Secrets of the iPod and iTunes (Fifth Edition) [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Songs from the Web

Apple has made getting music from the Web a far simpler (and far more defensible) enterprise with the opening of the iTunes Music Store. I discuss The Store in detail in the next chapter. But there are other avenueslegal and not-sofor finding music on the Web.

Finding free and legal music on the Web is getting easier by the day. Apple gives away a download each week from the iTunes Music Store (though you must have an account at The Store to download these files). And then there are the old standbys such as the Internet Underground Music Archives ([www.iuma.com]) and [GarageBand.com] ([www.garageband.com]). But recently, a number of Web sites devoted to pointing visitors to free music have begun to crop up. The Red Ferret Journal (www.enorgis.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php), for example, boasts links to more than 1 million free and legal music tracks. And of course, there are such far-from-legal sources as Internet newsgroups, HotLine servers, and peer-to-peer file-sharing clients. Let's put aside the legal and ethical arguments for now (I assure you that I'll address these important issues later in the book) and focus on getting music from the Web onto your iPod.

Legal Music-File Sources

Despite much of what you've heard about music file sharing on the Web, there are places to get perfectly legal free MP3 files. Some sites offer this music to expose unsigned bands; others give you a taste of an album in the hope that you'll purchase the CD. Such sources include:

Internet Underground Music Archives ([www.iuma.com])

[RollingStone.com] ([www.rollingstone.com])

[Billboard.com] ([www.billboard.com])

[Amazon.com] ([www.amazon.com])

[GarageBand.com] ([www.garageband.com])

The iTunes Music Store (a free song download each week)

[Playlistmag.com] ([www.playlistmag.com])

Or, as I mentioned earlier, you can check out a Web site such as The Red Ferret Journal ([www.enorgis.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php]) to find links to other Web sites that offer free music.

If you're looking for legal live recordings of such bands as the Grateful Dead, take a look at FurthurNET ([http://furthurnet.com]). This OS X-only Java application is a peer-to-peer file-sharing service that allows users to share live recordings. Note that many of the files shared on FurthurNET are complete shows that can take up hundreds of megabytes of storage. Use such a service only if you have a fast broadband connection and lots of room to store files.

Managing File Types

Remember, the iPod is capable of playing only AAC, MP3, Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV files (and remember, only those iPods with a Dock connector can play Apple Lossless files). Other audio formats exist on the Web, but these file formats are not supported by the iPod. Microsoft's Windows Media Player files (.wma), for example, will not play on the iPod. Neither will the music files offered by other online music stores, such as Napster and Musicmatch (in Chapter 5, I show you how to get around this limitation). Likewise, you can forget about Sony's Atrac format (which works only with Sony gear). Also, the iPod is incapable of playing files encoded with Ogg Vorbisa popular music encoder in the Linux world.

If you'd like to use some other variety of audio file, you must convert it before you can bring it into iTunes. If you're running Mac OS 9, Norman Franke's free SoundApp application (Figure 2.7; [www.spies.com/~franke/SoundApp]) is a terrific utility for converting files to a form acceptable to the iPod. You may have to convert a file to AIFF format and then convert it to AAC within iTunes.

Figure 2.7. SoundApp can convert a multitude of audio file types in Mac OS 9.

For those running Mac OS X 10.2 or later, Steve Dekorte's $10 SoundConverter (Figure 2.8; [www.dekorte.com/Software/OSX/SoundConverter]) is worth a look. SoundConverter supports just about every audio file type on earth.

Figure 2.8. SoundConverter converts sound files in Mac OS X.

Note, however, that you may never be able to convert certain types of files with an audio conversion utility. RealAudio files, for example, are generally streamed from the Web (meaning that the audio files are stored somewhere on the Web and played like a radio broadcast to your computer) and can't be stored in whole on your computer or converted to a form that your iPod understands.

Mac users can capture streaming audio (or any audio that plays through their computer's speakers, for that matter) and save it as an AIFF file with Ambrosia Software's ([www.ambrosiasw.com]) free WireTap application. Rogue Amoeba's ([www.rogueamoeba.com]) $16 Audio Hijack can also record the sound from just about any application running on your Mac; in addition it includes an equalizer and supports timed recording, allowing you to configure your Mac to record audio (such as a streamed radio broadcast) automatically. The $32 Audio Hijack Pro, in addition to having a wealth of features, can save hijacked files in MP3, AAC, and Apple Lossless formats.

If you're a Mac user interested solely in recording streaming MP3 radio broad casts, take a look at Bit Cartel's $15 RadioLover ([www.bitcartel.com/radiolover]) or Fogware's $40 Internet Radio Recorder ([http://www.fog-ware.com/irr]). As with Audio Hijack, these programs can be configured to record broadcasts on a user-defined schedule.

Windows users can record audio from running applications with 1st Benison Software's $30 All Recorder ([www.allrecorder.com]). All Recorder allows you to save files in the MP3, .wma, .ogg, .vqf, and .wav formats. Unless you'll want to convert these files later, save them in one of the two formats supported by the iPod: MP3 and .wav.

