ITunes

   

Screenshot of Mac OS X version of iTunes
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Screenshot of Mac OS X version of iTunes
The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. The correct title is iTunes.

iTunes is a computer program made by Apple Computer intended to play, organize and buy music files (it is also a common name for iTunes Music Store). It is compatible with computers running Mac OS X, Windows 2000, or Windows XP operating systems. Earlier versions of iTunes also ran on Mac OS 9. The player has gained a reputation of ease of use and good organization, and has been positioned by Apple as the preferred music player for users using the iPod music player (succeeding Musicmatch Jukebox on Windows). It is freely downloadable from Apple's website and supplied with Mac OS X.

iTunes is largely based on SoundJam MP, a popular commercial MP3 application distributed by the Macintosh software company Casady & Greene. Apple purchased the rights to the SoundJam MP software, as it already employed the programmers who created the program. Although the first release of iTunes was very similar to SoundJam MP; it did however lack some features such as the ability to use interface skins and broadcast audio over the Internet - both of which are still lacking.

Features

Users are able to organize their music into playlists, edit file information, record compact discs, copy files to a digital music player, purchase music on the Internet through its built-in music store, run a visualizer to display graphical effects in time to the music as well as encoding music into a number of different audio formats.

'Smart playlists' are playlists that are automatically updated (like a database query) based on a customized list of selection criteria.

Music library

iTunes stores metadata about the audio files in two files which are equal in content, though not in format. The first is a binary file called iTunes 4 Music Library that uses its own music library format, independent of the audio format's tag capabilities (for example the ID3 tag). The second file, called iTunes Music Library.xml, uses XML format, allowing developers to easily write applications that can access the information (e.g. Apple's own iMovie or Freshly Squeezed Software's Rock Star [1] (http://freshsqueeze.com/products/rockstar/)).

File format support

iTunes can currently encode to MP3, AIFF, WAV, AAC, and Apple Lossless, and can play anything QuickTime can play (even video formats, as long as they have audio), including Protected AAC files from iTunes Music Store, plus Audible.com audio books. It can be extended to play other formats such as the free Ogg Vorbis audio format through the addition of QuickTime components.

The Windows version of iTunes can automatically convert unprotected WMA files to other audio formats, but it does not support direct playback or encoding of WMA format.

File sharing

iTunes Library songs can be shared over a local network using Rendezvous - Apple's name for the Zeroconf open network standard - which allows shared lists of songs within the same subnet to be automatically detected. When a song is shared, iTunes can stream the song but won't save a copy on the local hard drive, in order to prevent piracy. Songs in Protected AAC format can also be accessed but authentication is required.

In the past with iTunes 4.0, users could access shared lists anywhere over the internet, in addition to one's own subnet, by specifying IP addresses of remote shared song libraries. This feature was soon removed permanently by Apple with version 4.0.1, claiming that users were violating the EULA.

Music sharing uses the Digital Audio Access Protocol (DAAP), created by Apple for this purpose. [2] (http://daap.sourceforge.net/)

Synchronizing iPod and other players

iTunes can automatically synchronize your music library with your iPod every time you connect it to your computer. New songs and playlists are automatically copied to the iPod and songs you deleted from your library are also deleted from your iPod. Songs rated on your iPod by awarding it a number of stars will sync back to your iTunes music library and audiobooks will remember the current position within the book.

Automatic synchronization can be turned off in favour of manually copying individual songs or complete playlists; however, iTunes supports only copying music to the iPod and not from it, which has inspired third party tools for that purpose.

iTunes supports a number of other popular portable music players with some limitations including the inability to play music purchased from the iTunes Music Store. Support players include a number of Nomad players from Creative Labs, some Rio players, music players from Nike and the SoundSpace 2 device. Other manufacturers may also offer integration by way of a plugin.

iTunes Music Store

Version 4 of iTunes introduced the iTunes Music Store from which iTunes users can legally buy and download songs for use on a limited number of computers and iPods. Songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store are copy protected with Apple's FairPlay digital rights management (DRM) scheme.

iTunes version history

Mac OS 9

  • 1.0 - January 9 2001
    • Original release.
  • 1.1 - February 21 2001
    • Support for external burners.
    • Improved visual effects generator.
    • More supported burners.

Mac OS 9 & Mac OS X

  • 2.0 - November 2 2001
    • iPod support.
    • Equalizer.
    • MP3 CD-burning.
    • Crossfader.
    • Sound enhancer.
    • Burns CDs 2x faster than before.
  • 2.0.2 - November 16 2001
    • Language support for French and German.
    • Improves ID3 tags for double-byte languages.
  • 2.0.3 - December 13 2001
    • Only checked songs are synchronized with iPod.
    • Rio One MP3 player support.
  • 2.0.4 - March 20 2002
    • Expanded AppleScript support.
    • Improved stability and performance.

Mac OS X

  • 3.0 - July 17 2002
    • Smart playlists.
    • Audible.com audio books support.
    • Sound check.
    • Ratings.
    • New ID3-tags, which have play counts etc.
    • Join tracks.
    • Playlist importing and exporting.
  • 3.0.1 - September 18 2002
  • 4.0 - April 28 2003
    • Music Store support.
    • Music sharing.
    • AAC encoding.
    • Album artworks.
    • DVD support.
    • Improved searching.
    • Track categorization with beats per minute.
  • 4.0.1 - May 27 2003
    • Music sharing only in subnet.
    • Performance improvements.

Mac OS X & Windows

  • 4.1 - October 16 2003
    • Voice notes and On-The-Go playlists synchronization with iPod.
    • Support for large library to be burned on multiple CDs.
    • Music Store link drag & dropping.
    • Music Store now features Audiobooks.
    • Music Store has more advanced Power Seach.
    • Music Store supports allowance.
    • Music Store supports gift certificates.
  • 4.2 - December 18 2003
    • AOL-account support in Music Store.
    • Performance improvements.
  • 4.5 - April 28 2004
    • iMix.
    • Party Shuffle.
    • CD insert printing.
    • Music Store Quick Links.
    • Automatic WMA to AAC-conversion (Windows only).
    • Apple Lossless. Lossless audio-codec.
  • 4.6 - June 9 2004
    • AirTunes support.
    • Minor improvements.
  • 4.7 - October 27 2004
    • Support for copying photos to an iPod Photo.
    • Ability to show duplicate songs in your library.
    • Performance improvements.
    • iPod preferences now part of the Preferences window.
    • Ability to search iMixes by name on the iTunes Music Store.

See also

External links





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