iOS 101: The iTunes Store
by Joe White
December 5, 2010
If you’re new to the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, then you’ve probably got over a hundred questions regarding your shiny, new device. Here at AppAdvice, we strive to answer them one question at a time, each and every day. This is iOS 101, and class is about to begin.
Towards the end of last month, we took a look at the App Store, and how it runs under iOS. We covered buying, downloading, and updating applications. We also talked about signing in to the App Store using an Apple ID, and how we might create an Apple ID.
While the App Store is often hailed as being one of the best features of Apple's iOS, the iTunes Store is brilliant too. Like the App Store, the iTunes Store is also an iOS app, dubbed "iTunes." Using the app, users can purchase music, movies, TV shows, audiobooks, and more. The iTunes app also gives users access to Ping: Apple's "social network for music."
Today, we're going to take a look at the iTunes iOS application, and the various ways we can interact with it on our iDevices. So, grab your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, and read on to find out more about the iTunes Store.
First, we're going to look at signing in to the iTunes Store, and buying a song. Launch the iTunes iOS application by touching the purple "iTunes" app, which by default will be located on your iDevice's first screen.
You'll be taken to the "Music" section of the iTunes Store, which you can see examples of above (iPad) and to the right (iPhone). At the bottom of the iTunes app is a tab bar, via which users of the application can navigate to different areas of the Store. "Music," "Videos," "Ping," "Search," and "More," are displayed in the iPhone and iPod touch versions of the iTunes app. On the iPad, "Videos" is replaced by "Movies" and "TV Shows," and "Podcasts," "Audiobooks," and "iTunes U" are also present in the bar. Instead of "More," iPad users will see that "Downloads" is displayed, instead. This is simply because on the iPhone and iPod touch, space is precious. Furthermore, there is no "Search" icon in the iPad version of iTunes. Instead, a search box is included in the top-right corner of the screen.
If the the track isn't displayed on the iTunes Store "Music" main page, then you're going to have to search for it. Hit the "Search" icon at the bottom of the application, type in the name of the track you want to buy, and hit "Search."
The iTunes application will then give you a list of search results. With any luck, the track you were looking for will be displayed.
In order to purchase the track, hit the price. In my case, this is £0.99. The icon will then change to a green "Buy Now" button. Upon pressing this icon, users will need to enter their Apple ID password in order to confirm the purchase. After confirming the purchase, the track will begin to download.
If you want to check on the progress of your download, head over to the "Downloads" page on your iDevice. For iPhone/iPod touch owners, this is under the "More" tab by default. Once your track has downloaded, it will appear within the iPod application.
You'll be pleased to learn that the process of purchasing content within the iTunes app is pretty much uniform. This means that purchasing TV shows, movies, and music can be done in the same way.
Within the iTunes iOS application, users can access their Ping social networking account. This can be done by touching the "Ping" icon in the tab bar, at the bottom of the app.
In order to interact with Ping, users will have to be signed in with their Apple ID. Once you've signed in, your Ping timeline will be displayed. Three buttons at the top of the screen allow you to navigate through your Ping account. They are: "Activity," "People," and "My Profile." While the latter displays your own personal profile, "Activity" will display a timeline of "likes" and "posts," and "People" will display a list of the people you follow.
Within the iTunes application, it's possible for users to "like" songs and albums, and "post" about them. This can be done easily. When the iTunes app displays a track or album, a "like" and "post" button will be available for users to touch. You can also see how many people have "liked" a particular track or album, before you do the same.
In order to download a podcast, simply search for the show in the "Search" section of iTunes, or find it in the featured "Podcasts" page.
Once you've located the podcast you want to download, touching the "Free" icon, then "Get Episode," initiates the download procedure. Once the podcast has been downloaded, you'll be able to listen to it in the iPod application.
However, you can also quickly navigate to the a podcast's iTunes page from within the iPod app. To do this, locate the podcast you want to update in the iPod app, and hit "Get More Episodes." Once you've done this, your iDevice will switch over to iTunes, and will take you straight to the chosen podcast's page. It's a pretty handy trick, and one worth remembering if you're a fan of podcasts.
Podcasts are a great feature of iTunes, and the fact that users can download and update podcasts on-the-go, is a great feature of the iOS.
One last aspect of the iTunes app worth mentioning is "preview." Preview allows users to sample content before buying, and can be accessed within the iTunes iOS application.
In order to get a preview of a song, simply find the track within iTunes (as explained above), and touch it. An icon will appear beside the song, and a sample will play. In order to stop the track from playing, hit the "stop" symbol, within the circular icon.
