Chapter 8
Shopping the iTunes Store
Get ready to . . .
Preview Music, a Movie, or an Audiobook
Enable Auto Downloads of Purchases from Other Devices
The iTunes app that comes pre-installed in iPad lets you easily shop for music, movies, TV shows, audiobooks, podcasts, and even online classes at Apple’s iTunes Store.
In this chapter, you discover how to find content on the iTunes website. The content can be downloaded directly to your iPad or downloaded to another device and then synced to your iPad. In addition, I cover a few options for buying content from other online stores.
Note that I cover opening an iTunes account and downloading iTunes software to your computer in Chapter 3. If you need to, read Chapter 3 to see how to handle these two tasks before digging into this chapter.
Explore the iTunes Store
1. Visiting the iTunes Store from your iPad is easy with the built-in iTunes app. Tap the iTunes icon on the Home screen.
2. If you’re not already signed in to iTunes, the dialog shown in Figure 8-1 appears, asking for your iTunes password. Enter your password and tap OK.
Figure 8-1
3. Tap the Music button in the row of buttons at the bottom of the screen, if it’s not already selected.
4. Tap the Next or Previous arrow to scroll the featured New and Noteworthy selections, as shown in Figure 8-2.
Figure 8-2
5. Tap the Top Charts tab at the top of the screen. This step displays best-selling songs and albums in the iTunes Store.
6. Tap any other listed item to see more detail about it, as shown in Figure 8-3.
The navigation techniques in these steps work essentially the same in any of the content categories (the buttons at the bottom of the screen), which include Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, Audiobooks, and iTunes U. Just tap on one to explore it.
Figure 8-3
If you want to use the Genius playlist feature, which recommends additional purchases based on the contents of your library, turn on this feature in iTunes on your computer. Then on your iPad, tap the Genius tab at the top of the screen. Song and album recommendations appear.
Find a Selection
There are several ways to look for a selection in the iTunes Store. You can use the Search feature, search by genre or category, or view artists’ pages. Here’s how these work:
Tap in the Search field shown in Figure 8-4 and enter a search term using the onscreen keyboard. Tap the Search button on the keyboard or, if a suggestion appeals to you, just tap on it.
Tap the Genres button (in some content types, such as Audiobooks, it’s the Categories button). A list of genres or categories like the one shown in Figure 8-5 appears.
Figure 8-4
Figure 8-5
On a description page that appears when you tap a selection, you can find more offerings by people involved. For example, for a music selection, tap the Artist Page link to see all of that artist’s selections. For a movie, tap the name of someone in the movie credits to see more of that person’s work, as shown for Kate Winslet in Figure 8-6.
If you find a selection you like, tap the Tell a Friend link on its description page to share your discovery with a friend via e-mail. A message appears with a link to the selection. Enter an address in the To field and tap Send. Your friend is now in the know.
Figure 8-6
When displaying items on the Featured tab for any type of content, tap the See All link to see all featured selections rather than only the top New and Noteworthy selections.
Sort Your Media Selections
1. You can sort selections by criteria such as bestsellers, name, or release date when you have an Artist Page displayed for movies or music. With an Artist Page open, tap the Sort By field.
2. In the menu shown in Figure 8-7, tap the criteria you want to sort by.
Figure 8-7
3. Selections are sorted by the criteria you chose (for example, alphabetically if you chose Name or with the latest release listed first if you chose Release Date).
Preview Music, a Movie, or an Audiobook
1. Because you have already set up an iTunes account (if you haven’t done so yet, refer to Chapter 3), when you choose to buy an item it’s automatically charged to the credit card you have on record or against any allowance you have outstanding from an iTunes gift card. You might want to preview an item before you buy it. If you like it, buying and downloading are then easy and quick. Open iTunes and use any method outlined in earlier tasks to locate a selection you might want to buy.
2. Tap the item to see detailed information about it, as shown in Figure 8-8.
Figure 8-8
3. If you’re looking at a music selection, tap the track number or name of a selection (refer to Figure 8-8) to play a preview. For a movie or audiobook selection, tap the Preview button, shown in Figure 8-9.
Figure 8-9
The iTunes Store offers several free selections, especially in the Podcast and iTunes U content categories. If you see one you want to try out, download it by tapping the button labeled Free and then tapping the Get Episode (or similarly named) button that appears.
Buy a Selection
1. When you find an item you want to buy, tap the button that shows either the price (if it’s a selection available for purchase; see Figure 8-10) or the button with the word Free on it (if it’s a selection available for free).
2. The button label changes to Buy X, where X is the type of content you’re buying such as a song or album (refer to Figure 8-10).
3. Tap the Buy X button. The iTunes Password dialog appears (refer to Figure 8-1).
Figure 8-10
4. Enter your password and tap OK. The item begins downloading (see Figure 8-11) and the cost is automatically charged against your account. When the download finishes, you can view the content using the Music or Video app, depending on the type of content.
Figure 8-11
If you want to buy music, you can open the description page for an album and buy individual songs rather than the entire album. Tap on the price for a song, and then proceed to purchase it.
Note the Redeem button on many iTunes screens. Tap this button to redeem any iTunes gift certificates you might get from your generous friends, or from yourself.
If you don’t want to allow purchases from within apps (for example Music or Videos) but rather want to allow purchases only through the iTunes store, you can go to Settings, General, tap Restrictions, then tap Enable Restrictions, and enter a passcode. Once you’ve set a passcode you can tap on individual apps to turn on restrictions for them.
