Mac OS X Leopard - ARCAism

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CHAPTER 14 APPLE APPS INCLUDED WITH LEOPARD
Importing Media into iTunes
In order to take advantage of iTunes, you must first import your media into it. The way this is
done depends on what sort of media you are starting with. If you already have a collection of
supported digital media files (including MP3, AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), and MOV), then
you can just use the File ➤ Import... command from the menu bar.
NOTE The Advanced tab in iTunes preferences contains a number of options that are relevant
to importing media. For example, under the Advanced ➤ General tab, you may want to select
“Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library” and “Keep iTunes Music folders
organized,” which will keep all of your iTunes media organized in its own location without
affecting any of the original files you import.
If you are importing your music from a CD collection, iTunes will automatically convert
your audio CDs into MP3, AAC, or other formats, and import them into your library. The
options available to you are located on the Advanced ➤ Importing tab in iTunes preferences.
NOTE Which settings are best for importing your CDs is mostly a personal choice. If you are a
true audiophile with lots of hard drive space, then of course Apple Lossless format is your best
choice (it makes an exact copy of the audio with no loss in quality whatsoever, yet still occupies
only half the space as a CD audio file). For everyone else, it becomes a space, quality, and
compatibility issue. AAC and MP3 are both compatible with most digital media players; however,
MP3 would still be the default if maximum compatibility is an issue. Many people feel
that AAC provides better playback quality at the same compression over MP3 (and at higher
compression I tend to agree). I find that 256 Kbps AAC provides excellent audio files while saving
considerable disk space over uncompressed (or lossless) formats, while 128 Kbps AAC
provides good enough sound quality for most situations and allows you to cram lots of music
on your iPod. For MP3s, I find 192 Kbps files to be good enough, but I find 128 Kbps MP3s to
have quite noticeable audio issues.
Once you have your import preferences set up, when you insert an audio CD into your computer,
it will show up in your iTunes library, and (at least the first time) a pop-up window will
appear asking you if you’d like to import the CD into your iTunes library. If you send away the
pop-up window (either momentarily or permanently), you can still import your CD by clicking
the Import CD button in the lower-right-hand corner of iTunes.
NOTE When you insert your CD, if you are connected to the Internet, iTunes will seek out
information about the CD you inserted and automatically fill in the CD and track details (unless
you turned this feature off on the Advanced ➤ Importing tab of iTunes preferences). If for
some reason the details are wrong, or you’d like to change them, then select the track (or
tracks) you wish to alter and select Get Info from the contextual menu. The Get Info box will
not only reveal more information about the tracks and album, but will allow you to freely edit
the information.
The other way to get music into your iTunes library is to buy it from the iTunes Store (Figure
14-4) (formerly know as the iTunes Music Store, but then they started selling videos, too).
The iTunes Store, which now ranks as one of the leading music retailers in the world, provides
a huge selection of music new and old, along with an ever-increasing selection of movies,
TV shows, music videos, and audio books. Most of this is for sale, although there are occasionally
freebies available for download.