iTunes App Trick

The latest update to iTunes is such a drastic change that many users are scratching their heads trying to figure out where everything is and how to work it. Sure, if you just want to hit Play, you’re good to go, but if you’re looking for the alleged ringtones Steve was talking about, or how to share your music via Twitter and Facebook, it’s not that cut and dry.
We jumped right into iTunes and hopefully, this list of tips will help you get back to enjoying your music while basking comfortably in the new features of iTunes 9.

Arrange Your iPhone Apps

You can now arrange your iPhone apps from within iTunes. Woo-hoo! Not so fast there, buddy, It’s still a bit of a pain. You can’t drag apps from, lets say, Screen 2 to Screen 10. The navigation doesn’t scroll automatically as you attempt to drag and drop. The best method to move items from Screen 2 to Screen 10 is to click on Screen 2. Then scroll to Screen 10.

Drag and drop your app from Screen 2 to Screen 10. You’ll have to navigate back to Screen 2 in order to grab other apps, unless you Command-click to select more than one in the first place.

UPDATE: Move more than one app at a time. Command-Click on a second, or third, app and you can move them all at once to a new screen.

UPDATE: Commenter woolyninja points out that you can indeed drag apps to screens and have the screen list scroll as your drag. My two test machines with iTunes 9 wouldn’t allow this, no matter how hard I tried. I just tried it on a third machine and it works like a charm.

Thanks catching this Mr. woolyninja, may all your throwing stars hit their mark.

Navigate the iTunes Store

All categories now have a menubar item at the top of the store window, and those menubar items have contextual menus. To move forward and back, you use the arrows in the upper-left corner. This may seem like “duh!” but a few folks have missed the drop-down menus entirely while navigating the new store layout.

Hold Me Closer, Tiny Player

Clicking the green radio button no longer shrinks your iTunes window to the Mini Player we’ve come to know and love. To do that, press Command-Shift-M, or choose View > Show Mini Player. Once the Mini Player is on your screen, you can click its green radio button to go back to a regular-sized window.

UPDATE: Option-Clicking on the green button will minimize the iTunes window to the Mini Player.

Where are Genius Mixes?

To get the Genius Mixes feature to appear, you have to update Genius.

Navigate to Store > Update Genius. Genius Mixes will appear under the regular Genius playlist option.

On the iPhone and iPod touch, you need to have Genius Mixes turned on within iTunes. Plug your iPhone or iPod touch into your computer. Select your iPhone in the left panel and then navigate to the Music tab. There you can check the Genius Mixes under playlists. Those mixes will be synced to your iPhone. Careful, since you can’t tell how many songs are in the Genius Mixes, the mix could be more than your device can handle if you have a large music library.

Once you’ve found the Genius Mixes, it can be a let-down. Genius Mixes doesn’t allow you to see what songs are in the mix. You just have to trust it.

Genius Apps

You have to turn on Genius Recommendations via your iPhone. Launch the App Store app, go to Featured, and tap the Genius tab at the top of the screen. Turn on Genius. You’re going to have to type in your password and agree to the terms before the system goes live.

Genius Shows you what apps Apple thinks you’ll like based on what you have on your iPhone.

Automatically Fill Free Space with Songs

No one mentioned this super-cool feature at the event. You can turn it on under the Music tab when you plug in your iPhone/iPod.

Where Are the Ringtones?

Looking around the iTunes Store on your computer for some dope ringtones? Well, stop. You need to fire up your iPhone to find the ringtones of your dreams. Launch the iTunes app, tap More, and you’ll see the option for ringtones.

You can preview the ringtones from the app and when you buy a ringtone (we bought “Jump” by Van Halen, RAD!) you can assign it as your default tone or to a contact. At press time, there wasn’t a top-10 list of ringtones, probably because no one could find them.

You Can Still Roll Your Own Ringtones with Participating Songs

You can still create your own ringtones in iTunes with participating songs for 99¢. You save 30¢, and you get to pick which part of the song you want to become your ringtone. Or you can do it for free in GarageBand.

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.