If you have a 3G model iPad you can allow content to be downloaded over your 3G cellular network. Be aware, however, that this could incur hefty data charges with your provider. However, if you aren’t near a Wi-Fi hotspot it might be your only option. Go to Settings, Store and tap the On/Off button for the Cellular setting.
Rent Movies
1. In the case of movies, you can either rent or buy content. If you rent, which is less expensive, you have 30 days from the time you rent the item to begin to watch it. After you have begun to watch it, you have 24 hours from that time left to watch it as many times as you like. With iTunes open, tap the Movies button.
2. Locate the movie you want to rent and tap the View button, shown in Figure 8-12.
3. In the detailed description of the movie that appears, tap the Rent button, shown in Figure 8-13.
Figure 8-12
Figure 8-13
4. The gray Rent button changes to a green Rent Movie button; tap it to confirm the rental. The movie begins to download to your iPad immediately, and your account is charged the rental fee.
5. To check the status of your download, tap the Downloads button. The progress of your download is displayed. After the download is complete, you can use either the Music or Videos app to watch it. (See Chapters 11 and 13 to read about how these apps work).
Some movies are offered in high-definition versions. These HD movies will look great on that crisp, colorful iPad screen.
You can also download content to your computer and sync it to your iPad. Refer to Chapter 3 for more about this process.
Listen to Podcasts
1. Podcasts are audio broadcasts you can listen to on your iPad. Most of them are free and iTunes features a wide variety of broadcast topics. With iTunes open, tap the Podcast button in the row of buttons at the bottom of the screen.
2. Tap on a podcast selection; a detailed listing of podcasts, like the one shown in Figure 8-14, appears.
3. Tap on the name or number of a podcast for additional information, or simply tap the Free button, and then tap the Get Episode button (refer to Figure 8-14) to download the podcast. After it downloads, you can play it using the Music app.
To save your work you might consider using the subscription feature in iTunes. First, locate a podcast and click the Subscribe button. A URL for the podcast is displayed. Copy the URL, and then, with iTunes open, click the Advanced menu and choose Subscribe to Podcast. In the dialog that opens enter the URL of a podcast you like. Now you’ll get all episodes of that podcast delivered to iTunes as they become available and they’ll be available to all your devices through iCloud (see more about setting up iCloud for automatically pushing purchases from one device to your other Apple devices in the final task of this chapter).
Figure 8-14
Go to School at iTunes U
1. One very cool feature of iTunes is iTunes U, a compilation of free and often excellent online courses from universities and other providers. Tap the iTunes U button in the row of buttons at the bottom of the screen to display selections.
2. Tap one of the three tabs shown in Figure 8-15: Universities & Colleges, Beyond Campus, or K-12.
3. On the list that appears, tap an item to select the source for a course. That provider’s page appears.
Figure 8-15
4. Tap either the Next or Previous button to scroll through offerings. When you find a topic of interest, tap a selection and it opens, displaying a list of segments of the course, as shown in Figure 8-16.
Figure 8-16
5. Tap the Free button next to a course, and then tap the green Download/Get Episode button that appears (if there’s only one session this button says Download but if there is more than one session it says Get Episode). The course begins downloading.
After you’re on a provider’s page, to return to iTunes U, just tap the button labeled iTunes U (located in the top left corner of the screen) and you return to the page with the three provider tabs (refer to Figure 8-15).
You can also make selections of courses from the Featured or Top Charts tabs of iTunes U. Narrow these down by tapping the Categories button and choosing a category of courses to browse.
Shop Anywhere Else
One feature that’s missing from the iPad is support for Flash, a format of video playback that many online video-on-demand services use. However, many online stores that sell content such as movies and music are hurriedly adding iPad-friendly videos to their collections, so you do have alternatives to iTunes for your choice of movies and TV shows. You can also shop for music from sources other than iTunes such as Amazon.com.
You can open accounts at one of these stores by using your computer or your iPad’s Safari browser and then following the store’s instructions for purchasing and downloading content.
These stores offer iPad-compatible video content, and more are opening all the time:
ABC: http://abc.go.com
CBS news: www.cbsnews.com
Clicker: www.clicker.com
Netflix: www.netflix.com
UStream: www.ustream.tv
For non-iPad friendly formats, you can download the content on your computer and stream them to your iPad using AirVideo ($2.99) on the iPad and AirVideo Server (which is also free) using your Mac or Windows computer. For more information go to www.inmethod.com/air-video/index.html.
Enable Auto Downloads of Purchases from Other Devices
1. With iCloud you can make a purchase or download free content on any of your Apple devices and have those purchases automatically copied onto all your Apple devices. To enable this auto download feature on iPad, start by tapping Settings on the Home screen.
To use iCloud, first set up an iCloud account. See Chapter 3 for detailed coverage of iCloud including setting up your account.
2. Tap Store.
3. In the options that appear, tap the On/Off button for any category of purchases you want to auto download to your iPad from other Apple devices: Music, Apps, or Books, as well as Newsstand subscriptions (see Figure 8-17).
At this point, Apple doesn’t offer an option of auto-downloading video content using these settings. You can always download video directly to your iPad through the iTunes app or sync to your computer using iTunes to get the content.
Figure 8-17