No longer do you need the skills of a computer geek plus the patience of a saint to manage your music collection. Rather than making you use several applications, iTunes lets you collect, browse, organize, and burn your favorite music onto CDs with one simple, intuitive application.
When you insert a music CD, iTunes immediately checks the comprehensive CDDB (Gracenote) database on the Internet to identify the artist, title, and track list for your iTunes library. iTunes imports your music as high-quality MP3 files, so your music not only sounds great, it also takes up far less space on your hard drive. Your MP3 songs are stored in a centralized, easily searchable library, and you can drag your music selections from the library into personalized music playlists. It's all easy, quick, and convenient.
iTunes also turns your Macintosh into a great-sounding radio that keeps your ear on the world beat. With iTunes, you can access MP3 streaming audio and listen to hundreds of popular Internet radio stations playing all kinds of music, as well as news and sports. Once you find a station you like, you can drag it into a playlist where you can easily access it later.
Listen to your music on your Macintosh, or with iTunes and an MP3 player, take your favorite music for a jog. iTunes has built-in support for popular MP3 players such as the Rio and Nomad, so you can easily download selections to take on the run. If your Mac has an Apple CD-RW drive or a supported third-party CD-RW drive, iTunes enables you to create your own custom music CDs featuring your favorite songs. The oh-so-simple iTunes user interface makes CD burning a breeze. When you burn CDs, iTunes shows you what fits and what doesn’t—no more cutting a song short, right in the middle of the guitar solo.
Apple Computer, Inc. (March 2001). iTunes Fact Sheet. Cupertino, CA.