Navigating the Music app

The most recent incarnation of the Music app incorporate features of the Apple Music service which, after a free trial, will set you back $9.99 per month for an individual, or $14.99 per month for a family. If you’re just interested in listening to the music on your phone, then you might find the configuration of the new app confusing (I know I did). Here are the basic steps to follow to navigate the app:

1. In the iPhone Dock, tap Music to launch the app.
2. Tap My Music in the menu bar at the bottom of the screen. This shows you the music that’s on your iPhone.
3. Tap the Category list, which appears about a third of the way down the screen and has Artists selected by default. You see a list of all the categories you can use, as shown in Figure 8.1.
4. Tap the category you want to use.
5. To play, create, or edit playlists, tap Playlists in the menu bar. See “Working with Playlists,” later in this chapter.
6. To listen to online radio stations curated by Apple, tap Radio in the menu bar and then sign in with your Apple ID, if prompted.
7. To follow bands, singers, and other music artists, tap Connect in the menu bar and then sign in with your Apple ID, if prompted.

Controlling music with Siri voice commands

If you’re using your iPhone in a hands-free environment, you can still control your music by using the handy Siri app, which recognizes a number of music-related voice commands. To get started, tap and hold the Home button (or press and hold the mic button of the iPhone headset, or the equivalent button on a Bluetooth headset) until the Siri screen appears.

The most basic music voice commands mimic the on-screen controls you see when you play a song. That is, while a song is playing, you can speak any of the following commands to control the playback:

• “Pause.”
• “Play.”
• “Next track (or next song).”
• “Previous track (or previous song).”

In each case, your iPhone repeats the command back to you so you know whether it heard you correctly. You can also get more sophisticated by speaking commands that use roughly the following format:

Verb object subject.

Here, verb is the action you want the Music app to take, which will most often be play; object is the type of item you want to work with, such as a song, album, or playlist; and subject is the particular item you want included in the action, such as the name of a song, album, playlist, or artist. Here are a few examples:

• “Play songs by the Submarines.”
• “Play album Blue Horse.”
• “Play some blues.”
• “Play playlist My Top Rated.”

Again, Siri confirms the command by saying it back to you (for example, “Playing songs by the Submarines”).

Here are a few more voice commands to play with:

• “Shuffle.” Activates the Music app’s Shuffle mode.
• “Shuffle playlist.” Plays the specified playlist in Shuffle mode.
• “Skip.” Skips to the next track.
• “What song is this?” Tells you the name of the current song and artist. Siri responds, “Naming that tune,” and then identifies the song, as shown in Figure 8.2.

Answering an incoming call while listening to music on the headset

If you’re listening to music on your iPhone and a call comes in, you obviously don’t want the caller to be subjected to Tame Impala at top volume. Fortunately, your iPhone smartphone is smart enough to know this, and it automatically pauses the music. If you have your iPhone headset on when the call arrives, use the following techniques to deal with it:

• Answer the call. Press and release the headset mic button (it’s the plastic button on one of the headset cords).
• Decline the call (send it directly to voicemail). Press and hold the mic button for about two seconds, and then release. If you hear a couple of beeps, you successfully declined the call.
• End the call. Press and release the mic button.

Using AirPlay to stream iPhone audio

If you have an Apple TV that supports AirPlay, you can use AirPlay to stream audio from your iPhone to your TV or other audio device. Here’s how it works:

1. Make sure your Apple TV is turned on.
2. On your iPhone, start the audio you want to stream.
3. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to open the Control Center, and then tap AirPlay. The Music app displays a menu of output choices, as shown in Figure 8.3.
4. Tap the name of your Apple TV device. Your iPhone streams the video to that device and, hence, to your TV or receiver.

Creating a custom iTunes Store menu bar

Just like the Music app, the iTunes Store also presents you with a series of browse buttons, each one of which represents a section or feature of the mobile version of the iTunes Store. For example, tapping the Search browse button enables you to search for artists, albums, songs, and more.

You see four browse buttons in the default menu bar: Music, Movies, TV Shows, and Search. A fifth button called More displays a list of five more browse buttons. Here’s a summary of all nine:

• Music. Enables you to browse and purchase music on the iTunes Store using the Genres, Featured, and Charts tabs.
• Movies. Enables you to browse movie content on the iTunes Store and then buy or rent movies to watch on your iPhone.
• TV Shows. Enables you to browse TV series content on the iTunes Store and then buy episodes to watch on your iPhone.
• Search. Enables you to search the iTunes Store.
• Tones. Enables you to browse ringtones on the iTunes Store using the New Releases, Top Tens, and Genres tabs.
• Genius. Displays Genius-generated lists of music, movies, and TV shows based on your current content in these categories.
• Purchased. Displays a list of songs that you have purchased from the iTunes Store.
• Downloads. Lists the current downloads in progress. This button appears only while content is downloading from the iTunes Store.

