iTunes is a free proprietary digital media player application for Mac and PC. With the help of iTunes you are able to manage and play your music even though you don't have an iPod.
Guide: How to use iTunes?
Getting iTunes
- Be sure that your sound card and drivers are updated, and that your computer meets the minimum requirements for the program. You need at least 256 MB of RAM and a 500 MHz processor, more if you intend to use iTunes to play videos.
- Go to the iTunes download page and click on "Free download".
- Hit "Save" on the dialog box. Save the file somewhere you will remember, such as on the desktop.
- After it finishes downloading, install iTunes.
- The first time you open iTunes, it will ask you if you would like all of the music files on your computer added to iTunes. Click "Yes" and it will add and organize all the music that is already on your PC.
Importing Music from Your Computer
- Locate the folder containing the files you intend to add to your iTunes Library.
- Open iTunes.
- Click on "File," then "Add Folder to Library."
- Find the folder in the browsing window that pops up, click "OK."
- Wait for iTunes to finish importing the files.
- Verify that only one copy is in your Library by clicking "View" then "Show Duplicates." Make sure to leave at least one copy in the duplicate view when deleting duplicates! If you delete everything in the duplicate view, you'll lose all copies of that song in your Library.
Importing Music from a CD
- Open iTunes.
- Put the CD in your CD drive and wait for iTunes to recognize it.
- Click on the new icon that shown up in the left-hand frame. This will enable you to view and play the music on the CD.
- Click on "Import CD" in the right corner of the bottom. This will take a few minutes, depending on the speed of your CD drive and the way the CD was made.
Generating a Playlist
- Click "File" and then "New Playlist".
- Name your playlist.
- Drag songs from your Library into your new playlist. Alternatively, you can right-click a song, roll your cursor over "Add to Playlist" and click the playlist you intend to add your song to.
Using iTunes with an iPod
- Open iTunes.
- Connect the iPod to your computer.
- Wait for iTunes to recognize the iPod.
- Click on the iPod under "Devices."
- iTunes and iPod can automatically sync up each time you connect an iPod, it is easier to manually manage an iPod by clicking "Manually Manage Music" while viewing the iPod screen.
- To add music, click them and drag them to the iPod icon.
- To delete music from your iPod in manual mode, click on "Music" under "iPod" and choose the song you want to delete. Press the delete key and click "Yes" to the dialog box that pops up.
- To add a playlist to your iPod, you can use a previously created playlist by clicking and dragging it to the iPod icon. Use the same steps as for iTunes to create a new playlist on your iPod.
