iPad: The Missing Manual, 4th Edition

Chapter 12. Sync and Share Media Files Using iTunes and iCloud

You’ll learn to:

• Navigate iTunes

• Shop the iTunes Store

• Sync music, video, and other media to your iPad

• Share files on your home network

• Beam iPad content to your TV

ITUNES IS A MASTER of many trades: It’s a repository for all the audio, video, ebook, and podcast files in your media library. It converts CD tracks into digital files so you can play your songs on iPads, iPhones, and iPods. And it has its own online mall that you can pop into any time of day or night to buy the latest James Patterson audiobook, grab a copy of the new Katy Perry album, or rent a digital download of Hugo.

Another cool feature of iTunes? It syncs any or all of your media to your iPad. (You may have already dabbled in a bit of this in Chapter 8 with the iTunes App Store, or in Chapter 9 when you read up on the iBookstore.) The latest version of iTunes even lets you transfer music, apps, and books you bought on other iOS devices to your tablet. And for $25 a year, the optional iTunes Match service lets you keep a copy of your music library safely up in the iCloud, Apple’s online storage locker (which you’ll read about in detail in Chapter 17).

This chapter focuses on using iTunes in tandem with your tablet: that is, downloading Store purchases to your computer whenever you want, and then getting them over to your iPad. (For more on mastering the art of ...