Category Archives: iPad

How to use the iTUNES STORE?

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The iTunes Store opened for business in early 2003 as a place to buy and download music for use on a computer and iPod. When it launched, the store had 200,000 music tracks and was available only to Mac users. PC users got the iTunes Store later that year. On February 24, 2010, Apple announced that more than ten billion tracks had been downloaded from the store since it began.

The store has now grown into so much more than music. Today, there are seven distinct parts to the iTunes Store. Each one has a huge amount of content that can be consumed on a computer or iPad (or an iPhone, iPod, etc).

Music

The Music store is the one that started the iTunes gig, and it’s still growing every day. The store has a ton of content, but it tries to make it easy for you to find what you’re looking for and even suggests new music to match your taste. When the store opened, all the music was priced at $0.99 and the files were protected by a Digital Rights Management (DRM) algorithm. This limited what you could do with the songs. But recently, Apple announced that they were removing the DRM from most of the music in the iTunes Store. (There is still DRM on the audiobooks though.) Along with this change is a new pricing strik, ture. No longer are all tracks $0.99; there is now a three-tiered pricing plan: $0.69, $1199 and $1.29. And songs now download at the highest level of quality (256 kbps AAC audio), which is twice the audio quality of the older DRM-enabled songs from the iTunes Store. And … the tracks can be played everywhere. The DRM-free status means you can burn your music to a disc or play them on any computer anywhere, anytime.

One more thing you need to know about iTunes music is the iTunes LP, which is Apple’s answer to the long-playing album. The iTunes LP tries to re-create the whole album experience with more artwork and bonus features These albums cost a little more. And while don’t think they’ve been as successful as Appl would have liked, the iTunes LPs are cool. Here’s the thing though: The iPad doesn’t support the LP format. So while you can download the individual tracks of an iTunes LP to your iPad and all the music will be available there, the interface will not have the cool LP features that you paid extra to get. It’ll look and act the same as all your regular albums. This is true even if you buy the LP album on the iPad. Once you sync back over to the computer, iTunes will go back online and get any of the missing files so you can enjoy the extras on your computer.

Movies

The iTunes Movie store has changed the way I buy and rent movies. I used to actually buy movies … on VHS tapes! Remember those? Then I transitioned to the DVD format, and now I buy digital files. Not all the movies released on DVD show up on the iTunes Store, but there are more and more movies there every day. The movies are protected by DRM, and they need to be played on devices that are either authorized to play your purchased movies (up to five computers) or on iPads that are under the same Apple ID. So if you buy a movie using an Apple ID and transfer the movie to an iPad that has a different Apple ID, it won’t play.

When it comes to the iTunes extras that are available with many movies today, it’s important to understand that they are not compatible with the iPad. They’ll show up on your computer but not on the iPad. Renting movies from the iTunes Store is also a viable option, and rented movies can be transferred from a computer to the iPad. But rented movies, unlike purchased movies, can only live on a single device at a time. This means that you do not copy a movie to the iPad but rather transfer it. And this is done iTunes. So if you have a rented movie in yo iTunes library, you can transfer it to the iPad using the following process:

1. Open iTunes on the computer.
2. Plug in your iPad using the USB cable.
3. Select the iPad from the device listing 0 the left.
4. Select “Movies” on the iPad menu.
5. Select the move arrow that corresponds to the direction you want to transfer the movie.
6. Click the “Apply” button.
7. The movie will transfer as directed.

You can now watch the movie on your iPad. You need to have an active Internet connection for this to work, and the iTunes Store will check to make sure you are allowed to make the transfer before actually transferring the movie to the iPad.

TV Shows

I’ll admit that I watch some of my favorite TV shows on my computer and iPad. You can buy individual episodes in both standard definition and in HD, and you can buy season passes (entire TV seasons at a time) also with your choice of Standard Definition or HD. You can buy the season pass before the season is even complete, and episodes will become available to subscribers within 24 hours of its broadcast. Apple sends season pass holders an e-mail notification when new episodes become available to download. To access a new episode, tap the link in the e-mail and iTunes will launch. The file is automatically downloaded.

The App Store

The App Store is a goldmine for Apple and, according to some developers, it’s a very profitable platform for app creators. This seems amazing sometimes, because a lot of content in the App Store is free. There is a very important menu choice for users in the App Store when accessing the site on their Mac or PC, and that is “iPhone vs ‘Pad’ This option is positioned right in the middle of the screen at the top, and it switches between apps developed for the iPhone and those designed for the iPad. Be sure that you Click on “iPad” to see the apps developed for the iPad. There are new apps in the App Store every day.