If there’s a browse button on the More list that you use all the time, you can move it to the menu bar for easier access. Here’s how:

1. On the Home screen, tap iTunes to open the iTunes app.
2. Tap More in the menu bar.
3. Tap Edit. Your iPhone displays the Configure screen, which lists all the browse buttons.
4. Drag a browse button that you want to add to the menu bar and drop it on whatever existing menu bar browse button you want it to replace. For example, if you want to replace the TV Shows browse button with Purchased, drag the Purchased button and drop it on TV Shows. Your iPhone replaces the old browse button with the new one.
5. Repeat Step 4 to add any of your other preferred browse buttons to the menu bar.
6. Tap Done to save the new menu bar configuration.

Redeeming an iTunes gift card

If you’ve been lucky enough to receive an iTunes gift card or gift certificate for your birthday or some other special occasion (or just for the heck of it), you’d normally use the iTunes Store on your computer to redeem it. However, if you’re not at your computer and the gift card is burning a hole in your pocket, don’t fret: You can redeem the gift card right on your iPhone. Here’s how:

1. Sign in to the iTunes Store on your iPhone. You do this by tapping Settings, tapping iTunes & App Store, tapping Sign In, typing your iTunes Store username and password, and then tapping Sign In.
2. On the Home screen, tap iTunes Store. The iTunes Store screen appears.
3. Tap any content-related browse button in the menu bar, such as Music, Movies, or TV Shows.
4. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and then tap Redeem. You might need to type your iTunes password at this point. iTunes displays the Redeem screen.
5. To use the iPhone camera to enter the redeem code, tap Use Camera, and then align the white box on-screen with the box containing the redeem code. Otherwise, tap You Can Also Enter Your Code Manually and then type the code from the gift card or gift certificate.
6. Tap Redeem. iTunes redeems the gift card and adds the amount to your iTunes Store credit.

Using iTunes to create a custom ringtone

The old Create Ringtone command may be gone from iTunes, but that application still comes with features that enable you to create a custom ringtone. Here’s how it works:

1. In iTunes, play the track you want to use. While the track is playing, watch the playback time and note the start time and end time of the portion of the track you want to use as your ringtone.
2. Choose File ⇒ Get Info, or press +I. The track’s Info dialog appears.
3. Click the Options tab.
4. Use the Start Time and Stop Time text boxes to type the starting and ending points for your ringtone snippet (see Figure 8.4), and then click OK.
5. With the track still selected, choose File ⇒ Create New Version ⇒ Create AAC Version. iTunes creates a version of the track that includes only the snippet you specified in Step 4.
6. Click the new version of the track, then choose File ⇒ Show in Finder, or press Shift++R. A new Finder window appears with the short version of the track selected.
7. Press Return to open the filename for editing, change the extension from m4a to m4r, and then press Return. The m4r extension designates the file as a ringtone. OS X asks you to confirm the extension change.
8. Click Use .m4r. OS X converts the file to a ringtone.
9. In iTunes, make sure the short version of the track is selected, and then choose Edit ⇒ Delete. iTunes asks you to confirm.
10. Click Delete Song. iTunes asks if you want to move the file to the Trash.
11. Click Keep File.
12. Return to the Finder window that contains the ringtone, and then double-click the file. iTunes plays the ringtone, but more importantly, it adds the file to the Tones section of the library.

Using GarageBand to create a custom ringtone

The technique I showed you in the previous section is easy, for sure, but it’s a bit convoluted. So let’s look at a second, more straightforward method that uses GarageBand, the Apple application for making homebrew music.

First, here are the steps to follow to create a ringtone out of any song in your iTunes library:

1. Click the GarageBand icon in the Dock to launch the program, click Ringtone, click Choose. GarageBand starts a new project for you.
2. Switch to iTunes, click the song you want to use for your ringtone, and then choose File ⇒ Show in Finder, or press Shift++R. OS X displays the song’s file in a Finder window.
3. Click and drag the file and drop it inside GarageBand. Note that you need to drop the song inside the box that includes the message “Drag Apple loops here.” The program creates a new track for the song.
4. If needed, drag the song to the left so that the beginning of the song lines up on the left edge of the box.
5. Click and drag the Cycle Range to the approximate area of the song you want to use for the ringtone. The Cycle Range, pointed out in Figure 8.5, defines the portion of the song that you would use for a ringtone. If you don’t see the Cycle Range tool, click the Cycle Range button pointed out in Figure 8.5.
6. Click and drag the left edge of the Cycle Range to define the starting point of the ringtone. By default, the left edge of the Cycle Range starts at 0:00.
7. Click and drag the right edge of the Cycle Range to define the ending point of the ringtone. By default, the right edge of the Cycle Range starts at 0:20.
8. Click Play to play back the ringtone.
9. If your start and end points aren’t quite right, repeat Steps 6 to 8 until your ringtone is set.
10. Choose Share ⇒ Send Ringtone to iTunes. GarageBand converts the track to a ringtone, and then adds it to the Tones category in iTunes.

