunes Store, with games priced at £3.99 each. Remember, though, that files bought from iTunes won't play back on any other digital music device except an iPod, PC or Mac.

Any iPods connected to the computer and any CDs in the computer's CD drive will show up under a Devices heading in the left-hand pane.

Creating Playlists

Last but not least is the Playlists heading. Using this option, it's possible to organise tracks by album, artist or any other grouping and to create compilations.

To create a new Playlist, select File, then New Playlist, and type in a name then drag and drop tracks from the main screen to the new Playlist. Click on the Playlist to view the tracks in it and reorder them by dragging and dropping. iTunes offers a number of default Playlists, such as Top 25 Most Played and Recently Added, which it constantly updates. There's also one called My Top Rated Playlist, comprising your favourite tracks.

Clever though iTunes is, it's not psychic, so for tracks to show up in this Playlist it's necessary to add a star rating. To do this, select a track, then select View Options from the View menu. Check the box next to the My Rating option then click OK. With the track still highlighted, scroll over to the far right of the main pane and click in the My Rating column to give it a rating between one and five stars. However, a simpler way to rate a track is to right-click on it and select My Rating.

iTunes will also automatically generate and update Playlists you create through the Smart Playlists feature. To create a Smart Playlist, select New Smart Playlist from the File menu. As an example we'll set up a Playlist of all the tracks we've given a four-star rating to.

To do this, select My Rating from the first drop-down menu in the Smart Play list dialogue box. Leave the second drop-down menu set to 'is' and then place four stars in the last text box and click on OK. Any new tracks we give a four-star rating to will be automatically added (including those you rate on an iPod, if you have one). The new Playlist will show up under the Playlists menu.

If you're having a party, ask iTunes to select and play songs using the Party Shuffle setting under Playlist. Either drag-and-drop tracks to the Party Shuffle heading, to play them in a random order, or click on the Party Shuffle option and select a Playlist for iTunes to pick tracks from using the Source drop-down menu. If you're giving iTunes free rein to select any track from the Library, check the 'Play higher rated songs more often' box so those tracks you downloaded on a whim don't become the unwanted soundtrack.

Can I see your licence?

Each music track, audiobook or video bought from the iTunes music store is protected by an anti-piracy system called digital rights management (DRM). When iTunes detects a DRM-protected file it checks for a user licence entitling you to use that file, which is automatically downloaded when you purchase the item.

Providing iTunes detects a user licence, it's possible to save the file to an unlimited number of CDs for personal use, copy it to an unlimited number of iPods and share it on up to five authorised computers.

To share files between computers on your home network, select Preferences from the Edit menu, click on the Sharing tab, then check the box next to 'Share my library on my local network'.

If iTunes doesn't detect a user licence for a particular track, video or audiobook, it won't play it back and won't let it be copied. Keep a copy of these licences, preferably on a CD. To back up files and user licences in iTunes 7, select 'Back up to Disc' from the File menu and follow the instructions onscreen. Repeat this regularly so new files are backed up select the 'Only backup items added or changed since last backup option' in the future.

To transfer backed-up files and playlist information to a new computer or restore this information if it gets wiped from your PC, open iTunes and insert the backup disc. iTunes will guide you through the rest of the process. It's also possible to transfer music files from one computer to another using an iPod, but only with iTunes 7.

Don't forget to deauthorise an authorised computer before selling or disposing of it by selecting Store, Deauthorize computer. This removes the licences and frees it up from your list of five authorised computers.

Style and substance

The latest version of iTunes certainly looks prettier than previous versions, but substance underpins its style in the form of clever new features. The first of these enables you to eliminate gaps that iTunes inserts when importing tracks from a CD of music. On a live album, for instance, these gaps can be annoying, and iTunes can now remove them. Highlight the tracks to be joined, by holding down the Shift key and using the mouse, then go to Advanced and select Join CD tracks.

It's also possible to crossfade between tracks to create smooth transitions when playing songs. To do this, select a Playlist, go to the Edit menu and select Preferences then click on the Playback tab. Check the Crossfade Playback box and use the slider to the right to apply a crossfade of one to 12 seconds. It's also possible to set a standard volume at which iTunes will play tracks by checking the Sound Check box.

The larger your music collection, the more likely it is that duplicated tracks will go undetected, but iTunes will even root these out for you. Click on one of the media type headings under Library and select View, then Show Duplicates. Any duplicated tracks will be listed in the main pane. To delete a duplicated file, right-click on it and select Delete. When doing this take care not to delete different versions of the same song, for example, the acoustic version of a song you also have the album version of, as iTunes searches by file name and may not know the difference between two versions of a song.

Depending on how you have imported and downloaded music, videos, audiobooks and podcasts, the iTunes Library will include items located in various locations on the computer's hard disk. To place a copy of all the files in the Library in the iTunes Music folder, select Advanced, then Consolidate Library, and click on the Consolidate button. This will then make it easier to transfer the contents of the Library to a new computer, for example.

Customise iTunes

There are plug-ins available for iTunes that will add features or change the way it looks onscreen. One of these is Last FM (www.last.fm), an online social network dedicated to music. Download and install the plug-in, create a user profile and Last FM will update it with information about the tracks you play in iTunes. To change the look of iTunes, search for skins at www.guistyles.com. You'll find more plug-ins for iTunes at http://itunes.pluginsworld.com.
New to iTunes 7 is the Cover Flow view. This is a kind of virtual jukebox, making it easy to browse tracks in the Library by flicking through the cover art associated with each one. To switch to this view, click on the right-hand button above View and to the left of the search box in the main iPod window.

Parents will also be glad to know that iTunes offers a range of parental controls. Go to Edit, Preferences, Parental Controls. Only the administrator can change these settings.
We've covered some of the key tools and settings that make iTunes such a versatile tool. But don't take our word for it - try these features out for yourself to explore how iTunes will work best for you.

This article was created: 28 November 2006.
This article was last edited: 10 April 2007.

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