There is something very different about apps when they’re compared to all the other media types. Apps get updated. Developers add new features, fix problems and generally update their apps periodically for various reasons. At least the good app developers do. When an app is updated, you can download the new version in the iTunes Store, usually for free. Then, the next time you sync your iPad, the newer version of the apps will overwrite the older versions on your computer. You can go and check for updates in iTunes anytime by visiting the app library and clicking “Check for Updates,” which is located at the bottom of the screen. This will automatically check for updates and open the App Store if it finds any newer versions of the apps you own. It’s a good idea to keep your apps up to date, because many times the updates fix problems or add new features.

TIP
You do not need to be connected to the Internet to begin watching a rented movie. This means it works great everywhere. Keep in mind that once you start to watch a rented movie, you have to finish within 24 hours.

How to Stream Content on an iPad?

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One way to maximize the storage space on your iPad is to stream media instead of loading it onto the device. Think of the difference it would make if all your video and audio content was streamed to the iPad instead of being loaded on it. It would basically give your iPad unlimited storage!

Pandora Internet radio and Netflix are both great examples of streaming media. Pandora allows you to listen to music over the Internet, so none of the music is actually taking up space on your iPad, and Netflix does the same with movies and television shows.

Streaming both music and movies is covered in other chapters, but here is the quick lowdown. If you stream music and video over Wi-Fi, it works really well. But if you go on a trip or find yourself in a place where you are not on a Wi-Fi network, then suddenly you have no content—a real bummer. And the 3G won’t get you very far; the caps on 3G bandwidth make streaming with that a crappy option.

In these situations, I’ve come to appreciate the value of keeping content that’s important to me on the iPad. I choose to use precious ipad space to have the things I know I’ll want when a network is unavailable. When I’m on an airplane, for example, I want some entertain_ ment. This is usually a book or five, since the books take up little space as well as a couple of movies and a few music albums. And, yes, I’ll have my favorite photos with maybe a recent podcast or two. All of this fits easily into 16GB—never mind 32GB or 64G11

OPTIMIZE PDFs

One of the more advanced space-saving techniques for an iPad user comes into play if you use the device for reading and viewing a lot of PDF files. You just need Adobe Acrobat Pro to easily reduce the file sizes. Here’s how:
1. Open the file you want to reduce in size.
2. Click Advanced > PDF Optimizer.
3. In the image window, set the color and grayscale images to down sample using bi cubic down sampling to 130 ppi for images above 195 ppi.
4. Save the file with a new name.
5. Check the space savings by comparing the before-and-after file sizes.

To use as an example, I tried this on a PDF that was chock full of photos. And the savings were surprisingly huge! The file started out at 103.3 MB and, after reducing the file size, it shrunk to a tiny 7.1 MB. Now this is an extreme example, but it goes to show you that it is possible to squeeze an extra MB or two here and there if you need it.

The amount of space savings will depend on the amount of images present in the original file and, more importantly, their resolution. By reducing the images to 130 ppi, you make them the right resolution for the iPad’s screen. Be aware though that this resolution may not be adequate for images that need to be printed or re-sized for the a specific application.

How To Set up an Apple ID on the iPad?

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It is possible to set up your Apple ID from your iPad.
1. Turn on your iPad.
2. Tap on “Settings.”
3. Tap on “Store!’
4. If you have an iTunes account already, then sign in; if you don’t, tap “Create New Account.”
5. If you tap “Sign In,” then you’ll be asked for a user name and password. Enter the information and tap “OK.” Skip the rest of these steps if you already have an account; you are good to go.
6. If you tap “Create New Account,” then yo will enter information as noted in the next few steps.
7. Choose a country or region that matches your billing address. Tap “Next.”
8. Read all 35 pages of the Terms and Conditions and then tap “Agree.” You can also have the Terms and Conditions e-mailed to you to read later. For fun.
9. Once you have agreed to the Terms and Conditions, you’ll need to enter:
Your e-mail address (This becomes your Apple ID.)
Password
Verification of password
A security question
Security question answer
Date of birth
Opt to receive iTunes updates … or not.
Opt to receive News and Special Offers from Apple … or not.
10. Tap “Next!’
11. Now you need to enter your billing information. You can use an iTunes gift card
12. Tap certificate to open the account; just isncrfoorllmtoattihoenappropriate area to enter the p:Noceexsts”. to complete the account set up a p
13. Tap “Done.”

