iTunes 9 Tips and Tricks - Solve the Mysteries of the New iTunes
Posted 09/10/2009 at 9:07am
| by Roberto Baldwin

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Wish List, Your New Shopping Cart.
The shopping cart is gone, kaput. In its place, we have the wish list.
To add items to your wish list, click the arrow next to the item's price. A contextual menu will appear, and you can add items from there. Once you've found the items you want, return to the iTunes Store home page and click on your wish list in upper-right corner. From there, you can click Buy All to purchase your carefully selected items.
iTunes LP a Good Deal for Fans
The artist choices are pretty slim right now, but the iTunes LP is a great deal for superfans of artists. For an extra $3 you get videos, artwork, lyrics, and more depending upon the artist. We enjoyed having the lyrics for The Doors, because frankly Jim got a little mumbly a few times. Our only problem is the inability to set the artwork to full screen when listening to an album using iTunes LP.
Facebook and Twitter
When we heard that there would be Facebook and Twitter integration in the new iTunes, we admit it, we groaned. We imagined a world full of tweets of people's playlists. In reality, Twitter and Facebook integration is only to share items from the iTunes Store. If you really like an album, and think your friends or followers will enjoy it, click the arrow to the right of the price and choose Share On Facebook or Share On Twitter. Then you'll get a chance to tell the word how great the new Jonas Brothers album is.
Column Browser FTW
Column browser is our new best friend when it comes to navigating iTunes. To turn it on navigate to the menubar View > Show Column Browser (Command-B). To add or subtract columns back up to the menubar View > Column Browser to select how you want to navigate and if you want the Column Browser on the top or left of your music library.
Use Faces to Put Your Favorite People on Your iPhone.
Plug your iPhone in, navigate to the Photos tab, and from there you can use the Faces feature in iPhoto '09 to choose which of your family or friends you want on your iPhone. Great for people with kids, or if you married or are dating a 10 and you're only a five, you now have proof.
Home Sharing
Beyond the regular sharing setup, you can now copy albums between up to five computers that have been authorized for a particular account. If you tend to buy music on multiple computers like some of the Mac|Life staff, you know how helpful this is.
After authorizing all the computers in your home, you can select files from another Mac and click Import to add them to your Mac.
Also, Home Sharing will look for new purchases you make and automatically transfer music, apps, movies, TV shows and audiobooks. Click on Settings button in the lower-right corner and select what you want transferred going forward.
iTunes U Course Syncing
iTunes U is agreat way for students to learn about new subjects and to allow non-students to study subjects that interest them. Now you can subscribe to subjects and easily sync them to your iPod or iPhone. Plug your iPod/iPhone in. Navigate to the iTunes U tab in iTunes, and select Sync iTunes U and choose which classes you would like to add to your device. Knowledge is power.