You can also preview TV shows, movies, and audiobooks. In order to do this, simply navigate to the content page (by tapping the TV show, movie, or audiobook). Audio and video will play within the iTunes app, so you don't need to worry about losing your place when previewing content.
iTunes
First, we're going to look at signing in to the iTunes Store, and buying a song. Launch the iTunes iOS application by touching the purple "iTunes" app, which by default will be located on your iDevice's first screen.
You'll be taken to the "Music" section of the iTunes Store, which you can see examples of above (iPad) and to the right (iPhone). At the bottom of the iTunes app is a tab bar, via which users of the application can navigate to different areas of the Store. "Music," "Videos," "Ping," "Search," and "More," are displayed in the iPhone and iPod touch versions of the iTunes app. On the iPad, "Videos" is replaced by "Movies" and "TV Shows," and "Podcasts," "Audiobooks," and "iTunes U" are also present in the bar. Instead of "More," iPad users will see that "Downloads" is displayed, instead. This is simply because on the iPhone and iPod touch, space is precious. Furthermore, there is no "Search" icon in the iPad version of iTunes. Instead, a search box is included in the top-right corner of the screen.
If the the track isn't displayed on the iTunes Store "Music" main page, then you're going to have to search for it. Hit the "Search" icon at the bottom of the application, type in the name of the track you want to buy, and hit "Search."
The iTunes application will then give you a list of search results. With any luck, the track you were looking for will be displayed.
In order to purchase the track, hit the price. In my case, this is £0.99. The icon will then change to a green "Buy Now" button. Upon pressing this icon, users will need to enter their Apple ID password in order to confirm the purchase. After confirming the purchase, the track will begin to download.
If you want to check on the progress of your download, head over to the "Downloads" page on your iDevice. For iPhone/iPod touch owners, this is under the "More" tab by default. Once your track has downloaded, it will appear within the iPod application.
You'll be pleased to learn that the process of purchasing content within the iTunes app is pretty much uniform. This means that purchasing TV shows, movies, and music can be done in the same way.
What the Ping?
Within the iTunes iOS application, users can access their Ping social networking account. This can be done by touching the "Ping" icon in the tab bar, at the bottom of the app.
In order to interact with Ping, users will have to be signed in with their Apple ID. Once you've signed in, your Ping timeline will be displayed. Three buttons at the top of the screen allow you to navigate through your Ping account. They are: "Activity," "People," and "My Profile." While the latter displays your own personal profile, "Activity" will display a timeline of "likes" and "posts," and "People" will display a list of the people you follow.
Within the iTunes application, it's possible for users to "like" songs and albums, and "post" about them. This can be done easily. When the iTunes app displays a track or album, a "like" and "post" button will be available for users to touch. You can also see how many people have "liked" a particular track or album, before you do the same.
Podcasts
Within the iTunes application, users can also download podcasts. An explanation of how to do this is included in the demo video below, however we're going to quickly explore podcast-downloading here. More specifically, we're going to look at a quick and easy means of keeping up to date with your favorite shows.
In order to download a podcast, simply search for the show in the "Search" section of iTunes, or find it in the featured "Podcasts" page.
Once you've located the podcast you want to download, touching the "Free" icon, then "Get Episode," initiates the download procedure. Once the podcast has been downloaded, you'll be able to listen to it in the iPod application.
However, you can also quickly navigate to the a podcast's iTunes page from within the iPod app. To do this, locate the podcast you want to update in the iPod app, and hit "Get More Episodes." Once you've done this, your iDevice will switch over to iTunes, and will take you straight to the chosen podcast's page. It's a pretty handy trick, and one worth remembering if you're a fan of podcasts.
Podcasts are a great feature of iTunes, and the fact that users can download and update podcasts on-the-go, is a great feature of the iOS.
Preview
One last aspect of the iTunes app worth mentioning is "preview." Preview allows users to sample content before buying, and can be accessed within the iTunes iOS application.
In order to get a preview of a song, simply find the track within iTunes (as explained above), and touch it. An icon will appear beside the song, and a sample will play. In order to stop the track from playing, hit the "stop" symbol, within the circular icon.
You can also preview TV shows, movies, and audiobooks. In order to do this, simply navigate to the content page (by tapping the TV show, movie, or audiobook). Audio and video will play within the iTunes app, so you don't need to worry about losing your place when previewing content.
iOS 101: The Video
