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Transcribing a track from iTunes

Each iTunes track is stored as a separate file on your disk. iTunes plays these files, and you can also use them in HyperTRANSCRIBE.

To locate a file in iTunes:

  1. Find the track in your iTunes window, and click it once to select it.
  2. Choose File > Get Info. The Info window for the track opens.
  3. Make sure the Summary tab is selected. Near the bottom of the window is an area labeled "Where", which contains the location of the track on your disk. Control-click (or Right-click) this location information, and choose "Show in Finder" from the popup menu.

A window opens, showing the file's icon. You can copy this file to another location on your disk for convenience, or just use the original file from within HyperTRANSCRIBE.

Important: Some tracks purchased from the iTunes Music Store are in protected format. You can play these tracks in HyperTRANSCRIBE, but you won't be able to move them to another computer unless that computer is authorized to play them. You can tell whether a track is in protected format by checking its Get Info window and looking for the "Kind" label: if the info says "Kind: Protected AAC File", the track is in protected format. If the Kind is anything else, the track is not protected and you can move it to another computer without a problem.

To use the file in HyperTRANSCRIBE:

  1. Start HyperTRANSCRIBE and choose to open a new file. The HyperTRANSCRIBE window opens.
  2. Choose Media > Open Media File. The standard "Open File" dialog box opens.
  3. Locate the file for the track you want to transcribe.

Tip:  If the file you want to use is grayed out or doesn't appear in the Open File dialog box, cancel the dialog box, then choose Media > Open Media File again while holding down the Option key (on Mac) or Alt key (on Windows)


If you're not sure how to locate the file, look again at the Info window in iTunes. The location labeled "Where" is a full path, that starts at your disk name and tells you which folders to open to locate the file. The folders are separated by a slash character, like this:

/Hard Disk/Users/John/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Alicia Keyes/Songs in A Minor/04 Fallin'.mp4

Start with your hard disk and find the folder "Users", then open the folder "John", then look for the folder "Music", and follow the path step by step until you find the file you want.

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Do You Know...

... that you can change the length of the segment that HyperTRANSCRIBE plays? Choose the Preferences menu item, and change the number of "Seconds to Play When Advancing". From now on, HyperTRANSCRIBE will play a segment of the new length when you press Shift-Space or when you press Tab to advance to the next segment.

Adjusting the segment length can help make your transcribing process more efficient. For example, if you often need to replay the segment before advancing to the next, try making the segment length shorter so that you can transcribe an entire segment in one pass. On the other hand, if you find it very easy to finish transcribing each segment without replaying it, making the segment length longer may improve your rate.
Learn More About HyperTRANSCRIBE