Play Tunes over a Network

Once upon a time, streaming songs across a network from one computer to another was a cumbersome process. Now, thanks to built-in iTunes 4 support for OpenTalk (once called Rendezvous)a networking technology that lets computers find one another effortlessly on a local networkstreaming songs couldn't be easier. Here's how:

1. Launch iTunes 4.

2. Choose Preferences from the iTunes menu on a Macintosh and from the Edit menu in the Windows version of iTunes.

3. Click the Sharing button.

4. In the resulting window, enable the Share My Music check box.

Below this check box, you'll see the option to share your entire library or just selected playlists. You'll also see options for naming your shared music and requiring a password to share your music (Figure 2.9).

Figure 2.9. To share your music libraryand view other shared libraries on a local networkvisit iTunes 4's Sharing preference.

5. If you want other users' shared music libraries to be available to you, enable the Look for Shared Music check box.

6. Click OK to close the window.

Now when another computer is connected to your networkeither wired or wirelesslythe music you've chosen to share will be available to that computer within iTunes 4. If you enabled the Look for Shared Music option in iTunes Preferences, and if that other computer is configured to share its music library, you'll be able to stream its songs to your computer (Figure 2.10).

Figure 2.10. The shared music library on another Mac.

Chapter 3.)

If you're a Mac user running an earlier version of iTunes, dread not. Here's a way for you to tune into another Mac's music:

1. Mount a network volume that contains music files that you want to stream to your Mac.

2. If you're using iTunes 3, launch iTunes, and choose Preferences from the iTunes menu. iTunes 2 users will find Preferences in the Edit menu.

3. In iTunes 3, click the Advanced button in the Preferences dialog box, and uncheck the Copy Files to iTunes Music Folder When Adding to Library check box.

This option doesn't exist in iTunes 2; that version won't copy files to the music folder.

4. In either iTunes 2 or iTunes 3, choose the Add to Library command from the File menu.

5. In the resulting Add to Library dialog box (called Choose Object in iTunes 2), navigate to the mounted volume and then to a folder full of music files.

This folder may be the iTunes Music folder on another Mac, for example. Note that if you're running Mac OS X, you must have sufficient privileges to access this folder. (You'll know you don't if you see a "Do Not Enter" icon slapped atop the networked computer's Music folder.)

6. With the folder highlighted, click Choose.

Pointers to the music files within that folder are added to your iTunes Library. To play a song on the remote Mac, simply highlight its name and click iTunes' Play button.

Note:
If you try to play a tune from a Mac that isn't mounted, iTunes prompts you to mount the volume.

You can play these files just as you'd play any other song in iTunes. The difference is that they're playing from a remote hard drive rather than from your Mac.

Better yet, because these files are in the Library, the iPod will add them the next time you update the iPodone somewhat-sneaky way to add tunes that aren't located on the Mac that's sanctioned to work with the iPod.

Moving Music into iTunes

After you've downloadedand, if necessary, convertedthe files you want, you have three ways to move them into iTunes:

Choose an Add to Library command from iTunes' File menu.

In the Macintosh version of iTunes, there's only the single Add to Library command. When you choose this command, the Add to Library dialog box appears (called Choose Object in iTunes 2). Navigate to the file, folder, or volume you want to add to iTunes, and click Open (Figure 2.11). iTunes decides which files it thinks it can play and adds them to the Library.

Figure 2.11. Those using earlier versions of iTunes can share music via the Add to Library command.

iTunes for Windows includes two commands: Add File to Library and Add Folder to Library. When you choose Add File to Library, up pops the Add to Library dialog box; you can navigate to individual music files and add them by clicking the Open button. When you choose Add Folder to Library, the Browse for Folder window opens, allowing you to browse the directories of My Documents, My Computer, and My Network Places. Select a directory and click OK; iTunes adds all compatible music files it finds in that directory.

Drag files, folders, or entire volumes to the iTunes icon in Mac OS X's Dock, Mac OS 9's tear-off Applications menu, or the iTunes icon in either operating system (at which point iTunes launches and adds the dragged files to the Library).

Windows users can drag files, folders, or volumes onto the iTunes shortcut on the Desktop or the iTunes icon in the Start menu (if you've pinned iTunes to this menu).

Drag files, folders, or entire volumes into iTunes' main window. This method works for both the Mac and Windows versions of iTunes.

By default, iTunes 2 keeps its songs in the iTunes Music folder within the iTunes folder inside the Documents folder. (In Mac OS 9, the Documents folder is at the root level of your startup drive; in Mac OS X, the Documents folder is inside your user folder.) When you add tunes to the Library via any of these methods, a dialog box will appear, warning you that should you move these files from their current location, iTunes won't be able to locate them later (Figure 2.12).

Figure 2.12. Early versions of iTunes issue a warning when you add songs to your Library.

In the Mac versions of iTunes 3 and 4, you'll find songs in the iTunes Music folder within the iTunes folder inside the Music folder inside your OS X user folder. So, for example, the path to my iTunes music files would be chris/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music.

Windows users will find their iTunes Music folder by following this path: yourusername/My Music/iTunes/iTunes Music.

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