iPod First-time iTMS purchase questions

[thomasp]

I'm considering making my first purchase from iTMS. I've looked in the iTunes help (Cmd+?) and on Mac Guides, but can't find the answer to my questions.

I currently have an Apple ID from their forums, but I've never tried it in iTunes or used it to buy stuff from Apple Online. Is this the ID I use to log in to iTMS?

Can I pay by credit card? The help file on Mac OSX for iTunes wasn't very helpful with this - it mentioned you could use a credit card or PayPal. Since I don't want to go to all the bother of setting up a PayPal account, can I use my credit card when purchasing something that will only cost GB£3.07?

I'm interested in downloading these three tracks (Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" performed by Emil Gilels):
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=14438511&s=143444&i=14438544
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=14438511&s=143444&i=14438548
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=14438511&s=143444&i=14438553
The last one is "Work Only" - so if I click the "Download Work" button, that should download all three?

Can I combine these three tracks into one once I've downloaded them? Or will I have to do it manually in GarageBand?


Thanks for the help

 

[frankblundt]

i'm pretty sure it's the same Apple ID (altho you can set up a different one if you want) - your email address if i remeber correctly, so it can validate.

Credit cards are ok. they'll take your money any way they can

As long as the work is just the three, then yes "download work" will download all three (if it's five tracks it will download all five).

I don't think you can put them together in iTunes (although you could make a playlist for just them) - you'd have to edit them in another app (do a search - there's millions of posts here about this, on how and what)

 

[Applespider]

If you have an Apple ID, that will work on iTunes. They're all tied up together so far as I know.

You can use a credit card or a debit card - whether it's 79p or any multiple of it. It usually comes off the next day.

Some tracks aren't available as individual songs - they're only available as albums or works. You should just be able to click the Buy Work and they'll all download. That's certainly how it works on the 'Album Only' versions.

You won't be able to join them together in iTunes and since they're protected files, I'm not sure how easy it will be do in Garageband either. I don't think you can alter them there but I may be wrong.

 

[thomasp]

Thanks for the replies

I suppose one way I could combine them would be to burn the three tracks to CD (seems a bit of a waste of a CD for about 15mins of music!!), then use the "Combine tracks" feature in iTunes when importing them.

 

[Marky_Mark]

1. Yep, your apple ID should work.

2. Yep, you can pay by credit card. When you set up your iTunes account, it will ask you for payment method. Enter in your credit card details and select either to pay at the end of a session using a shopping-basket approach, or by 1-click, where each transaction is processed separately (this is what I have chosen). Then each time you make a purchase, the transaction will be charged to your card. Each month, I get a bunch of 79p transactions on my card. Never had any complaints yet, from Apple or the credit card company.

3. The expression 'work only', means that that particular track is only available if you buy the bundled 'work' - it's not available as a separate purchase on its own. You'll find this scattered around the music store quite a bit. On more contemporary titles, it'll say 'Album Only' - meaning you only get to buy that track when you opt to buy the whole album. A bit of a pain, but there you go.

4. I might be wrong, but having had a quick look, I don't think you can link the tracks together. I know you can link separate tracks together on a CD and rip them as a single file, for instance if you have a medley or, perhaps a live album where songs flow into one another, but I'm not sure you can do it within the library once the tracks are in. I may be wrong, and you're in the right place to be put right if I've given you a bum steer.

Hope this helps!

EDIT: I've just realised that the guys above me have beaten me to it. never mind, you can never have too much good info.

 

[thomasp]

I've currently got a recording of all three movements of "Moonlight Sonata" by the same pianist which I recorded off the radio, onto my old iMac - the quality isn't the best in the world Since I love playing this piece on the piano, I'd like to have a better quality version.

And, since I usually listen to my music in "Party Shuffle" mode, it'd be nice to hear all three movements together, since they interlink quite a bit.


I've looked up "Join CD Tracks" in the iTunes help, and it came up with this:

To remove the gap of silence that normally occurs between songs, make sure the songs on the CD are sorted by track number in ascending order (click the top of the first column so that it's blue and you see a triangle that points up), then select two or more adjacent songs and choose Advanced > Join CD Tracks.

It's not totally clear if it actually combines two or more tracks into one... Unfortunately, I'm at university and don't have any audio CD's with me to try it out...

Am I correct in assuming that if I burn an iTMS download to CD, then import it onto the computer, I can then edit it in GarageBand (if I can't beforehand, due to the protection mentioned above)?


Thanks again for the help

 

[frankblundt]

Am I correct in assuming that if I burn an iTMS download to CD, then import it onto the computer, I can then edit it in GarageBand (if I can't beforehand, due to the protection mentioned above)?

yes. or you could just make an un-shuffled playlist for those tracks.

not sure about Garageband, but if you're re-ripping a previously compressed file, then importing it, fiddling about and compressing it again on export, you're losing a fair bit along the way - import it as AIFF (or some other lossless format that Garageband can cope with) when you're taking it off the burned cd, if you do go that way.

 

[emaja]

It's not totally clear if it actually combines two or more tracks into one... Unfortunately, I'm at university and don't have any audio CD's with me to try it out.

That technique only works when importing tracks from CD into iTunes, not when purchasing songs from ITMS. I have several classical CDs that have the longer movements of longer symphonies - like Mahler's Second - broken up into several tracks without breaks on the CD. Due to the way iTunes imports them, breaks are inserted interrupting the flow. When I imported them, I selected all the tracks of the first movement and instructed iTunes to import them as one track.

 

[Counterfit]

1.) What pianist?
2.) You can put something in the "Grouping" tag (like, Piano Sonata No.14, in C-sharp Minor "Moonlight", Op.27) and have iTunes sort by grouping, which will play all parts of a grouping (a suite, concerto, symphony or such.) in order at the same time. Unfortunately, the iPod can't (currently) do this. Of course, you should consider whether the piece was meant to be played with no stops between movements. Most are, some aren't. I usually use this as a guide as to whether tracks should be joined on import or not.

 

[thomasp]

That technique only works when importing tracks from CD into iTunes, not when purchasing songs from ITMS. I have several classical CDs that have the longer movements of longer symphonies - like Mahler's Second - broken up into several tracks without breaks on the CD. Due to the way iTunes imports them, breaks are inserted interrupting the flow. When I imported them, I selected all the tracks of the first movement and instructed iTunes to import them as one track.

I was referring to ripping the three tracks to CD, then re-importing them Sorry if it wasn't clear.

So when you import tracks like that off CD (using the join tracks option), you get just one file on your hard disk, and one track in library?

1.) What pianist?

Emil Gilels.

Of course, you should consider whether the piece was meant to be played with no stops between movements. Most are, some aren't. I usually use this as a guide as to whether tracks should be joined on import or not.

I've got a recording of Emil Gilels playing all three movements in one go that I got off the radio, and there's no more than a brief pause in between each movement.

 

[ehayut]

So when you import tracks like that off CD (using the join tracks option), you get just one file on your hard disk, and one track in library?

Yup, that's correct