12.1. Change the Look of the iTunes Window

Don’t be misled by the brushed-aluminum look of iTunes. You can push and pull various window parts like salt-water taffy.

• You can adjust how much of the iTunes Browser—the three-paned quick-browse area—by dragging the tiny dot at the top of the song list window up or down. The Ctrl+B (⌘-B) keyboard shortcut toggles the Browser off and on. (You can also put the Browser on the left; see Section 11.1.)

  
  

  

  
  

• iTunes divides the main song list into columns you can sort or re-arrange. Click a column title (like Name or Album) to sort the list alphabetically. Click the column title again to reverse the sort order. Change the order of the columns themselves by grabbing them by the header and reordering them to your liking.

• To adjust a column’s width, drag the right-hand vertical divider line (right). You may need to grab the line in the column title bar.

  
  

  

  
  

• To resize all the columns so their contents fit precisely, right-click (Control-click) any column header and choose Auto Size All Columns.

• To add (or delete) columns, right-click (Control-click) any column title. From the pop-up list of column categories (Bit Rate, Date Added, and so on), choose the column name you want to add or remove. Checkmarks indicate currently visible columns.

  
  

  

  
  

• Click the black triangle in the first column to display or hide album covers alongside song titles. If you don’t have any artwork for the song, iTunes displays the generic gray Musical Note icon. If you find life has too many gray areas already, the next chapter tells you how to add album art to your files. (In iTunes 10 and later, this album art appears in the Album List view.)