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b'Episode #10: Artwork & Lyrics\\nby Tony Vincent\\n\\nThis is Learning in Hand: iPods. My name is Tony Vincent and this is the podcast where I share tips, how-tos, and ideas for iPods in teaching and learning. Episode 11, "Artwork & Lyrics," recorded March 2008, happens now!\\n\\nI\'m going to tell you about two things you can add to audio files that make them more useful on an iPod. While almost all references you\\u2019ll find to artwork and lyrics deal with music, the audio files do not have to be songs. They can be recordings from a voice recorder, ripped from a CD, podcasts, files from Audacity or GarageBand, or downloaded from the Internet. Wherever you got the audio, let\'s explore adding customized artwork and accompanying text to these files!\\n\\nArtwork\\nFirst, if you are listening on an iPod, you can see that this episode has artwork. Look at your iPod\'s screen and you can see that this podcast has a square graphic I made that says Learning in Hand: iPods with blue and orange lettering. That\'s the artwork, also called cover art or album art. You might notice that most podcasts and all music downloaded from iTunes has artwork. Newer iPods even have Cover Flow where you can browse an iPod\'s contents by the artwork. \\n\\nIf a file has no artwork, then a gray generic graphic with a musical note on it is used. You can use iTunes to easily add or change an audio file\'s artwork. Artwork appears in iTunes in the artwork viewer in the lower left corner of the iTunes window. If the viewer isn\'t showing you can click View > Show Artwork. You can drag an image into the artwork viewer to add cover art. But, let\\u2019s do it using the File menu. Choose File > Get Info. Then click the Artwork tab. You can click in the box and paste a copied image. Or, click add and browse for a saved image file. Click OK. Sync or copy the file to an iPod. Then play the file on the iPod. The artwork will appear on the screen.\\n\\nIt is possible to add multiple images as artwork in iTunes. However, only the first one will be displayed on an iPod. You can click through multiple pieces of artwork in iTunes\\u2019 artwork viewer using the arrows that appear when more than one image is available for artwork. But since iPods only display the first one, I just give my files one image as artwork.\\n\\nImages that are square look best on an iPod and in iTunes. The images can be JPEGs, PNGs, GIFs, or TIFFs. The images could be scanned, digital photos, or created with a graphics program. Or, the image could be copied from a web page. I\'ve found that images with a resolution of 300 x 300 pixels or larger look best.\\n\\nIf you\'d like to add the same image as artwork for multiple files, just select multiple files in iTunes and click File > Get Info. iTunes will warn you, "Are you sure you want to edit information for multiple items?" Click yes and you\\u2019ll see the Artwork box. Just drag an image into that box or paste an image and click OK. Now each of those files you selected has that image as it\'s artwork.\\n\\nOk, so why would you want to add artwork? Well, first it gives a visual cue about what you are listening to. Also, newer iPods and iTunes use Cover Flow where you can browse for a file by its artwork. iPod touch displays artwork as the entire background when playing audio--so having the generic gray artwork looks boring and isn\'t memorable. \\n\\nIf you have iPods loaded with files for students, the artwork can help organize or add to the content. The artwork could have large text on it that gives students a reason for listening. For example, while listening to audio from NASA about Mars, the artwork could say, "How is Mars like Earth?" Text-oriented artwork could be made in PowerPoint and exported as a JPEG and then added in iTunes. But text works best on an iPod touch because of its large screen. Too much text on a little graphic can be difficult or impossible to read.\\n\\nAnother educational use of artwork is for illustration. Students could make short recordings about an endangered animal. A photo of the animal used in the recording would make useful cover art.\\n\\nTeachers could use artwork as a way to manage differentiated content. Perhaps recording are color-coded depending on vocabulary level or content. Then the teacher could glance at an iPod\'s screen to see what is being listened to by glancing at the artwork on the screen.