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iTunes Library Spring Cleaning

Y

Yudha

macrumors member
Original poster
I deleted a bunch of songs manually from my computer. Is there any way to get iTunes to automatically remove these songs from my library?
 
Also, is there any way to stop iTunes from automatically adding music files to the library when I play them?
 
Originally posted by Yudha
Also, is there any way to stop iTunes from automatically adding music files to the library when I play them?
Click to expand...

Yes, you can. Open the preferences window, and select the "Advanced" pane. Un-check the box labeled "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library"

Also, to remove all of your songs that don't exist anymore, this is a little hack that I found out worked.

Select all of your songs, and then drag them up or down or somewhere. The songs that it can't find will have a little "x" in a circle next to them. Then, you can just go through and delete the songs with x's...

I hope this helps.
 
Originally posted by G4scott
Select all of your songs, and then drag them up or down or somewhere. The songs that it can't find will have a little "x" in a circle next to them. Then, you can just go through and delete the songs with x's...
Click to expand...

I guess the easiest way to "sping clean iTunes is to directly delete the incriminated song from within iTunes. It'll ask you 1. if you really want to delete the songs and 2. if you want the music files to be swept from your HD. Say yes to both questions and Bob's your uncle.
 
But I'm not adding the song to the Library. I'm just playing it through iTunes. It seems to add it to the Library when all I do is want to hear it. Oh, and I know about highlighting all of them... but that just means I need to hold Shift and click-click-click over and over... which can get damn repetitive. Anyone have any faster solutions?
 
Dang, is this what is going to happen? More Windows users posting here inquiring about Windows versions of Mac software? 🙁
 
iTunes is generally meant as software to keep music, not sample it. It's first priority is to make your music easy to find in the library, whether or not it is a file managed by iTunes. For a better sampling program, try Quicktime Player (i think that's what it's called on windows?) it's just a player, doesn't organize music. You can also edit with it, a bit.

pnw
 
Well, I will... but that doesn't exactly happen to solve my current problem, now does it?

And if you don't want a mere, petty Windoze user posting here in your precious forums, say so. Don't give me these subtle jabs at PCs and suggestions of switching. I would except for 2 reasons:

-Inability to run AutoCAD
-Limited Game Selection

So either have someone official tell me to officially get lost... or stop w/ the "Macs are better" spiel. Help me or move on.

Jeez, and I thought Mac users were supposed to be more mature 🙄 ... so much for that.
 
Originally posted by Yudha

-Limited Game Selection
Click to expand...

THIS IS NOT A REASON TO NOT SWITCH.
THIS ANNOYS ME NO END.
IF YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT GAMES YOU WONT USE A COMPUTER AS SUCH BUT YOU WOULD OWN AT LEAST ONE CONSOLE.
I OWN THREE CONSOLES (PS2, XBX, GCN) AND I NEVER USE MY MAC OR PC need it for access while i am at high school FOR GAMES.


now that is out of my system. I am sick of windows users saying that games is a legit. reason to not switch. AAARRRGGGHHH

[mod. edit - Watch the caps.]
 
Gee, you're in high school? I never would have guessed.

I already own a console, but the graphics and controls can often be limited by the hardware. In addition, online multiplay is far poorer on consoles than computers, not to mention that aiming in FPS is frustrating to no end. Not that this has anything to do w/ the original intent of my post. I'm sure you read that, didn't you? Furthermore, even if you had read only my latest post, you would have seen, perhaps, a second reason preventing me from switching? Do you even know what AutoCAD is? Did you bother to look into it before you shot your mouth off?

Thank goodness your post doesn't seem to be indicative of the majority of the MacRumors community.

EDIT: The NGC is the Neo Geo Color. The official abbreviation for the Gamecube is GCN. I'm sure you're taking notes.
 
Originally posted by Yudha

EDIT: The NGC is the Neo Geo Color. The official abbreviation for the Gamecube is GCN. I'm sure you're taking notes.
Click to expand...

thanx for that - i had not seen that console or heard that correct abbreviation mentioned. thanx i will edit my post (and keep it big).
 
Originally posted by Yudha
Jeez, and I thought Mac users were supposed to be more mature 🙄 ... so much for that.
Click to expand...

Well, we more mature in a *childish* sorta way 😛
And some of us a real sarcastic bastards 😀

To come back to topic I don't know how to preview songs in iTunes and agree that it's a pain in the arse. I just drag the songs on the quicktime icon and preview them in quicktime.
 
Originally posted by Abstract
Dang, is this what is going to happen? More Windows users posting here inquiring about Windows versions of Mac software? 🙁
Click to expand...

I would rather have curious, open minded Windows users here trying out Apple stuff than territorial Mac users scaring them away.
 
This Should Help

Yudha - Formal apologies for people giving you a hard time. Obviously, the antics of a few can't accurately represent the entire Mac community. Personally, I'm glad you came to us to ask for help with Apple software. I'll do the best I can to help you out.

I believe you will find the XML file in this directory:

My Documents/My Music/iTunes

I don't have a PC to check this, but a little searching through some iTunes reviews suggested that this would be the place to look.

Worst case scenario, just select all the files in your Library playlist and remove them all (be sure not to choose the option to delete them from your drive!). Then you can drop your music folder into iTunes and let it recompile the list from scratch. This is a bit of a pain, but it works.

Let us know if either of these can take care of your problem. Good luck!

Dan
 
Thanks, that was very helpful. The only downside is that iTunes lost all my ratings and stats (i.e. times played, etc.) But that's not so bad, as I've only had iTunes since it came out and, thus, haven't had much time to rate everything.
 
Originally posted by Yudha
Well, I will... but that doesn't exactly happen to solve my current problem, now does it?

And if you don't want a mere, petty Windoze user posting here in your precious forums, say so. Don't give me these subtle jabs at PCs and suggestions of switching. I would except for 2 reasons:

-Inability to run AutoCAD
-Limited Game Selection

So either have someone official tell me to officially get lost... or stop w/ the "Macs are better" spiel. Help me or move on.

Jeez, and I thought Mac users were supposed to be more mature 🙄 ... so much for that.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry so much about some of these people. They'll probably find their way out of the forums, sooner or later. You're welcome here regardless of what you might read otherwise--anyone who behaves is welcome. 😀

iTunes, as is the case with most Macintosh applications, doesn't like people working outside of it to accomplish things that it would normally do. On the other hand, I've had to resort to messing with the registry and deleting files manually using Windows.

I've only cleaned out a few things, but doing it from within iTunes was the easiest and quickest ways.
 
This isn't so much a solution as it is a recommendation, but I personally play all my songs off playlists and use the Library as a sort of "Explore" in Windows terms. People will put music on my computer occaisionally and I just can't keep removing things from the Library, so I just put all the songs I want in my rotation in a very large Playlist. The Library has a lot of dead weight, but it just makes it much easier to see what I have on my HD without having to open every music related folder.

Plus, as was mentioned earlier, when you clear something from the library you have the option of deleting it from the HD. The Library is the perfect place for loose odds and ends that you want on your HD but don't necessarily listen to them with any regularity. Playlist support on iTunes is incredible.
 
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