iPod: The Missing Manual

Set Up Multiple iTunes Libraries

Many households have just one computer for the whole family. Wouldn't it be great if everyone had a personal iTunes library? To use multiple libraries, follow these steps:
1.Quit iTunes
2. Hold down the Shift [Option] key on your PC or Mac keyboard and launch iTunes. In the box that pops up, click Create Library and give it a name.

3. iTunes opens up, but with a blank library with nothing in it. If you have music in your main library that you want to move over to this one, choose File--> Add to Library.
4. Navigate to the music you want and add it. If the songs are in your original library, they're probably in My Documents-->My Music--> iTunes-->iTunes Music [Home-->Music-->iTunes-->iTunes Music] in folders sorted by Artist name. Choose the files you want and add.
To switch between libraries, just hold down the Shift [Option] key when you're starting iTunes, and you'll get a box that lets you pick the one you want. (The program opens the last library if you don't choose one.) Tracks from CDs you rip go into whatever library's open. And now that you have those songs in this library, you can switch back to the other one and get rid of them there.

Change a Song's Start and Stop Times

Got a song with onstage chitchat before it starts or after the music ends? Fortunately, you don't have to sit there and listen. You can a change a song's start and stop times so you hear only the juicy middle part.
As you play the song you want to adjust, observe the iTunes status display window; watch for the point in the timeline where you get bored. Then:
1. Click the track you want to adjust.
2. Choose File-->Get Info to call up the song's information box.
3. Click the Options tab and take a look at the Stop Time box, which shows the full duration of the song.
4. Enter the new stopping point for the song, as you noted earlier.
You can perform the exact same trick at the beginning of a song by adjusting the time value in the Start Time box.

Media libraries grow and hard drives shrink as thousands of song and videos fill up the space. You may be thinking of getting a big external hard drive to use for iTunes storage, and if so, make sure iTunes knows what you intend to do.
If you rudely drag the iTunes Music folder to a different place without telling iTunes, it thinks the songs and videos in your collection are gone. The next time you start the program, you'll find it empty.
To move the iTunes Music folder to a new drive, just let the program know where you're putting it. Move the folder to the desired location, then, in the Preferences box, click the Advanced icon or tab. In the area labeled "iTunes Music folder location," click the Change button, and navigate to the place where you moved the folder. Finally, click OK.

Make a Genius Playlist in iTunes

With the Genius feature, you click any song that you're in the mood for and iTunes brings back a playlist of 25 to 100 songs that it thinks go well with the one you picked. Here's the procedure:
1. Click a song title in your library.
2. Click the Genius button at the bottom of the iTunes window.
3. iTunes presents you with your new playlist in a flash.
4. Use the buttons at the top of the Genius window to adjust the number of songs in the playlist, refresh it with new songs if you want a different mix, and--best of all--save the playlist permanently.

If you like to have a playlist or five for every occasion, but find your iTunes Source list is getting crowded, iTunes lets you store multiple playlists inside convenient folders.
1. To add a folder to your Source list, click the Source list's Library icon and then choose File-->New Playlist Folder.
2. A new "untitled folder" appears, inviting you to change it's name to something more original.
3. Drag any playlists you want to store inside the folder onto its icon.
If the whole family shares one computer, folders can give each person a tidy receptacle to store his or her personal playlists. Folders are also great for storing a bunch of playlists that go well together. That way, when you select the folder and hit play, iTunes plays all the folder's songs consecutively.