Now that you’re legit, you can go and use the iTunes Store, the App Store and the iBooks Store. If you want to set up an account but don’t have a credit card or a gift card, you n
on the iPad and/ or your computer. It’s a little more complicated; but once it’s done, You’re good to go.

Here’s how:
1. Open the App Store on your iPad.
2. Find a free application. I suggest the iBooks app, since you’ll want that at some point anyway.
3. Tap “Install App,” and a menu will pop up asking you to sign in using an existing account.
4. If you don’t have one, tap “Create New Account:’
5. Enter your country or region.
6. Tap “Next.”
7. Read and agree to the iTunes Terms of Service.
8. Enter an e-mail address. (This will be your Apple ID.)
9. Enter a password and verify it.
10. Create a security question and answer.
11. Enter your birthday.
12. Opt to receive iTunes updates … or not.
13. Opt to receive News and Special Offers from Apple … or not.
14. Tap “Next.”
15. Select “None” as payment type.
16. Fill out the name and address fields.
17. On the “Verify Account” screen, tap “Done” and check your e-mail account for a message from Apple.
18. When you get a verification e-mail from Apple, open it and click the enclosed link to activate your new iTunes account.
19. The App Store will open. Enter your new account information to sign in, and start downloading some apps!
Once you have an Apple ID, you can utilize the iTunes Store in all its glory.

How to Transfer Content, Back it Up & Restore on Your iPad?

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TRANSFER CONTENT
It’s easy to buy content for your iPad on the iPad, and it’s also easy (and a good idea) to move that content to your iTunes account on a computer. Some content (like iBooks) can only be purchased on the iPad, so this is important for saving your file and retaining space on your iPad. See page 12 for the benefits of using iTunes to back up your iPad content. When you connect your iPad to a computer, iTunes should tell you if there are purchased items on your device. It will ask if you would like to transfer those items now. If you allow it, all content purchased on the iPad will be transferred to your iTunes account.

Or you can click on File>Transfer Purchases from iPad, or right click on the iPad in the Device list and then click on “Transfer Purchases” After you purchase and transfer content to a computer from the iPad, you will find that there is a new list in the Store section of the menu bar; it’s called Purchased on iPad. This list shows all the content, other than apps, that you’ve purchased on your iPad.

Note: The content that you buy on the iPad is automatically transferred to the computer when you sync your iPad.

BACK IT UP
Apple might not consider your iPad to be a Personal computer; but on many counts, it is much like one. Among the similarities is Potential to lose valuable information. To avoid losing the content that’s stored on your iPad, back it up once in awhile. Fortunately, backing up an iPad is very easy. The system is designed so that your iPad is automatically backed up when it syncs with iTunes. You can also back it up by right clicking on the iPad in the Devices list and choosing “Back Up.”

The backup you get contains settings and some data, but the process doesn’t include iTunes actually acquiring new copies of the media you have on your iPad. Instead, the media (e.g., music, movies, apps and photo content) are already on the computer and will be reloaded when the iPad is restored. In case you want to know where iTunes stashes your backups, you can find them here:

On a Mac:
—/USERNAME/Library/ApPlication Support/MobileSync/Backup/
On Windows XP:
Documents and Settings
(username) ApplicationData AppleComputer MobileSync  Backup
On Windows Vista and Windows 7:
Users (username)  AppData  Roaming AppleComputer MobileSync Backup

RESTORE
Sometimes things go wrong. It happens. And when it does, the best course of action is to restore your iPad so that it returns to the factory settings. Then, restore your own setup from a backup. Do this by right clicking on the iPad in the Device menu and choosing “Restore from backup”
When you use the restore function for your iPad, all your data is deleted from the device, including your music, movies, contacts, photos and calendars. The settings return to the factory defaults. Once this happens, you can reload your data from a backup.

To restore your iPad:

1. Open iTunes and plug in the iPad.
2. Select the iPad from the Devices list.
3. Select the “Summary” tab and click the “Restore” button.

You will be prompted to back up your settings before restoring the device to the factory defaults. Whether or not you do this depends on when you last backed up your iPad and how valuable you think the information is that’s on it.

