iTunes is widely used and powerful media player. It is not just a player but provide a better support to organize your media files within one windows. You can play back, organize, your videos/songs, on Mac and other system. Also iTunes is developed for portable devices also where you can easily sync the device with each other and share similar playlist files. The interface of the same is very simple to use. There is an feature in iTunes which provides you Tagging your media. This helps in better organization of media files and it is really recommended. The tagging feature is very simple and easy to configure. All you need is to follow some tips for setting this up. It is very handy for managing music collections.
This is best to do when you started to create your own song collection. If you have very large amount of media then this job becomes very lengthy. But this is nothing for music lovers. They enjoy tagging their favorite music and the arrangement is awesome. I reply on iTunes mainly. The reason is it easy interface and you can modify the settings in a portable device also. The best thing is that you have iTunes available for non Apple system also. Cross platform support is something which is really an need of today. So that the application is not simply consolidated to an single platform only.
Tagging in iTunes
Summary :
Run iTunes and load your songs. In that right click on any one which you want to tag and click on Get Info. The first tab which is the Summary tab which gives you an composite information on the same. As you keep adding information the Summary tabs is more updated.
Info :
Now click on the next category. This is Info category. In this place by default the song name appears. Basically when you buy a song from iTunes stores all stuff is updated. There is nothing much needed to do. But for an customized song list this become essential part. Here you can add many information about the media you have. The category is very simple to update. There are number of columns provided in this section which you have to fill. They are as follow :
- Name : This is filled by default which is the song name. You can add a more detailed title here.
- Artist : The song artist who sings the song comes here. This also helps you to view all those songs which the same Artist name. So provide this information. You can add more artist in this column by comma.
- Album Artist : This columns is for the main artist of Album. The actual artist who is the central part of Album.
- Album: This is also filled by default sometime, or else you can provide the Album name.
- Grouping: This column helps you get create your own group. You can add a name and similar in other songs Info also. All those songs are then listed in a single Group. Like Favorite.
- Composer: Provide the information on song’s composers. Not really needed but for choosy users who are very specific to song artist and composition can fill this.
- Comments: You can use this box as per your need. You can write some comments related to your song. I add my memories mostly.
- Genre: This column is important. iTunes provide you some per-configured song genre. As per your mood then you can play those songs. You can divide the song types as per the genre. This is one of an very nice option.
- Year/ Track Number / Disc Number / BPM : This options are as per your need. You can add the year of album. The track number is place where you can give a specific number of each track. Disc number is not used much and bpm refers to beats per minute. So if you want to you can use them or leave it.
Sorting :
Now this is the place which offers you a much better organization. You have to just fill information from Info to manually assign song sorting. This configuration is also not very hefty but you will find yourself doing repeated things. The options in this are common. The image itself gives you an fair idea of the same. Just copy the information from Info.
Options :
Now this what you can say innovation. There are really some useful features that you can use there. iTunes is just not really meant for portable devices but for regular systems also. It can be a professional media manager also. Read properly about the options available in this sections. This can be very helpful. Under this category you can edit many playback option for your songs. The best example is volume adjustment. You can modify the settings and the song plays on that settings. Same goes for the Equalizer Preset.
Volume Adjustment Slider lets you to modify an particular song volume. Whenever that songs runs in the background the volume settings are applied. Equalizer Preset allows you to to change the song genre and provide some audio effects. This makes it more better. You can rate the song also, so that you can bifurcate the same in most rated song list. Other settings are provided in small checkboxes. Here if you do not want the song settings to work on regular play you can just tick on Skip when Shuffling. Another thing one option remember playback position allows you to run the song back from place it has ended. Give OK when the settings are modified properly.
Lyrics :
This category is for dedicated music lovers to add song lyrics. Those were played as the song plays. This is somewhat helpful to some extent only.
Artwork :
It can help for visual display of your song albums. You can manage the display of your music collection here. Like the cd cover. It is simple and easy to use. You can add any artwork you by clicking on Add.
Some iTunes Tips & Tricks
There are many functions in iTunes which we do not know. I am posting more here. You can use them for better management :
1. The Smart Playlists is iTunes are very useful and it makes easy to create a random selection of songs with certain criteria, but the playlist is not interactive. That is going to fixed surely in the coming version. There is an setting called as Party Shuffle which chooses songs at random on the basis of frequency of reproduction and also you can create a list for the same also.
2. iTunes has volume fading effect. This effects help to manage the song volume between two songs. So if an loud noise sound is going to play it starts with low noise and does not disturb the mood. iTunes can take care of this by setting it correctly, go into preferences and select the Playback tab, then check the box on Cross-fade Playback and Sound Check. On the same card is also an option improves sound very useful to correct any imperfections sound .
3. You can also change the start and end point of the song. To do this, take note of the song at the exact point where you start and finish playing (listen to and stored in how many minutes and how many seconds you find these points), then with the song you selected control-click and choose information from the menu (or use the Command-s), select the options tab and check the options start and end, indicating the start and end points previously marked.
4. Like almost all programs and iTunes offers some keyboard shortcuts, for example, to play the next song or fast forward the song. The most important are noted below, the other codes can be found in the menu of iTunes.
- Space = Play / Pause
- Apple-key and - = Quiet
- Apple key and + = loud
- T = Apple key and start visualizing
- Apple key and F = enable visualization fullscreen on / off
- M = Apple key and bring iTunes to the Dock
- Apple iTunes button, and Q = End
5. Under the menu item Help > iTunes Help you will find a complete guide. The reference book includes topics such as the iTunes Music Store (iTMS), the iPod and the keyboard shortcuts.
6. Many audio players support visual effects. These are graphical effects that can be played independently on iTunes. To enable this, you have to go Enable visual effects in the toolbar, click view. Alternatively, you can also press Apple Key + T. The effects are shown in the same window as iTunes.
7. You can share your musical tastes with friends by posting your best playlists on the iTunes Store. The playlists offer fragments of thirty seconds of any of the songs on your list, if available on the iTunes Store. If any song from your playlist is not available in the music store will not appear in the shared list. To share a playlist, choose the one you want to share. Click the arrow to the right of Publish the playlist in the sources column. If you do not see it, make sure you have ticked Show links to iTunes Store in iTunes> Preferences.
8. To quickly add a song from a CD to an existing playlist, insert the CD and then drag the song from the list of CD tracks to the playlist. The song is automatically added to your library and playlist. To copy a song from a CD into a new playlist, drag it from the CD to the white area beneath the items in the sources column. The song is imported into your library and added to the playlist.
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