Listening to Audio and Watching Video on Your iPhone
␡
- Using iTunes to Add Audio and Video Content to iPhone
- Using the iTunes Store Application to Add Audio and Video to iPhone
- Listening to Music
- Controlling Audio Content with the iPod Control Bar
- Finding and Listening to Podcasts
- Finding and Watching Video
- Customizing iPhone for iPod
Page 1 of 7
Next >
In this chapter, you’ll explore all the iPod functionality that iPhone has to offer.
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
)
The topics covered in this chapter include the following:
- Stocking iPhone with Audio and Video Using iTunes
- Stocking iPhone with Audio and Video from the iTunes Store Application
- Listening to Music
- Finding and Listening to Podcasts
- Finding and Watching Video
- Customizing iPhone for iPod
One of the best things about iPhone is that it is a fully featured iPod that you can use to listen to music, podcasts, audiobooks, and other audio. You can also watch movies, TV shows, and other video on iPhone’s high-resolution screen. iPhone has an awesome iPod interface that makes working with audio and video easy and fun.
Using iTunes to Add Audio and Video Content to iPhone
Before you can listen to audio and watch video, you have to move content onto iPhone. One way to do this is to add content to your iTunes Library and then move that content from iTunes to iPhone.
The most common ways to add content to the iTunes Library are by importing audio CDs or purchasing content from, renting movies from, and subscribing to podcasts in the iTunes Store.
After you have stocked your iTunes Library, you can create playlists to organize content.
When your content is ready, sync iPhone with the iTunes Library so that the content you want to be available is moved from the Library onto iPhone.
>>>step-by-step: Importing Audio CDs to the iTunes Library
Importing audio CDs is one of the most useful ways to get music and other audio content into iTunes.
- Launch iTunes by double-clicking its application icon, choosing it on the Windows Start menu, or clicking it on the Mac’s Dock.
- Choose Edit, Preferences (Windows) or iTunes, Preferences (Mac). The Preferences dialog appears.
- Click the General tab.
- On the When you insert a CD drop-down list, choose Import CD and Eject.
- Click Import Settings.
- On the Import Using drop-down list, choose AAC Encoder.
- On the Setting drop-down list, choose Higher Quality.
- Click OK.
- Check the Automatically retrieve CD track names from Internet check box.
- Click OK.
- Insert a CD into the computer. iTunes connects to the Internet and identifies the CD. When that’s done, the import process starts. You don’t have to do anything else because iTunes manages the import process for you. When the process finishes, iTunes plays an alert sound and ejects the disc.
- Insert the next CD you want to import. After it has been ejected, insert the next CD and so on until you’ve added all the CDs you want to the iTunes Library.
)
)
)
)
>>>step-by-step: Purchasing Audio and Video from the iTunes Store
The iTunes Store has a very large selection of music, movies, TV shows, and other content that you can preview, purchase, and download. To do this, you must have an Apple Store account, also known as an Apple ID (you can preview content without an Apple ID). If you have an AIM/AOL screen name, you can use that as an Apple ID (you have to provide credit card information to be able to use that account to make purchases in the iTunes Store).
- Click iTunes Store on the Source list. iTunes connects to the iTunes Store, and you see the Home page.
- Click Sign In. The Sign In dialog appears.
- Enter your Apple ID.
- Enter your password.
- Click Sign In. You return to the iTunes Store Home page; your Apple ID appears in place of the Sign In button to show that you are signed in to your account.
- Browse the iTunes Home page using the various scroll arrows, scroll buttons, and links you see. As you move around, you see more details about content you are browsing, down to the individual album.
- When you want to purchase and download content, click the Buy button. For example, when you are viewing music, this is the Buy Song or Buy Album button. When you are viewing TV shows, it is the Buy Episode or Buy Season button. The content you purchase is downloaded to your computer and added to your iTunes Library.
- Click the Purchased playlist on the iTunes Source list to see content you’ve downloaded from the iTunes Store.