From there, you will be prompted to restore the iPad: “Are you sure you want to restore the iPad to its factory settings? All of your media and other data will be erased.” It sounds ominous, but if you need to do it and have a backup, then go for it.
When the restoration is complete, you will be asked if you want to use the backup to reload your info onto the iPad. Go ahead and use one of the backups or, if you prefer a clean slate, just say no.

There you have it, a backup and restore for the iPad. My advice is to make sure your iPad is backed up every so often; because, if you do have a crash, it can be a real pain to get everything back to the way you want it without a recent backup.

How to Manage Content on Your iPad?

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MANAGE CONTENT
When it comes to loading content onto the iPad, I like to be in full control. So I manually work through the options on each of the tabs when my iPad is attached to the computer.

INFO
This section is the place for syncing your Address Book contacts, iCal calendars, Mail accounts, Bookmarks and Notes. It’s also where you can replace this content on the iPad (by checking the box). This area can be very confusing to iPad users, because it seems like these items must be checked to get the info from the computer to the iPad. The truth is, it’s easier and more convenient to have all this done automatically and wirelessly than during a sync. In fact, there are actually warnings with most of these selections that if you use them, you may end up with duplicate information. Since most of my information syncs wirelessly, I have none of these checked.

APPS
This is the window that allows you to add all those cool apps and data files for specific applications on the iPad. It’s also easy to organize your apps and decide where they’ll be located screen-by-screen on your iPad from this window. You can sort the apps by name, category, date or size. Once an application is selected to be synced onto the iPad, you can move it around and place it wherever you want. It’s much easier to do all that on the computer en masse than on the actual iPad.

MUSIC
Want music on your iPad? This is the place to add it. I have the “Sync Music” button checked and, instead of trying to sync the entire music library, I select the playlists, artists and genres I want. There are lots of Options here and they are covered in detail in Chapter 9. The important thing to know here is this is the place to choose what playlists to sync to your iPad.

MOVIES
Use this tab to add movies to the iPad. A cool thing about this area is that you can see the size of each movie file right next to its icon. This is important because the movie files are BIG and can take up a lot of space on your iPad. Avatar, for example, is 2.35 GB while Sherlock Holmes is 1.79 GB. With files this size, you can imagine how easy it is to fill an entire iPad with movies very fast.

TV SHOWS
Apple sells a lot of TV shows, and I have a season or two of my favorites on my iPad. Here is where shows can be added to your iPad. You can automatically sync a selection of shows based on rules, much like a simple smart playlist. For instance, I have my list set to automatically transfer all unwatched episodes of the shows in my library This means that new episodes of shows that I download with my season pass will be added to my iPad automatically.

You can also add any episode or season of a TV series by using the “Show” menu. And if you keep scrolling down on this menu, you’ll see a place to include episodes from playlists.

How to COMMIT and MAXIMIZE SPACE on Your iPad

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Commit
I have some bad news. I know this won’t come as much of a surprise to many, but the iPad is a monogamous thing; it can’t interact with multiple iTunes accounts. Once it is tied to an account, it can’t sync to another. This is the way it is for an iPod or iPhone, too. But since a lot of people are using the iPad as a replacement for a laptop, this restriction might not be clear.

I can only hope that, at some point, there will be support for multiple accounts on a single iPad. But right now, it isn’t there.
This is also true for certain types of e-mail, contact and calendar information.

The iPad is meant to be used by one person, and it cannot be set to get e-mail, calendar and contact info for two separate MobileMe or Exchange accounts, for example. So, this means, the iPad can be synced to get my e-mail, contact and calendar info from my MobileMe account, but it can’t get the same information from my wife’s account. This can cause some problems when two people are trying to share the device, especially if both have a MobileMe account from Apple or use different Microsoft Exchange servers.

So, if you’re sharing a single iPad, you have to decide whose information will live on the iPad. Of course, you can always just get a second iPad… Wait! That might be Apple’s master plan after all.

MAXIMIZE SPACE
There is quite a difference in price between a 16GB and a 64GB iPad. It’s a $200 difference to be precise. And even if you buy the biggest capacity iPad available, at some point you will max it out and need more space. It’s just human nature to fill up the space we have available. So the first thing to know is that even though the iPad says it is a 16GB or 32GB or 64GB model that’s not actually the amount of space have available to you. As with any storage media, the formatted capacity of your iPad is less than the indicated memory size. For m 1 the 32GB WI-Fi /3G model iPad has an actual capacity of 29.04GB—a difference of roughly 3GB, or two feature-length movies and a CD or two. When you plug in the 16GB WI-Fi version, you actually get 14.02GB of space. This is just something to keep in mind when loading an iPad with content.

