Fun ActivitiesMusic

Music-it's one of the greatest artistic expressions on earth. It can create or enhance a mood of happiness, sadness, inspiration. It can make a seemingly normal human being leap around with arms flailing to the music's rhythm and with little regard for how they look to anyone else. You can hear a song in another language, yet become completely engaged in the feeling that it delivers. It's the universal language that connects people without the need for interpretation.

Create your life's soundtrack.

Records. Cassettes. CDs. Wherever your music resides, importing it all into a single digital music library is the way to go. Imagine being able to find exactly the song you want to listen to in an instant without having to dig through mountains of CDs or cassettes. With your music organized by artist, song title, album, genre, and track length you'll have all the music you love in a single, searchable location.

One music library to rule them all.

Sounds like a heck of a lot of work doesn't it? In reality, this process is less time consuming than you might think and worth every minute it takes to transfer from hard copy to digital music paradise. Plus, once you've completed the process, you can have your music on the computer and to go on the MP3 player of your choice. Talk about flexibility! Take your music with you while you're jogging, while waiting in line at the grocery store- wherever-tune out of the moment and tune into the music.

Let the transformation begin.

We're going to work on your CD collection. CDs are the easiest to import because we'll be converting your music tracks on your computer, which is already equipped with a CD-ROM. (Just to let you know, this process does require a computer with a CD-ROM. If you don't have one, this would be a good time to go get one. Quickly!) For records and cassettes, we'll provide some resources that can show you how to convert them. That's a bit more involved and you'll need additional peripheral devices and software.

Now we need to get a music player online.

They're free, but we'll need to download one to make your ultimate music library dream come true. You have a lot of options to choose from. We're using iTunes*, but you might also consider Rhapsody*, eMusic*, Napster*, or Winamp*.

Let's download iTunes.

1. Go to the iTunes download site.
2. On the left side of the page, enter your e-mail address, and then click the Download iTunes button.
3. A pop-up warning will appear-are you sure you want to install or save this file? Click Run. (This step is just to get the files prepped to run on your computer.)

Depending on your Internet connection speed, this could take a while.

4. Once it's complete you'll get another pop-up that asks you if you want to run this program. Click Run once more!

Now you have iTunes on your computer. You'll also have a shortcut on your desktop so you can launch the program quickly.

Well that wasn't so bad was it? Let's start importing! You've got your stack of CDs and an unbreakable resolve. We're getting ready to embark on your own personal musical history. Let's do this.

1. To open iTunes, double-click the icon on your desktop.
2. Open your first CD.
3. Open the CD-ROM of your computer and insert the CD.
4. Your iTunes will begin automatically importing the CD's music to your library.
5. When that CD has finished importing, insert the next CD and so on until your entire collection has been digitized.

I realize that was rather anticlimactic. You were expecting more? Well this is not where the work ends. It's time to roll up your sleeves if you have them-if not, a look of determination will do. That's right, it's playlist time.

Music for the mood-whatever mood that might be. OK, your collection is now imported. You've got loads of music sitting in your library. You want to have a jogging playlist? An "I'm angry" playlist? An "I'm in love" playlist? A "don't forget to pick up the dry cleaning" playlist? Your options are limitless.

There are two different kinds of playlists you can create with iTunes-the "smart" playlist and the playlist that you create, song-by-song, yourself.

Let's start with the smart playlist-it only takes a minute to set up. The smart playlist automatically populates with music based on the criteria you choose. For instance, you might want only rock music, music created by the same artist, or songs that are all similar in length-odd, but why not?

1. Open iTunes.
2. On the File menu, click New Smart Playlist. The Smart Playlist pop-up window will appear.

The first menu on the upper left displays a checklist of items, including criteria to sort by artist, album, size, and so on. The next menu option allows you to select a keyword. You can enter any word you like, such as "Pop."

3. Enter Pop, and then click OK.

A new playlist, "Pop," which contains all of your pop songs will appear on the iTunes menu on the left side of the screen.

That's it! Now you have your first of many smart playlists. But smart playlists might not be specific enough to fit your mood. If you want to create a playlist song by song, you can.

1. Open iTunes.
2. On the File menu, click New Playlist. It will appear on the left side of the page waiting for a name-create your own unique spin! You're the DJ
3. Enter the name, and then click OK.

Now you have a playlist and a name-it's time to drag and drop the songs that you want into your playlist.

4. On the left side, scroll to the top of the page and click Music (just below LIBRARY). You'll see your entire music library.
5. Scroll through the list. When you see a song you like, click and hold the left mouse button as you drag the song over the top of the new playlist you just created.
6. Repeat this process until you have completed your perfect playlist!

Now you have your own customized digital music library. You can purchase more CDs and convert them or you can purchase MP3s online and download them straight to your computer. You can also burn your playlists to a CD using the File menu, then Burn Playlist to a Disc function. Or just plug in your iPod* or MP3 player and take your entire music library with you.

Now all that's left to do is sing and dance like no one's watching.