)
)
)
)
)
>>>step-by-step: Renting Movies from the iTunes Store
You can also rent movies from the iTunes Store. When you rent a movie, you can watch it as many times as you’d like within a 24-hour period (starting as soon as you play the rented content the first time) within a 30-day rental window. After either the 24-hour viewing or 30-day rental period expires (whichever comes first), the rented movie is removed from iTunes (or your iPhone) automatically. To rent a movie, follow these steps.
- Move into the iTunes Store and click the Movies link.
- Browse for movies in which you might be interested.
- Click a movie’s link to see detailed information about it, including the cost to rent it.
- To watch the movie’s trailer, click the View Trailer button.
- To rent the movie, click the Rent Movie button. The Sign In dialog box appears.
- Enter your Apple ID or AOL screen name and password and click Rent. The movie is downloaded to the iTunes Library.
- To access movies you’ve rented, click the Rented Movies source. (Be sure not to play a rented movie until you’re sure you will be able to watch all of it within 24 hours because the viewing period starts as soon as you play it.)
)
)
)
>>>step-by-step: Subscribing to Podcasts in the iTunes Store
Podcasts are radio-like audio or video episodes that you can subscribe and listen to or watch. Even better, most podcasts are free.
- Click iTunes Store. The iTunes Store fills the Content pane.
- Click Podcasts. The Podcasts Home page appears.
- Scroll down until you see the entire Categories section.
- Click a category you are interested in, such as Technology.
- Click the Browser button. The browser opens.
- Click a subcategory in which you are interested.
- Use the scrollbar in the Content pane to browse all the podcasts available.
- When you find a podcast you are interested in, select it and click the Play button or just double-click it.
- When you find a podcast that you would like to try, click its Subscribe button.
- Click Subscribe. Under the iTunes Store source, you see the Downloads icon that displays the progress of file downloads, including the number of episodes being downloaded.
- Click the Podcasts source in the Source list. You see all the podcasts to which you’ve subscribed. The number next to the Podcasts source indicates the number of episodes of the podcasts to which you have subscribed but not listened.
)
)
)
)
)
Building Audio and Video Playlists
One of the best ways to collect content that you want to place on iPhone is to create a playlist and manually place content onto it.
- Click the New Playlist button. A new playlist is created with its default name selected for you to change.
- Rename the new playlist and press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac).
- Select Music on the iTunes Source list.
- Browse or search for songs you want to add to the playlist.
- Drag songs from the Content pane onto the playlist you created.
- Repeat steps 3–5 until you place in the playlist all the songs that you want it to contain. You can place any combination of songs in a single playlist.
- Select the playlist. Its contents appear in the Content pane.
- Drag songs up and down the playlist until they are in the order in which you want them to play.
)
)
)
)
)
Building Audio and Video Smart Playlists
A smart playlist does the same basic thing as a playlist, which is to collect content that you want to listen to or watch and to move onto iPhone. Instead of placing content in a playlist manually, a smart playlist adds content automatically based on criteria you define.
- Select File, New Smart Playlist. The Smart Playlist dialog box appears.
- Select the first tag on which you want the smart playlist to be based in the Tag menu. For example, you can select the Artist, Genre, My Rating, or Year tag, among many others.
- Select the operand you want to use on the Operand menu. For example, if you want to match data exactly, select Is. If you want the condition to be looser, select contains.
- Type the condition you want to match in the Condition box. The more you type, the more specific the condition is.
- To add another condition to the smart playlist, click the Add Condition button. A new, empty condition appears. At the top of the dialog box, the All or Any menu appears.
- Select the second tag on which you want the smart playlist to be based in the second condition’s Tag menu.
- Select the operand you want to use in the Operand menu.
- Type the condition you want to match in the Condition box.
- Repeat steps 5–8 to add more conditions to the playlist until you have all the conditions you want to include.
- Select from the list next to Match at the top of the dialog if all the conditions must be met for a track to be included in the smart playlist or select if only one of them must be met.
- If you want to limit the playlist, check the Limit to check box.
