Get iTuned Into Audio!

Using iTunes and JAWS for Windows to manage your music, hear the radio, and enjoy movies, TV and podcasts.

Introduction.

"It's a resource hog". "It's slow to load". "It gets updated frequently and I don't know if I'll still be able to access it with JAWS". "I cannot find the content I want to hear".

Those are just some of the feelings people express about iTunes for Windows from Apple. But nevertheless, it's been around for 16 years, and it is the world leader if you want to purchase the latest song or album quickly, even if you don't intend to use iTunes itself to play it. No wonder, as there are over 30 million songs available to buy through the iTunes Store, and not all of them are by the band U2 or about Taylor Swift's ex-boyfriends! Apple have made iTunes the largest music retailer on the planet and designed a concept which is perfect for our "Instant Gratification" culture.

But in adddition, there's no denying that iTunes is a complete music management system. Not only can you find the items you want, but you can also have songs uploaded to listen to on other devices, import CD's into the program, create playlists for that party you're hosting, and even play music from Apple's extensive catalogue for free if you have an Apple Music subscription.

Our training course, "Get iTuned Into Audio", will not only show you how to use all of the features of iTunes just described, but it will also spend time teaching you how to customise the product for optimum accessibility. That is the key to resolving many of the difficulties people have. If you spend time customising the way iTunes presents information, this not only improves speed and navigation but it also ensures the level of accessibility is considerably enhanced.

What Will I Learn?

The course is divided into five sessions, each of which lasts over an hour. Many of the topics are extremely in depth, but broadly speaking they include:

• Customising iTunes for keyboard navigation and optimum accessibility.
• Understanding the terminology.
• Navigating the iTunes screen and an explanation of each item to be found.
• Importing existing audio files into your iTunes library.
• Importing CD's into your iTunes library.
• Viewing and changing the song and album information for each item.
• Finding content by searching for it. This includes customising searches.
• Customising the iTunes views and the information JAWS speaks or outputs to Braille.
• browsing items by artist, title, album, recently added or other categories.
• Playing the audio content. Volume adjustment, move by track or album, telling iTunes about your listening preferences.
• The Menu Bar, the Context Menu and the Actions Menu.
• Checking and unchecking items.
• Verifying the spelling of existing items.
• Sharing your listening preferences via social media.
• Creating and managing playlists.
• iTunes Match. What it is and how to use it on your computer and other devices.
• Apple Music. How it works, searching for content and listening to it when you have an Apple Music subscription.
• Working with the iTunes Store. This includes finding content by searching or browsing for it, previewing items, purchasing, navigation tips to find what you want quickly, screen-reading strategies to manage your account, downloading items you have previously purchased, and more.
• Playing your purchased content using a media player other than iTunes.
• Learning about new releases and iTunes recommendations based upon your listening preferences.
• Purchasing, renting and listening to movies and TV shows. This includes selecting a specific TV series and purchasing audio described items.
• Hearing radio stations in iTunes.
• Listening to, subscribing to, and managing podcasts.
• Working with your audio content on other devices. This includes interaction with Apple Music, managing playlists, and iTunes Match.
• Working with the Sonos interface for iTunes.

Points to Note.

Users of our Leasey product do have many advantages when navigating iTunes. For those who do not have Leasey, course students will be able to download a small subset of JAWS scripts which will make it possible to access some tasks much easier and will refine the speech output.

While the course does contain details of purchasing content, iTunes Match and Apple Music, there is no compulsion to purchase anything additional to participate. You can learn about these services which may inspire you to take advantage of them at a later date.

Who is the Course For?

Even if you do not intend to use iTunes as your primary music source for listening to audio, the training course still provides immense value. Once you know how to work with it, iTunes is by far the quickest and easiest way of previewing and purchasing music, movies and TV shows. The course will give you the skills you need to get the most from it.

If I Purchase the Course, What Will I Receive?

The course will give to you:

• An audio recording of each lesson in MP3 format.
• Text documentation comprising a list of keystrokes to reinforce topics covered in the lessons.
• If necessary, a small set of JAWS scripts to improve the accessibility of iTunes.

Costing.

The cost of the course is £40 which is currently 52 US dollars.

Alternatively, anyone can purchase the course by sending an Email to jaws@hartgen.org, whereupon a fully accessible electronic invoice will be sent to you which can be paid through PayPal or any major credit or debit card. Orders can also be placed by telephone:

If you would like to read the views from participants of our previous courses, please Visit our Training area.

Summary.

If the Internet has made the world's knowledge accessible to almost anybody with a computer, iTunes has done the same with music. Find out how it all works from an accessibility perspective!