9 Advanced Tricks for iTunes

Think you've mastered Apple's iTunes app? Not so fast. Here are some expert tips guaranteed to help you get even more out of the media database powering your iPhone or iPad.

PCMag.Com - Once upon a time, iTunes was a simple program for managing the music you put on your Apple MP3 player. Now, it's a digital media management juggernaut that can be found on the hard disk drives of just about everyone who owns an iPod, iPad, or iPhone. As iTunes has grown up (we are on version 10.2), it's become more powerful and, consequently, more complicated. Here are nine tricks that give you power you didn't even know existed, from running iTunes on multiple PCs by sharing or synching files to creating your own customized iPhone ringtones to getting back your apps even after you've had to re-install iTunes on a computer.

Share your favorite iTunes tricks in the comments as well, so we can all become media managers with mad skills.

1. Remotely Control iTunes

You can't remotely sync your iTunes library of media with your iPod touch or iPhone or iPad, but you can remotely control iTunes playback via those devices. Download the free Remote app from Apple and fire it up. You'll be given a 4 digit code, which you then enter in iTunes on your PC. Your iDevice will then show your library on your small screen with an interface that looks just like that of the built-in iPod app. Select a track and it will play on your PC via iTunes (which is different from using Home Sharing folders in the iPod app—then the music plays on the portable iDevice).

If you've turned on Home Sharing, you can also enter those credentials in Remote and access all the shared libraries across all the PCs running iTunes on your home network, so you can play music on all of them remotely.    Read More