FIG. 1: When you first launch iTunes, it presents a blank list that will soon be filled with your audio tracks. It also asks if you want to activate the MiniStore that lets you buy tracks.

Imagine that you walk into a music room and the teacher has a computer connected to an amplifier and a speaker. She is using Apple iTunes to play audio tracks for the class, with instant access to thousands of files. In addition to playing audio and MIDI tracks, she also uses iTunes to access Internet radio stations and play Podcasts (see “Web Sitings” on p. 38 for more on Podcasts). This teacher is fortunate enough to have an Apple iPod portable audio player, so all the tracks in iTunes are on her iPod. When it is inconvenient to use the computer, the iPod takes its place.

You can do all this and more using iTunes, Apple's free application for the Mac and Windows platforms. After reading this article, you should have a good idea of how to use iTunes in the music classroom or rehearsal hall and how to make the program an integral part of the learning experience. Using iTunes won't necessarily make you a better teacher, but it will help you access and play a wide variety of audio and video files for your students.

To use iTunes, you need the following hardware:

• A Macintosh or a computer running Windows that is capable of loading and running iTunes. To determine the minimum system requirements, go to www.apple.com/itunes/download and select Mac or Windows.
• Some type of amplification. This could be the stereo system in your classroom or a standalone amplifier and speaker. Alternatively, you could use a self-contained audio monitor, such as one of the M-Audio desktop speaker systems (go to www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.list&ID=studiomonitors for more on these products).
• An audio cable to connect the headphone output of the computer to the input of the amplifier. This can be purchased from any Radio Shack or computer store. Typically, you need a 3.5 mm male stereo plug on one end (for the computer's headphone output) and two male RCA plugs on the other (for the amplifier). You can also purchase other adapters for the type of input on your amplifier.

The only software you need is iTunes. The program comes preinstalled on all Macintosh computers, and Windows users can download a free copy at www.apple.com/itunes/download. The program is virtually identical on both platforms (see Fig. 1).

So where do all the iTunes files come from? When you launch the program, it will ask if you want it to search your computer's hard drive for existing audio and video files. If you select Yes, iTunes will gather all the audio and video files on your computer and place them in one handy, easy-to-access location. You can add more files from your existing CD collection as well as from other sources.

FIG. 2: When you insert a CD in your computer’s CD drive, iTunes asks if you want to import the audio tracks.

One note of caution: be sure that you are in compliance with copyright law when copying CDs into iTunes. See “Copyright Concerns” in the November/December 2006 issue of MET or online at www.metmagazine.com.

Here are the most common ways to add tracks to iTunes:

1. ORGANIZING ITUNES PLAYLISTS
   
   

   Import tracks from your CDs by inserting a CD into your computer's CD drive. If the computer is connected to the Internet, iTunes will search the online database called CDDB. If it finds information about the tracks (track names, artist, and so on), it will add the information automatically. Then the software will ask if you want to import the CD tracks. You can choose to import all tracks on the CD or select individual tracks to import (see Fig. 2).

2. Purchase songs from the iTunes store. This is a legal way to purchase copyrighted tunes, and they are generally less expensive than commercial CDs. In iTunes, click on iTunes Store under Store in the left navigation bar. You must be connected to the Internet to purchase and download audio tracks from the iTunes store.

3. Import audio files stored on your computer or that you download from the Internet. iTunes can play a wide variety of audio files, including MP3, AAC, WAV, AIFF, and Apple Lossless. If you want more information on the specifics of these file types, you can read up on them at www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=421047&rl=1. For the purposes of this article, you can play just about any audio format you encounter in iTunes. You don't need to know about the file format unless you are converting from one format to another, which I'll discuss shortly.

4. Import MIDI files. MIDI is not an audio format, because it contains no audio information. MIDI files can, however, be played on a computer using a built-in sound card or software synthesizer. You can drag MIDI files into iTunes and play them without any software other than iTunes.

When you import files into iTunes, they are placed in the Music Library. You access them by clicking on the Music icon in the left navigation bar under Library.

Because one huge list of tracks is unwieldy, iTunes lets you organize groups of files into Playlists. There are three types of Playlists in iTunes: Standard Playlists that you create by dragging tracks into them manually, Smart Playlists that are organized by rules that you set up, and Party Shuffle, which includes randomly selected songs from your Music Library. (You can also “shuffle” existing Playlists to randomize the order in which the tracks are played.)

FIG. 3: You can specify any start and stop time in seconds in order to play only a segment of a track.

To create a Standard Playlist in iTunes:

1. From the File menu, choose New Playlist.






FIG. 4: The graphic equalizer includes several presets designed to complement various musical genres.

2. Enter a name for the list. Your Playlists are displayed in alphabetical order, so keep that in mind when giving them a name.






FIG. 5: The Visualizer paints pretty pictures on the computer screen that correspond with the music being played.

3. Click on the Music Library.



1 2 Next