There are two things you can do right off the bat to decrease the size of the files on your iPad …and thereby squeeze a little extra space on your device. On the “Summary” page in iTunes, when you connect your iPad to your computer, you’ll find “Prefer standard definition videos” and “Convert higher bit rate songs to 128 kbps AAC” in the options panel. Both of these actions reduce the size of your media files, if possible, by reducing quality.

When I activated both of the space-saving boxes on the “Summary” page and clicked Apply,” the iPad automatically started to sync. This time, instead of updating, it was searching for ways to reduce the file sizes. This sync can take awhile. It actually mean a very: long-time. Of course, the exact amount of time it will take for you depends on how much of the data on your iPad needs to be converted and/or updated.

After Apple reduced the media as much as it could, the iPad showed the following usage.
Audio 3.74 GB .3 Video 13.35 GB c. Photos 228.1 MB
Apps 5.11 GB
Books 78 MB
Other 1.12 GB
Free 5.43 GB
As you can see, the amount of space used by the music files and the video files were reduced quite a bit, and the free space significantly increased—from approximately 700 MB to 5.43 GB. That’s a lot—more than enough for a few extra movies. So be sure to use these two settings to get the greatest amount of content onto your iPad.

Okay, you had to know it was coming. There is a catch. The price you pay for space is in the quality of your media files. So if you are a true audiophile or video-quality freak, then the reduction in quality might bother you. But if you usually listen to music through the iPad’s speakers or a pair of Apple earbuds, you probably won’t notice the demotion of quality.

Similarly, by having the iPad choose standard definition video when possible, you remove the HD video content. Now that we’re all getting used to HD, it might bother you to see video in standard format. In that case, uncheck the box and just carry around fewer movies on your iPad. This is all about choices and trade-offs.

How to Add Podcasts, iTunes U, Books & Photos to Your iPad?

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PODCASTS
Listen to or watch podcasts? If so, add those to your iPad from here. It’s a shame there’s not a way to create a smart playlist for podcasts, but you can input a single sync rule. I usually have mine set to automatically include all unplayed episodes of selected podcasts, so my favorites stay updated.

iTUNES U
This is the place for syncing all your iTunes University material. It has the same layout and rules as the podcasts section, which makes sense, because this content is just another type of podcast. iTunes U is easy to use. Refer to the section above.

BOOKS
I use the iPad to read books, so I have the “Sync Books” checkbox selected. But since I don’t want all my books to be loaded on the iPad at once, I also have the “Selected Books” radio button checked. This allows me to manually choose what books are synced to my iPad at a given time. I have my books sorted by author since that is usually the way I buy books. You can also sort by title.

In this area, you can select to sync audiobooks as well. Again, I check the “Selected Audio Books” box, because I don’t want all the audio- books in my iTunes library to be on my iPad.

One interesting thing about electronic books is that, since there is no bookstore on the computer, there won’t be any iBook files in your iTunes account until you buy them on the iPad and transfer them onto your computer. Note that among your book files in iTunes are any ePub books or PDF files you have imported there.

PHOTOS
The first version of the iPad doesn’t have a camera. So while you can’t take photos with this iPad, you can use it to look at and share your images. The device is actually really great for showing off your photos, and this area makes it very simple to add photos to your iTunes library.

On the PC side of things, you can select images from any one folder (and subsequent sub-folders) and move them to your iPad. There are many more choices on the Mac, especially if you use iPhoto or Aperture. You can add whole albums and events, or you can use the built-in Faces technology (Apple’s attempt at facial recognition) to just add certain people.

How to Add Playlists to Your iPad?

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Playlists are really powerful and, if used properly, can help you organize the media that you carry with you on the iPad. The first step to benefiting from playlists is to actually set up a few. There are two types of playlists: Plain Playlists (referred to as playlists from now on) and Smart Playlists.

Make a Playlist.

It’s really easy to make an iTunes playlist. Just click the (+) button on the bottom left of the iTunes window or click File>New Playlist.
In both cases, an untitled playlist folder will appear in the column on the left side of the iTunes window. It’ll already be highlighted; so just type a name for your list, hit “Enter” (or “Return”), and you’ll be ready to add songs and build your playlist.

Picking the right name for your playlist is kind of important, because it acts as your visual clue when you search for a playlist later. For example, my workout playlist has an hour of fast-tempo songs, and my travel playlist is a much broader collection of music.