\\n\\nThere are lots of ways artwork can be useful in classrooms. But, don\'t confuse artwork with an Enhanced Podcast. GarageBand can make Enhanced Podcasts, where it\'s like a narrated slide show where the image on the screen changes to match the audio. The artwork I\'ve been talking about does not change--you can only have one image displayed on the iPod\\u2019s screen.\\n\\nLyrics\\nI wish lyrics was named something else because the text doesn\'t have to be the words to a song. Lyrics in iTunes and on iPods can be a transcript of a speech, podcast, or other recording. The lyrics could be guiding questions, objectives, or a glossary of terms. \\n\\nIn fact, the audio file you are listening to now has lyrics with it. If you\'re listening on a click wheel iPod, press the Center button four times (older iPod models may only take 3 presses). Now you can read the script for this episode while you listen. If you\\u2019re an iPhone or iPod touch user, while on the Now Playing screen, just tap the middle of the screen and the Lyrics will appear. Swipe the screen to scroll through the text.\\n\\nHow did I add this text to my audio file? Well, it was quite easy using iTunes and the process is very similar to adding artwork.\\n\\nIn iTunes, select the audio file. From the File menu, choose Get Info. Click the Lyrics tab and enter the words in the text box. You are more than welcome to copy and paste the text into the box instead of typing it all out. Sorry, lyrics can only be text--that means no formatting like centering, bold, fonts, or colors. \\n\\nClick OK and then sync or copy the file to iPod. On the iPod, start playing the audio file you added the lyrics to. On an iPod with a click wheel press the Center button to cycle through the playback scrubber, ratings, shuffle, and lyrics. My iPod seems to pause a few moments before displaying lyrics. So be patient. If you\\u2019re like me, you\\u2019ll press that Center button too many times and end up having to cycle through again to display the lyrics.\\n\\nNewer iPods with click wheels have a nice touch of showing the artwork in the upper-left corner of the screen when displaying lyrics. And of course, you use the click wheel to scroll through the text on the lyrics screen.\\n\\nLike I\'ve said, there are lots of uses for lyrics. Here\'s how I\\u2019ve used the lyrics feature. I found an MP3 of Dr. Martin Luther King\\u2019s "I Have a Dream Speech." I then find the transcript of the speech online. I copy the text and paste it as the lyrics in iTunes. Then students can listen and read at the same time. Lyrics could also be objectives for listening. Or, I like the idea of a glossary. Perhaps the recording from NASA has some hefty vocabulary words. They could be defined and available in lyrics so students can pause the recording and easily look up the meaning of a confusing word.\\n\\nFor younger students, they could listen to a recording of their favorite story as they read the words on the iPod\'s screen. Anyhow, there are plenty of great uses when you can have accompanying text just a couple button presses away.\\n\\nYou should note that iPods will only display the first 10,000 or so characters of lyrics. Anything longer will be cut off. So, if you have added the complete text of the U.S. Constitution to a recording of it, an iPod won\\u2019t display the entire text, just the first 10,000 characters, which turns out to be about one-third of the Constitution. I\'d suggest breaking down a longer audio file into smaller chunks. So with the Constitution, divide the audio by Articles and then you\\u2019ll have enough room for the transcript of each section in the lyrics.\\n\\nAlso note that WAV and QuickTime files do not support artwork or lyrics. But, MP3, AAC, m4a, and m4b do. You can use iTunes to convert a WAV or QuickTime file to MP3 or AAC and then you can add that beautiful artwork and text to the lyrics.\\n\\nEverything you edit in the File > Get Info are called ID3 tags--for Identify MP3. Other software and players besides iTunes and iPods can can use this information. Artwork and lyrics are actually stored in the audio file itself. So if you transfer or email the audio file and use it on another computer, guess what? The artwork and lyrics will show up on the new computer!\\n\\nYou can add lyrics and cover art to your podcasts. Just bring the audio file into iTunes, add lyrics and cover art. Then drag and drop the file onto your desktop and upload to your podcast server. \\n\\nThat\\u2019s all for Episode 11. Thanks for listening. If you like this podcast, please give it a good review on iTunes. Don\\u2019t forget you can go to learninginghand.com where you can read more about educational iPod uses. Stay special everyone!'