Mac OS X Mountain Lion iTunes and Entertainment

iTunes and Entertainment

There are so many ways to view and interact with media on your Mac. This includes everything from music and videos, to podcasts and academic lectures—even games that you can play online with your friends.

OS X Mountain Lion makes all of these things fun and accessible with iTunes and other built-in tools. You can even access your media on other Apple devices, using the corresponding apps for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.

Have More Than One Apple Device?

There are many benefits to using iTunes and other entertainment apps if you have more than one Apple device. They're designed specifically so you can access your media anywhere (on your Mac, iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch), no matter which device you used to purchase it.

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We'll be using the Mac for most of the demonstrations in this lesson, but if you have another device, don't worry. The corresponding apps for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch are very easy to use. The important thing is that you get to know some of the basic tools and features, and come away with a solid understanding of what each app can do. Then you can explore the apps some more on your own.

Reviewing Important Features

There are several things that we discuss in other parts of this tutorial that are an important part of using apps. If you're unfamiliar with any of the features below, go back to the lesson to review.

• Notifications (Lesson 2, OS X Mountain Lion Features)
  Notifications are pop-ups, banners, and other audio/visual cues. Many apps use them to notify you of new activity on your device.
  
• Preferences (Lesson 6, Changing Your Computer's Settings)
  There are many ways to manage the settings on your computer. This includes settings for each of your apps, which allows you to control the way they behave.
  
• iCloud (Lesson 7, Syncing with iCloud)
  Syncing is what links your Mac to your other devices (and your other devices to each other). Many apps will need to be set up in iCloud in order for them to sync.
  
• Siri (iPad tutorial, Siri)
  Siri is a mobile-only feature that comes with the most recent version of the iPad and the iPhone 4S and later. It allows you to control certain apps using voice commands instead of gestures or the keyboard.http://www.gcflearnfree.org/macosxmountainlion/11