Get in Tune(s): Audio on Your iPad mini - iPad Mini - page 178

Back: Tap this button to return to the preceding screen.
Track List: Tap this button to see all the tracks on the album that's currently playing, as
shown in Figure 7-8 ; tap any song to play it.
If you tap the song title (“Accidents Will Happen” in Figure 7-7 ) , five dots appear in its place.
Swipe or tap the dots and they turn to stars; use the stars to rate the song from zero to five stars. In
Figure 7-8 , we've rated the song that's playing four stars. Tap anywhere but on the stars and the song
title returns in place of the dots or stars.
Why would you want to assign star ratings to songs? One reason is that you can use star ratings to
filter songs in iTunes on your Mac or PC. Another is that you can use them when you create Smart
Playlists in iTunes. And last but not least, they look cool.
A brief AirPlay interlude
You may or may not see another icon that's useful for listening to music. This one appears in your
Control Center and is called AirPlay. The Airplay icon and its overlay look like this:
AirPlay is a wicked-cool technology baked into every copy of iOS version 4.2 or higher. AirPlay lets
you wirelessly stream music, photos, and video to AirPlay-enabled devices such as Apple's AirPort
Extreme, AirPort Express Wi-Fi base stations, and Apple TV, as well as third-party AirPlay-enabled
devices, including (but not limited to) speakers and HDTVs.
The AirPlay icon and selector overlay appear only if your iPad detects an AirPlay-enabled device on
the same Wi-Fi network. Bob has two Apple TVs at his house, so he sees those options when he taps
the AirPlay icon. Tapping Great Room Apple TV sends whatever is playing on the Music app to the
Apple TV in the den. The Apple TV is, in turn, connected to his home theater sound system and high-
def TV via HDMI.
If you use an Apple TV as your AirPlay-enabled device, you can also stream music, video, and photos
from your iPad to your HDTV.
Finally, iPad minis also offer a cool “video mirroring” option when used with a second- or third-genera-
tion Apple TV. To use this awesome feature, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to bring up Con-
trol Center, and then tap the AirPlay icon. When you select an Apple TV, a switch appears for the Mir-
roring option. Enable it and whatever appears on your iPad's screen also appears on your big screen
TV.
If you have an HDMI-equipped TV and/or a decent sound system and have decent Wi-Fi bandwidth,
you'll love Apple TV and AirPlay.