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When it comes to downloading music, iTunes is not your only option

Programs we access everyday can hide functionality we are unaware of. We can all add music and videos to iTunes, build our own playlists and load up an iPod. But there are many options within the program that accentuate functionality and can perform some minor but appreciated tweaks to your songs.

My personal favorite is the very simple cosmetic and functional change of minimizing iTunes into a toolbar on the Windows taskbar. From the simple toolbar, one can pause and play a track, skip to the next or go to the previous. There is also a small volume slider attached. To access the toolbar, right click on the Windows taskbar, scroll to toolbars, and click on iTunes.

There are other changes to be made to your music from your iTunes: one can speed up or slow down playback speed of audiobooks and podcasts, increase or decrease default volume at which music plays (for those inexplicably soft songs), and set the time at which the music begins and ends.

All of this functionality is accessed by right clicking a song from within iTunes, selecting ‘Get Info,’ and then selecting ‘Options.’ From there, all the adjustments made to your files are saved in the program.