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Getting to know iTunes 12
When it comes to organising your music, movies, TV shows and other media, iTunes provides an easy way to build up your collection, and powerful features to help decide what music you hear.
You can manually build playlists, but iTunes also enables you to specify a few criteria – say, tracks from the '90s that you've rated four or five stars – and it'll pick out matching tracks in an instant, even from a library that contains thousands of items, to save you the bother of doing it yourself.
You can buy from the iTunes Store from within iTunes. There's a free 'Single of the Week' on the store's front page, but to buy other things you'll need to add a payment method – such as your bank card or funds from an iTunes gift card, available in many supermarkets.
Audio CDs can be imported into your library so you don't have to reach for a disc to play an album.
With many recent Macs or slim line laptop, you'll need to add an inexpensive external CD drive (generally less than £30/$43/AU$62). iTunes is also how you copy music and other media from your library to an iPod or other iOS device, so you can enjoy it even when you're away from your Mac.
Here's how to get around in iTunes and find its essential features.
4. Set up CD import
Insert an audio CD in your PC's internal or external CD drive and iTunes will look up track names online. If they can't be found, or you want to make changes, click once on a row to select it, and again on a detail to edit it – or right-click and choose Get Info to edit all details.
7. Search your library
Click and type in the search bar to find things in your library. Results are listed by kind. Click one to view it, or double-click to play it.
Click the magnifying glass and untick Search Entire Library; only results of your chosen format then appear in the main window as you type.
8. Make a playlist
Choose File > New > Playlist to create a playlist. Right-click a track and choose Add to Playlist, or drag it and then drop it onto a playlist in the panel that slides in.
The contents of Smart Playlists are generated when you specify criteria to match, such as a range of years and ratings.
12. The MiniPlayer
Click the current track's artwork in the playback monitor to switch from the large window to the MiniPlayer, which fits neatly at he side or corner of the desktop.
Search for artists, albums and songs by pressing Command + F and typing, and add things to Up Next by clicking the + at their left side.
17. Listen to Beats 1 radio station
Click the Music view and then Radio near the top of the window. The centrepiece of iTunes' radio features is Beats 1, which is the top item here, and you don't need an Apple Music subscription to tune in.
Click the Listen Now button to hear it, or click anywhere else on the Beats 1 banner to see what's playing now, over the next few hours, and regular shows. Click Complete Schedule and scroll down to see upcoming guest presenters.
Apple says Beats 1 isn't dedicated to a particular kind of music. If it isn't playing the sort of things you want to hear, you can request songs by calling one of the phone numbers.
18. Connect with artists
The Connect page is a place for you to read, watch and listen to updates from your favourite artists. Like Beats 1, you don't need a subscription to use it, though you won't be able to add music posted there to your library.
As well as artists you identify when setting up Apple Music, you'll automatically follow artists whose music you've previously bought from Apple, even if just one track.
To change who you follow, click the silhouette-like icon to the right of the status area, then Following. Artists are also followed when you add music from Apple's library to yours. To prevent this, click your name in the same menu and switch off Automatically Follow Artists.
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