Syncing ringtones

The next time you sync your iPhone through iTunes, follow these steps to include one or more custom ringtones in the sync:

1. Click your iPhone in the iTunes Devices list.
2. Click the Tones tab.
3. Select the Sync Tones check box.
4. Select the Selected tones option.
5. Select the check box beside each custom ringtone you want to use on your iPhone.
6. Click Apply.

To use the custom ringtone on your iPhone, tap Settings in the Home screen, tap Sounds, and tap Ringtone. Your ringtones appear at the top of the Ringtone list. Tap a custom ringtone to use the snippet as your ringtone.

Creating a favorite tunes playlist for your iPhone

Your iTunes library includes a Rating field that enables you to supply a rating for your tracks: one star for songs you don’t like so much, up to five stars for your favorite tunes. You click the song you want to rate, and then click a dot in the Rating column (click the first dot for a one-star rating, the second dot for a two-star rating, and so on). Rating songs is useful because it enables you to organize your music. For example, the Playlists section features a My Top Rated playlist that includes all your four- and five-star-rated tunes, ordered by the Rating value.

Rating tracks comes in particularly handy when deciding what music to use to populate your iPhone. If you have tens of gigabytes of tunes, only some of them will fit on your iPhone. How do you choose? One possibility would be to rate your songs, and then just sync the My Top Rated playlist to your iPhone.

The problem with the My Top Rated playlist is that it includes only your four- and five-star-rated tunes. You can fit thousands of tracks on your iPhone, but it’s unlikely that you’ve got thousands of songs rated at four stars or better. To fill out your playlist, you should also include songs rated at three stars, a rating that should include a lot of good, solid tunes.

To set this up, you have two choices:

• Modify the My Top Rated playlist. In iTunes, click Playlists, right-click the My Top Rated playlist, and then click Edit Smart Playlist. In the Smart Playlist dialog, click the second star, and then click OK.
• Create a new playlist. This is the way to go if you want to leave My Top Rated as your best music. In iTunes, choose File ⇒ New ⇒ Smart Playlist to open the Smart Playlist dialog. Choose Rating in the Field list, choose Is Greater Than in the Operator list, and then click the second star. Figure 8.6 shows the configured dialog. Click OK, type a title for the playlist (such as Favorite Tunes), and then press Return (or Enter).

The next time you sync your iPhone, be sure to include either the My Top Rated playlist or the Smart Playlist you created.

Creating a playlist on your iPhone

The playlists on your iPhone are those you’ve synced via iTunes, and those playlists are either generated automatically by iTunes or they’re ones you’ve cobbled together yourself. However, when you’re out in the world and listening to music, you might come up with an idea for a different collection of songs. It might be girl groups, boy bands, or songs with animals in the title.

Whatever your inspiration, don’t do it the hard way by picking out and listening to each song one at a time. Instead, you can use your iPhone to create a playlist on the fly.

To create a playlist using the Music app, follow these steps:

1. Open the Music app.
2. Tap the Playlists browse button. If you’re signed in to Apple Music, tap the My Music browse button, instead, and then tap the Playlists tab. This displays your playlists.
3. Tap New. The Music app displays the New Playlist screen.
4. Type the name of your playlist. You can also type an optional description of the playlist.
5. Tap Add Songs to open the Add Music screen.
6. Tap Songs (or whatever category you prefer) and then tap each song you want to add to your list.
7. When you’ve added all the songs you want, tap Done. The Music app displays the playlist.
8. Tap Done. The Music app returns to the Playlists screen.

Your playlist isn’t set in stone by any means. You can get rid of songs, change the song order, and add more songs. Follow these steps:

1. In the Music app, tap the Playlists browse button to see your playlists.
2. Tap your playlist. The Music app displays the playlist settings and music.
3. Tap Edit. This changes the list to the editable version, as shown in Figure 8.7.
4. To remove a song, tap the red Minus (–) button to the left of the song. Then, tap the Delete button that appears. If you change your mind, tap the red minus button again to cancel the deletion.
5. To move a song within the playlist, slide the song’s Drag button (it’s on the right) up or down to the position you prefer.
6. To add more tracks, tap Add Songs, tap a category, and then tap each song you want to add.
7. When you finish editing, tap Done. This sets the playlist.