- Select the parameter by which you want to limit the playlist in the first menu; this menu defaults to items. Your choices include the number of items, the time the playlist will play (in minutes or hours), or the size of the files the playlist contains (in MB or GB).
- Type the data appropriate for the limit you selected in the Limit to box. For example, if you selected minutes in the menu, type the maximum length of the playlist in minutes in the box.
- Select how you want iTunes to choose the songs it includes based on the limit you selected by using the selected by menu. For example, to have iTunes include tracks you’ve added to the Library most recently, select most recently added.
- If you want the playlist to include only songs whose check box in the Content pane is checked, check the Match only checked items check box.
- If you want the playlist to be dynamic, meaning that iTunes updates its contents over time, check the Live updating check box. If you uncheck this check box, the playlist includes only those songs that meet the playlist’s conditions when you create it.
- Click OK. You move to the Source list; the smart playlist is added and selected, and its name is ready for you to edit. Also the songs in your Library that match the criteria in the playlist are added to it, and the current contents of the playlist are shown.
- Type the playlist’s name and press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac).
)
)
)
)
>>>step-by-step: Moving Content from the iTunes Library onto iPhone
To move iTunes content onto iPhone, you need to choose the content you want to move there and then synchronize iPhone. You can set up iPhone so that content is moved automatically or manually.
- Connect the iPhone to your computer using its USB cable. iPhone is mounted on your computer and appears in the iTunes Source list.
- Click the iPhone icon. The iPhone configuration screen appears.
- Click the Summary tab.
- Check Automatically sync when this iPhone is connected.
- To prevent items you’ve unchecked in iTunes so that they don’t play from being moved to iPhone, check Only sync checked songs and videos.
- Click the Music tab.
- Check the Sync music check box.
- Select Selected playlists.
- Check the check box next to each playlist that you want to move to iPhone.
- Check Include music videos if you want music videos in your collection to be on iPhone.
- Click the Podcasts tab.
- Check the Sync check box.
- Choose how many episodes you want to move onto iPhone. For example, to move only episodes to which you haven’t listened, select all unplayed.
- Select Selected podcasts.
- Check the check box next to each podcast that you want to move to iPhone.
- Click the Video tab. In the Rented Movies section, you see the movies you are currently renting.
- Click a movie’s right-facing Move button to move it from the iTunes Library onto iPhone. The movie’s icon moves to the right pane of the window, which indicates it will be moved onto the iPhone during the next sync.
- In the On iPhone section, click a movie’s left-facing Move button to move it from iPhone back to the iTunes Library.
- Scroll down until you see the TV Shows section.
- Check the Sync check box to move TV shows onto iPhone.
- Choose the number of episodes that should be moved on the pop-up menu. One useful option here is all unwatched, which moves all episodes that you haven’t yet watched onto iPhone.
- Choose the Selected radio button.
- On the pop-up menu, choose playlists to choose content by playlist or TV shows to choose content by TV series.
- Check the check box next to each playlist or TV show you want to move to iPhone.
- Scroll down until you see the Movies section.
- Check the Sync movies check box.
- Check the check box next to each movie you want to move to iPhone.
- Click Apply. iTunes moves the selected content from the Library to iPhone. If there’s enough space on iPhone, then the process continues until all the content has been moved (and you can skip the rest of these steps). If you’ve selected more content than there is room for on iPhone, you see a warning dialog explaining how much content you selected versus how much is available. It also gives you options to remove selected content, such as podcasts.
- If you want iTunes to remove content, click Yes; if not, click No. If you elected to let iTunes remove content, the content is removed, and the sync is attempted again. If there still isn’t enough space available or you clicked No, you see another dialog box that explains there isn’t enough room on iPhone.
- Click OK. The dialog closes.
- Use the information in steps 6–28 to decrease the amount of content you selected and then perform the sync again. When the sync is complete, you see the “iPhone sync is complete” message in the iTunes Information window. At the bottom of the window, you see how iPhone’s memory is being used. Also the Apply button becomes the Sync button; it becomes Apply again whenever you make changes to the content you’ve selected to sync.
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
Page 1 of 7
Next >