iTunes Class Outline & Links; August 28th, 2008

[How far we get depends on time and student's level of expertise.]

Introduction

General concept of iTunes
Digital audio formats: compressed (“lossy”) vs. uncompressed (“lossless”)

• Lossy: MP3, AAC, WMA(Microsoft Windows format)
• Lossless: AIFF, WAV, “Ogg Vorbis”, etc.

The iTunes interface

Preferences
Interface components

• Source list
• Main window
• - Progress bar features, “Quick links”
• View Options, etc.

Workflow

Importing

• Encoding options
• CDDB (to get Album/Track info automatically)

Viewing/organizing

• Playlists/Smart Playlists
• Folders

Genres/ratings/comments
Sharing(?)

iTunes Store

• Buying/downloading music
• “ / “ TV shows & Movies
• Podcasts!

iPods

Setup
Syncing

• Music (& Video for some iPods)
• Photos/contacts/calendars

Links

Video/audio tutorials on iTunes (and Garageband) at Apple's site:

• http://www.apple.com/findouthow/music/
  

Alternative online music sites:

• http://emusic.com/

[if you end up signing up for an account with eMusic, would you mind giving me credit as a referral? I think you might need me to send you an invite to do that, so just let me know. Thanks!]

• http://amazonmp3.com/
• http://cdbaby.com/

Great site for all music-related information:

• http://allmusic.com/

Have fun!