Never used iTunes, asking for help

[Starfleet Engineer]

I was planning on downloading iTunes for the first time tonight and playing around with it to see what it offers. I started to download it and it said it would take 19 minutes. I was a little surprised by that, but think it must be due to my connection speed. My computer is brand new. Though, it made me wonder if iTunes has things I don't need in it and can delete. Also, are there things I should know about it that a newbie usually doesn't know when starting out? Any help is appreciated.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I started to download it and it said it would take 19 minutes. I was a little surprised by that, but think it must be due to my connection speed.

Maybe the server is just overloaded. Just try again later.

Though, it made me wonder if iTunes has things I don't need in it and can delete.

No, not really. There's just the one program. There are options you can disable and not *show* while using it, but you can't actually delete anything from the program itself.

 

[Lindley]

iTunes sometimes comes bundled with Quicktime. If you don't need that, you might be able to find it in isolation.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I think there may be components from Quicktime that iTunes needs , like for video playing for instance and song playing. Although if you already have Quicktime, there is a standalone download. I think the file is called ItunesSetup, while the bundle is called itunesSetup+Quicktime. They bundle them together to make it easier for them to stay updated. Although you'll always get an update popup when there are updated versions that will be downloaded as bundled.

 

[Hermiod]

iTunes needs the video and audio decoding libraries from Quicktime in order to work at all.

 

[Mooch]

Also, are there things I should know about it that a newbie usually doesn't know when starting out? Any help is appreciated.

iTunes wants to organize your music for you, and once thusly organized, does not want you to fiddle with it (except within iTunes itself). If you aren't comfortable with that you should not use it. Most people I've met who don't like it, don't like it for that reason. A number of Apple's other apps (iPhoto, iWeb, Aperture) are the same way.

Other than that I can't think of anything...

 

[Lindley]

Also, are there things I should know about it that a newbie usually doesn't know when starting out? Any help is appreciated.

iTunes wants to organize your music for you, and once thusly organized, does not want you to fiddle with it (except within iTunes itself). If you aren't comfortable with that you should not use it. Most people I've met who don't like it, don't like it for that reason. A number of Apple's other apps (iPhoto, iWeb, Aperture) are the same way.

Other than that I can't think of anything...

There is---or at least there used to be---a setting you can choose whereby iTunes simply organizes aliases to your music files rather than copying the files themselves around. Of course, these may break if you move your music files.

 

[Mooch]

There is---or at least there used to be---a setting you can choose whereby iTunes simply organizes aliases to your music files rather than copying the files themselves around. Of course, these may break if you move your music files.

Well, it maintains a database of the location of all your stuff, so in that sense it doesn't matter if you let iTunes do the organizing or not, as you say. The problem is when you move stuff around or rename it, all the links break and nothing works until you delete everything and re-add it, or manually update the location of each song.

Actually I am a fan of this approach, because it is easy to locate your music within iTunes, and as long as the files are safely tucked away inside the "iTunes Music" folder, I don't really care how they're organized on the hard drive.

 

[GalaxyX]

Well you need iTunes to use it with iPod/iPhone. If you don't have any of these devices, I really don't see the point. It's a clunky and horrible interface and the software is pretty bloated IMO.

VLC FTMFW!!!