Editing Music files

K

Khajak

Registered
Hi all,

This might be silly but i really dont know how to do it.

Its simple,

You know in Windows, if you want to rename a music file, you can simply right click on it, then you go to properties.

Then you can go to Summery, then after clicking on Advanced you can edit every information about that music file, such as artist, album, gender, year and so on.

in the mac, i tried clicking command+I to open the info for that track, but i couldnt change any of the information just like the windows.

Please note that even if you edit these information with iTunes, its still not change the original file.

help please.

Thanks, Jack.
 
I'm sorry but i have to laugh. :eek:

In iTunes just highlight the track then do a Get Info (command+i). Once the info screen comes up just click on the 'Name' box and rename the name to your hearts content.
 
i know what you mean, and i've tried that one.

The thing is that, if you do it that way, will the original file be fixed?? or you need to drag out the edited file from the iTunes.

What i'm trying to say, is there any other way to do this without using iTunes, just like the windows???

Thanks,
 
I originally wrote:

If you want to edit the name of the original file, Control/Right-Click the song in the iTunes Library window, then choose "Show In Finder".

Edit the songs name, then click to play the song in the iTunes Library and you should see an exclamation mark to the left of the song and the song won't play. You should also see a dialogue box telling you the song is missing and asking you if you want to search for the song. Navigate to the song, select it and whenever you click that song in iTunes, it'll play.

Of course, another way to do this is once you edit the songs name in Finder, double-click it in the Finder window and it should play in iTunes. Just above it in the Library you should see another entry of the track, but it will have an exclamation mark to the left of the song title which means the alias has been broken. Renaming the original file broke the alias so just delete the entry with the exclamation mark and you will be left with the newly named playable version showing in your library.
Click to expand...

*EDIT*​

I realise that the above information doesn't apply to Mac OS/iTunes.

I have tested this out and stand corrected that when you change the song info within the iTunes application, it is updated immediately.

On the other hand, if you are using Windows XP, then editing the song info within iTunes does not change the original file and furthermore, if you edit the original file info in Windows Explorer, then you'll need to re-import the song back into iTunes as the entry in the iTunes Library will display an exclamation mark and complain that it can't be found.

I got my wires crossed between Mac OS X & Win Xp as I use both platforms. Me Bad ;)

.
 
Last edited:
ok, thanks man,

let me c what i can do.

if its gonna be crazy, then i'll use the Windows, cause frankly speaking, i have more than 500GB of mp3 and i'm sure you know how many mp3 i have to work on, so i'll give it a shot.

many thanks to you.
 
You can batch edit in iTunes to a degree ... highlight the songs from say, the same album Click to highlight one track, then holding down the Shift key, select another song and everything in between becomes selected) and if you click "Get Info" or Command + I, then a different window opens for that group. Then you can enter the album name, group name, genre, add the album art ... the kind of data that relates to that group. Unfortunately, you need to individually enter song or track info as that is pertinent to the individual track ...
 
Khajak said:
The thing is that, if you do it that way, will the original file be fixed?? or you need to drag out the edited file from the iTunes.
Click to expand...

It should change the original file. The only exceptions here should be unsupported file formats (mp3 should NOT be a problem) or files you do not have permission to edit. Are you sure it doesn't change the files when you try?
 
Khajak said:
The thing is that, if you do it that way, will the original file be fixed?? or you need to drag out the edited file from the iTunes.
Click to expand...

The file you see in iTunes and the actual music file on your hard drive are one in the same.

There isn't "one file in iTunes" and "another file on my hard drive" kind-of-thing here: the file in iTunes is the file on your hard drive.

When you make a change in iTunes to a music file, it makes the changes to the original file on your hard drive.
 
If you've just copied your MP3 files from a external HDD that you backed up (or simply copied over) from a Windows PC, the files often picks up a PROTECTED attribute. If you use Command-I to view its file info, you will see that they are LOCKED.

You can select all these MP3 files in FINDER, then press Command I and deselect the LOCKED attribute for all of them at once. You may have to delete the music entry from i-Tunes, but make sure you select the LEAVE ACTUAL FILES ALONE (something to that effect) option so the real MP3 files are not erased from their source directory. Then you can use FILE-> ADD TO LIBRARY to repopulate i-Tunes, then change the music names again.

If you're only changing the name of the music inside i-Tunes , you don't need to use Command-I, just click on the name, wait a few seconds and it's open up the name filed for you to edit. Yes, you're right. That doesn't change the filename for the actual MP3 file.
 
After reading Mikuro and ElDiabloConCaca's posts I returned and edited my post (Post # 4) as I realise I was incorrect regarding the renaming of iTunes tracks and whether or not the new name is updated automatically.

Link to my edited post
 
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