I might want for a trip. When I might not have access to my computer for awhile. When quickly searching for the right playlist, it wouldn’t help to have these files named, for example, by the date they were created.

Adding content to a playlist is easy. Just drag a selected music file from the right side of the window to the playlist. Drop it on the playlist title you want to populate. That’s it. Now you can click on the new playlist to open it. You’ll see the list of music there, so you can re-arrange the order of the content, delete items or just listen.

Keep in mind that if you delete an item from a playlist, it does not delete the track from your iTunes library; it simply removes it from that playlist. This is because the “files” in a playlist are actually links to the real content, which is saved to your iTunes library. There is one other way to quickly make a playlist, and that is to drag any file, album or selection of files from the right side of the iTunes window to the left side. Make sure that your selection isn’t hovering over any of the already-created playlists, and when you see a small green (+) sign, let go. This will instantly create a playlist with all the content you selected.

For example, say I want a playlist with all the Beatles songs I have in my iTunes library. But, Crap, I realize there are a few of these songs I’m a bit sick of hearing. I could make a smart playlist, but that would be overkill for this. So I just go to my music library and select all the Beatles songs. Then I drag that selection to the left side and let go. Now I have a Beatles playlist that I can edit. I can remove the files I don’t want to add to my device, and voila! Yup, it’s that easy.

Create a Smart Playlist.

The real power of playlists is with Smart Play- lists. These nifty creatures can change the way you use iTunes and listen to your music.
Smart playlists are created automatically using criteria that you define. This means that you don’t have to spend a lot of time dragging and dropping and searching for files to populate your playlist. iTunes will do it for you!

Here’s how to set up a smart playlist:

1. Open iTunes.
2. Click File> New Smart Playlist. This opens the Smart Playlist rule.
3. In this window, you define the criteria that Apple will use to create your playlist.
4. Add rules to determine and/or limit the variable(s) iTunes will use to select content.
5. Once all the rules have been entered, just click “OK” and the smart playlist will show up in the list on the left side of the window.
6. Now, name that set of tunes and enjoy!

When you create a smart rule for iTunes, you define what type of data the rule finds and how it treats that data. And when you’re done adding a rule, you can add a second or third or fourth (or more!). You can also add nested rules.

When you add a second rule to a smart play list, you suddenly get an option (at the top of the Rules window) to “Match all of the rules” or “Match any of the rules.” So let’s say you have a rule that states, “The Artist contains the Beatles” and a rule that states “The Genre contains pop.” If you tell iTunes to match all the rules, then it will select only Beatles songs that are also labeled as pop. If you tell it to match any of the rules, then it will select all the Beatles songs as well as all songs labeled as pop.

The rules are definitely not limited to music. They work great for video and all the other content in iTunes.

How to Add Media to Your iPad?

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There are a few different ways to add media to your iTunes library. The first and easiest is to buy content directly from Apple through the iTunes Store. When you do, the media and all the information associated with it is loaded onto your computer—ready to go.

You can also easily transfer (or rip) music from a CD into iTunes by inserting it into the CD drive of your computer. iTunes will give you a pop-up box that offers the option to import the music.

You can use the “Add to Library” command by following the steps below:

1. Go to File > Add to Library.

2. In the Mac version of iTunes, there is one “Add to Library” command that allows you to add a single media file or a whole folder of files. In the Windows version, you choose to add either a file or a folder.

3. Select the music or video file (or folder) you want to import into iTunes.

4. On the Mac, click the “Choose” button. On the PC, this button is labeled “OK” for a single file and “Open” for a whole folder.

Yet another way to add media to iTunes is to drag and drop files right into your iTunes program from the Apple finder window or the Windows Explorer window. You can drop the file onto the iTunes interface or the desktop icon.

Note: Just because a media file (such as the one you just loaded into iTunes) will play in iTunes doesn’t necessarily mean it will play on your iPad. You’ll usually find out if a file is not compatible with the iPad when you sync. If iTunes tells you that it couldn’t transfer a certain file because it isn’t the right file type, then you know you need some help.

And good news help is available! iTunes can convert most movie and audio files because it has access to QuickTime and can use the codec to create a compatible version of the file. Just click the “Advanced” tab and see what versions of the file iTunes can create. Menu choices include “Create iPad” and “Apple TV” Just click the best option for your needs and forget about it. Apple will take care of the rest.