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iTunes is a computer program made by Apple Computer intended to play, organize and buy music files (it is also a common name for iTunes Music Store). It is compatible with computers using the Mac OS X, Windows 2000, or Windows XP operating systems. Earlier versions of iTunes also ran on Mac OS 9. The player has gained a reputation of ease of use and good organization, and has positioned itself as the preferred music player for users using the iPod music player.
iTunes is largely based on SoundJam MP. SoundJam MP was a popular commercial MP3 application created by the Macintosh software company Casady & Greene. Apple hired the SoundJam MP developers and purchased the SoundJam MP software. The first release of iTunes was very similar to SoundJam MP; it did however lack some features such as the ability to use interface skins and broadcast audio over the Internet. iTunes still lacks both of these capabilities, much to the frustration of its (relatively few) critics. For the overwhelming majority, however, iTunes has surpassed all other MP3 playback software on the Macintosh, and is one of the most popular Windows downloads as well.
Users are able to organize their music into playlists, edit file information, record compact discs, upload files to a digital music player, purchase music on the Internet through its built-in music store, run a visualizer to display the music in a visual form, and encode music into different audio formats. Another feature is the 'smart playlist', a playlist that is automatically updated (like a database query) based on a customized list of criteria.
iTunes uses its own music library in XML format to store the metainformation of the audio files - independent of the audio formats tag capabilities (e.g. the ID3 tag). Thus, editing information of audio files becomes uncoupled from the original file tags to the user. Assigning information to any supported file format (e.g. files such as WAV) is possible. However, if the underlying file format supports tag assigning, changes to the file information are made to the large music library XML file and the file tag itself.
iTunes currently supports the following audio formats: MP3, AIFF, WAV, AAC, and ALE. iTunes is also able to play Audible.com and iTunes Music Store audio books. Additionally iTunes can be extended to play other formats such as Ogg Vorbis, a free audio format, after installing an unofficial QuickTime plugin . iTunes is not compatible with Windows Media Audio, although the Windows version can import unprotected WMA files and convert them to AAC.
Sharing songs via a network can be done automatically using Rendezvous, which is basically Apple's name for the Zeroconf open network standard. Shared lists of songs within the same subnet are automatically detected, while shared lists outside of the subset can be added by specifing an IP address. iTunes 4.0 supported sharing over any network (including the internet). This was disabled in iTunes 4.01 when people started using it in ways Apple considered to violate their EULA. Specifically, their concern was targeted at a music-sharing effort called iCommune. (iCommune said and continues to say it did not intend to go afoul of either the contractual agreements, or copyright law.)
iTunes can automatically sync your music library to your iPod every time you connect it to your computer. New songs and playlists are automatically copied to the iPod and songs you deleted from your library are also deleted from your iPod. This also works both ways. If you rate your songs on your iPod by awarding it a number of stars these ratings will sync to your iTunes music library. Additionally, if you listen to audiobooks the position in the book will also be automatically synced.
If you do not like the automatic syncing, you can also take full control over the contents of your iPod. You can manually copy individual songs or even complete playlists.
iTunes supports a number of other popular MP3 players. While these player may not take advantage of all the features of iTunes and thus may not be able to play iTunes Music Store songs, they can be used to play regular MP3 songs. Support includes a number of Nomad players from Creative Labs, a number of Rio players, the psa]play players from Nike and the SoundSpace 2. Other players may also be supported after installing a small plugin which usually can be downloaded from the website of the manufacturer of the player.
Version 4 of iTunes introduced the iTunes Music Store from which iTunes users can legally buy songs off the internet for use on a limited number of computers and their iPod. The iTunes Music Store is fully integrated into the iTunes application. Song bought from the iTunes Music Store are copy protected by Apple's FairPlay digital rights management (DRM) scheme.
Apple does not plan on making a large profit on the music service, a market which has a great deal of competition and where profits would only be pennies per song. Rather it hopes the music service will make the iPod more interesting to potential buyers. Apple make much more money off the iPod, where it has a technological and brand recognition advantage.
Mac OS 9
Mac OS 9 & Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X & Windows
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