Notes on installing iTunes 3

The move to iTunes 3 is pretty painless, and if you have a Mac that can handled the hardware requirements, it is a no brainer to take advantage of the new features!

The installation

From the Read Me - " If you have previously installed iTunes for Mac OS X, delete the old version--including the Dock icon, if there is one--before installing the new one.
If you see a message that you do not have sufficient privileges to install this software, click the lock on the first screen of the installer window and enter an administrator[pi]s name and password. (The administrators names are shown in the Users pane of System Preferences.) For more information, see Mac Help in the Help menu."

Note that iTunes 3 requires OS X 10.1.4 or later, a Mac with built-in USB ports, and it is recommended to have at least a 400MHz G3 processor and 256MB or RAM...

The installation of iTunes 3 does require you to restart your Mac.

Using iTunes 3

After the restart, go into the Applications folder and drag the iTunes 3 icon back to your place for it on your Dock and you are ready to launch the program. iTunes will ask you a few questions about how you want it set up and where you want your music stored, then it updates the iTunes music library and you are ready to play.

The most notable change after iTunes launches is the presence of four new playlist folders: 60's Music, My Top Rated, Recently Played, and Top 25 Most Played. These are all playlists that will be populated by songs as you listen to your music.

Diving through the iTunes 3 preferences:

Under General there is not much new...

Under Effects, Sound Check is the new feature that automatically adjusts song playback volume to the same level for all songs...

Under Importing, there appears to be new options to import to WAV or AIFF files rather than just MP3. There is also an option to create file names with track numbers when importing...

Under Burning, not much new here. Burn an Audio CD or an MP3 CD, at speeds up to 24x...

Under Advanced, two new options are to keep the iTunes Music folder organized (which should help prevent those orphaned files that have been a problem in previous versions of iTunes) and an option to copy files to the iTunes Music Folder when adding to the library...

Under the Advanced menu item there is a new option to Consolidate Library, which will move any songs in your library into the iTunes Music folder.

In conclusion

One final note: After checking the Sound Check feature in preferences, iTunes 3 will go through your music and analyze each song to determine the right volume level for playing the file. With my music library of 981 songs, this is taking a while...

Rob McNair-Huff is a longtime Mac user and writer from the Pacific Northwest. In addition to writing about the Mac, and running this Web site, Mac Net Journal, he is the author of two books - Insiders' Guide to the Olympic Peninsula and Mountain Bike America: Washington - and he is working with his wife Natalie to write a third book this year called Birding Washington. If you have a need for Mac consulting, writing, Web design or photography help, check out Rob's business site: White Rabbit Publishing.
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