iTunes and iPods

iTunes and iPods
Mac Tip #99/30-April-2003

If you bought a Mac within the last few years you will have found on the hard drive a very handy piece of software called iTunes.

iTunes manages music on your Mac. Versions 1 and 2 work with OS 9, while versions 3 and 4 are only for OS X.

iTunes 4 was just released yesterday and brings some excellent new features.

Now, apart from simply playing, importing and organising your music files for you it will also allow you to record those music files onto a CD or a DVD, make use of some other music formats and, if you have a US address, buy individual music tracks online for US$0.99 apiece, download and play them through iTunes or on an iPod.

[Update 2009: New Zealand got its own iTunes Store a few years ago.]

Along with the updated iTunes Apple have released newer, better models of iPods — coming some time this decade to New Zealand I’m sure… ;-)

An iPod is a portable player for the music you store in iTunes and for audio books. It also serves as a backup device, and even holds your address book and calendar, along with a clock. The new versions feature an alarm clock function along with a new design.

[Update 2009: only the older 'Classic' iPods can store your files for backup purposes.]

I use my iPod for all the above purposes and also use OS X’s built-in text-to-speech capability to turn email newsletters and some web pages into spoken word, meaning I can listen to them while I walk the dog.

More on iTunes in another Tip.