How To Fully Benefit from iTunes Preferences

by Joshua Mitchell  |  May 28, 2009

To be able to use iTunes at its full potential, you need to know how to access the Preferences window and what can be found there. Under Preferences are numerous tools which can help, train and also entertain. To access the Preferences window from a Mac you need to:

    1. Open iTunes.
    2. Click the “Menu” option.
    3. Select “Preferences”.

To access the Preferences window from a PC follow the steps:

    1. Open iTunes.
    2. Select “Edit”.
    3. Choose the “Preferences” option which can be found at the bottom.

A more simple way is to use the combination of keys: Control + Comma.

From the Preferences window you can learn how to share music. This feature is available starting with the iTunes 4.0 version and allows the sharing of music in a network. In order to do that you need to:

    1. Open the “Preferences” window.
    2. Choose the option “Sharing Tab”.
    3. Select “Share my music” box.

The iTunes Preferences can enable the user to view a video on a big window and not on the usual small one placed in the bottom left of the screen. To benefit form this feature you have to:

    1. Go into “Preferences”.
    2. Select the “Playback” tab.
    3. Choose the option “Play videos” .
    4. Select all the four existing choices under the “Main Window” option; after that a new iTunes viewer needs to be open with the Quick Time movie player, in “a separate window” option.
    5. Last thing to do is to choose the option “Full Screen” or “Full Screen (with visuals)” which will enlarge the video up to full screen.

For the ones who use the “Mini Player” window and want to make it stand on top of others for a better accessibility, they can solve this problem with “Preferences”. You just need to follow these few steps:

    1. Go into the “Preferences “ window.
    2. Choose the “Advanced” option.
    3. Select the “General” section.
    4. Check the box “Keep Mini Player on top of all other windows”.

To keep tidy the “Source List”, you can do as follows:

    1. Access the “Preferences” window.
    2. Select the option “General”.
    3. De - select all the items that you do not use; in such a way all those unnecessary items will be hidden.

Also from the iTunes Preferences you can control the “Podcasts”: how many episodes to download, how many to keep and how often to search for new ones.

As long as you know how to use it, the Preferences window can be a powerful tool, ready to adjust the most particular details and to enhance your results when using the iTunes software.

Next articles in this series:

1. The Complete iTunes Guide
2. How To Fully Benefit from iTunes Preferences
3. Things you Can Do with your iPod and you Didn't Know

Related articles:

How To Play Music & Video on Your iPod
How To Import CDs to iTunes and iPod
How To Use the Screen Lock
How To Replace An iPod Battery
How To: Customize the iPod menu on iPhone
How To: Save storage space on iPhone using Smart Playlists
How To safely Backup your iPod and iPhone

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