Everything's squared away. Time to turn those CDs into digital music files for iTunes and (yes!) your iPod:
- Make sure your settings are as you want them.
- All songs on a CD are checked by default. The checkmark should be visible in a box just to the left of every song. Uncheck any songs you don't want.
- Click the Import icon at the top right of the screen. It will change colors as the checked songs are imported. The info bar at the top lets you know which song is being imported and how far along the process is.
- Wait for the ripping to finish. The speed depends mostly on two factors: your CD player and the processing power of your computer. Encoding is massive number crunching, and a strong CPU comes in very handy.
That's it. You've now imported your first songs. Relax and take a listen, or forge ahead with the rest of your collection.
You can also import files or folders to the iTunes Library using drag-and-drop. Just select Library in the Source pane and, outside of iTunes, click the folder or file you want to add and drag it over to the center iTunes pane. Your files will be added automatically.
