16 tremendous iTunes tips
Delve deeper into Apple’s famous digital jukebox to tame its interface and tweak the way it presents your music
1
View the sidebar
You can browse your library with or without a sidebar; without it, views and playlists are accessed through the arrow next to Library in the navigation bar. To toggle the sidebar, choose View > Show/Hide Sidebar.
2
Switch media type
This menu enables you to switch between types of media, or you can press ç+1 through
9. You can edit its contents: pick Edit Menu from it and leave check marks next to only those items you want to be visible.
3
See the status bar
The Status Bar is hidden by default, but you can make it visible with View > Status Bar. It shows the current view or selection in terms of storage size taken up, duration of running time, and an item count.
4
Edit cover art
If album art is missing, sign in to the iTunes Store, ≈- click the album and choose Get Album Art. If that fails, pick Get Info instead, click Edit Items, and drag art from an online search into the Artwork tab.
5
Smart Playlists
If you have a lot of music, pick File > New > Smart Playlist. Set one rule to “Last played not in the last 30 days” and then set playback to shuffle. Voila, an instant jukebox with no recently played tracks!
6
Use the MiniPlayer
Turn iTunes’ window into the MiniPlayer by clicking the album artwork in the status area, or press ß+ç+m. In iTunes > Preferences > Advanced you’ll find an option to keep it on top of other windows.