Itunes cleaning

Z

ziomatrixacs

Registered
hey guys, I am cleaning up my iTunes. When I first got my mac, I just dragged all of my MP3's into itunes and let it do the rest. Now I have an iTunes music folder full of folders upon folders upon folders. I want to simply have my music files under the "itunes music" folder since I am changing the format and adding more info the the tag.

Could someone explain these two options under advance to me
"Keep itunes folder organized" Will this prevent it from making a million folders?
"copy files to itunes music folder when adding to the library" Will this prevent it from making duplicates of all of my music files? (I am trying to save HD space)

I am getting my music off back up/compilation CDs I made on my pc a long time ago, so some of the tags got stuffed up and say "compilation album" and stuff like that.
 
"Keep iTunes Folder Organized" does just that -- it organizes the hierarchy of the music located within the iTunes Music folder. It creates folders for artist, and beneath that, folders for each of the albums. More than likely, a lot of your music doesn't have complete ID3 tags -- if you edit at least the artist, track number and album tags, then iTunes will automatically move the files around into the correct folders in the iTunes Music folder.

"Copy Files to iTunes Music Folder when Adding to Libary" does just that -- when you drag a music file into iTunes or add one to the Library, the music file is copied to the iTunes Music folder, and iTunes now "manages" the copy of the file in the iTunes Music folder, and it is safe to delete the original. If this option is not checked, then the music file is left in place wherever it was when you added it to iTunes, and iTunes "points" to that music file wherever it is. If you delete or move the file, iTunes loses the "connection" to that music file.

There are two basic ways to use iTunes: either let it manage the files on your hard drive (both checked), or you manage the files on your hard drive (neither checked). Those two options above will give you either one or the other, or something in between depending on how those options are used together.
 
I'm very close to getting the new MacBook that just came out this month. I have a several movies and music albums on my present SR MB running OX 10.5.5. I'm wondering what's the easiest way to transfer this media to the new MB? I see the folder "iTunes" in my personal folder. I'm wondering if I can just copy this entire folder to an external HD and the drag it back onto the new MB?

And if I can do the above, can I also do the same for my movies? I realize that its probably 100% that I can do the above, but I'm wondering if this will screw up an "path" problems when using iTunes on the new MB?
 
You can organize you music files your own way on your Mac and just have iTunes build the index so it looks organized in anyway you want iTunes, without duplicating your music files (MP3 etc) inside the iTunes database.
Just go to iTunes>Preferences>Advanced and uncheck the box "Copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library"
With this setting, you will only be importing links to your music files.
 
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