iTunes – what doesn’t it do

If you look even a little into Apple Mac’s, the iPhone or iPods and iPads, you will find in the middle of it all sits iTunes, bringing it all together for you, and for Apple Even if you have NO Apple products, iTunes can be really useful for managing your sound collection.

So, what can you do with iTunes? Here’s a short list. With iTunes you can:

. register and enter Apples on line store;
. import all your audio CD’s, identify each track, and sort these into a digitised collection;
for your music and media (and your iPod)
. find tracks, artists or albums, accumulate detailed info on many of these using iTunes connected to the internet;
. organise not only music, but audio books, movies, podcasts, radio, news, and TV shows, and e-books;
. create play lists, find tracks, artists or albums, and play your music (or other entertainment) in the order you want;
. buy and download music or most other media in the areas listed above;
. spool these to your portable (Apple) players as you want, and cycle them through, so you can listen and watch on the move;
for your iPhone, iTouch or iPad, these can’t operate effectively without iTunes; from it they;
. get updates to their operating software;
. operate as an iPod music player plus (books (both kinds), news, etc);
. coordinate your calendar and contacts;
. get free and paid programs (software store) for performing almost any personal digital task;
. keep these updated;
for you iTunes will become your most used program;
for Apple, its the core program driving their marketing and product delivery strategy.

If it seems that iTunes will enmesh you inextricably into the Apple fold, you are most probably right on.

Should you think about that before signing up? Well, yes of course.

Should that stop you? Nope. iTunes is the best at almost all it does at present, will be around for a long long time, and you should use it if you want any of this functionality.

Is iTunes perfect? No no. It’s mostly well maintained and updated. There are occasional update issues (and it services an incredible and growing range of hardware). But you will eventually have some down time, usually short. This is true for any software.

How can I afford such a brilliant package? Well, the iTunes program on Mac or Windows is free to download and install. Basic operation does not require you to register with apple, nor must you open an account at Apple’s Store. If you open a store account you provide your credit card details once, then use your store membership and password for future purchases. As most of what you buy is only useable on equipment you register, there’s little incentive for anyone to abuse your account.

You can get almost anything digital you want on the Apple Store. Quick, convenient, secure and low risk. But it pays to look around, as many times there are cheaper alternatives.

Our recommendation on iTunes is download it, install it, explore it, enjoy it, but shop before you buy We will prepare several videos about operation and general use shortly.

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iTunes – what doesn’t it do