iPod What should the file structure look like?

[munckee]

Ok, I'm just learning this thing and I have a couple of questions. I have a bunch of music on my external drive, divided into folders by genre. I opened iTunes and brought all of that music into my library. Now the file structure that those songs were in on my hard drive is all messed up. The songs are now grouped by artist outside of the genre folders on my hard drive. But some of the songs are still in the genre folders. They all show up in iTunes still, and they all have the right genre label.

Am I doing something wrong? Should I only import songs that I want to put onto my ipod into the itunes library (I'm controlling it manually because all my music won't fit into my ipod)? I'm confused

 

[Lacero]

Let iTunes manage your music library. Has the option been set to do so?

If yes, then the songs are grouped according the ID3 tags found inside your MP3s. Proper tagging of MP3 files ensures you have them cataloged correctly in the correct folders on the HD.

Here's to the Crazy Ones ​

 

[munckee]

Let iTunes manage your music library. Has the option been set to do so?

If yes, then the songs are grouped according the ID3 tags found inside your MP3s. Proper tagging of MP3 files ensures you have them cataloged correctly in the correct folders on the HD.

Here's to the Crazy Ones ​

Ok. Should I re-import all my music though to keep it from getting shuffled the first time round?

 

[munckee]

Ok, I've got all the music on my HD rearranged back into the genre folders, but obviously my library is now messed up because the files have moved. I don't mind deleting the library from iTunes (not from the HD) and then re-importing it, but how do I do that without having iTunes re-arrange all the music again?

Or is there a different way that I should be organizing my music that will work with iTunes?

 

[munckee]

Ok, it looks like iTunes has its own genre structure. For example, I played a song in my "rock" folder and iTunes names the genre as "oldies". Is there an easy way to convert all the music to the iTunes format at once?

Should I just move all my music by artist into one folder and then re-import it into iTunes?

Sorry for the multitude of questions, but I'm learning slowly.

 

[Lacero]

Just allow iTunes to set up the folder structure for your music, and use iTunes as the interface from which you access and sort your music. Let iTunes handle the behind-the-scenes sorting.



FYI, iTunes sorts music by Artist > Album > Song. You should use iTunes browse feature if you are selecting by Genre.

 

[munckee]

Just allow iTunes to set up the folder structure for your music, and use iTunes as the interface from which you access and sort your music. Let iTunes handle the behind-the-scenes sorting.

View attachment 35667

FYI, iTunes sorts music by Artist > Album > Song. You should use iTunes browse feature if you are selecting by Genre.

Ah, now i see where you're talking about. So I should get rid of my self-imposed genre folders and put all music into one folder separated by artist, then import it into iTunes and it will find it all. My problem was that iTunes tried to do that itself, but apparently it missed some of the folders. I figure if I do the work the first time and then import into iTunes, it will be sure to catch it all the first time around. From then on I can let iTunes handle the sorting.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[DaftUnion]

First of all, Don't worry so much about folders and the names of these specific folders. Whatever you name it in iTunes will be what it represents in the folders, and will change this on it's own. If your going to use iTunes, the easiest way to do it is to let it manage your music, and if you want to change the file names, do it in iTunes and NOT manually by yourself as what your doing. Trust me, I did the same too once, and this is a hell of a lot easier. If you have tons of albums and want to change a bunch of information at once...first click on one of the songs, then hold the shift key on your keyboard, then click the last song in your album...this will highlight all the songs or as many as you want at once so you can edit 10/20/100 songs at a time...then just right click if your on windows and click "get info" or go to file "get info"

If you need more info...try reading the itunes manual under the help menu too.

 

[DaftUnion]

Ah, now i see where you're talking about. So I should get rid of my self-imposed genre folders and put all music into one folder separated by artist, then import it into iTunes and it will find it all. My problem was that iTunes tried to do that itself, but apparently it missed some of the folders. I figure if I do the work the first time and then import into iTunes, it will be sure to catch it all the first time around. From then on I can let iTunes handle the sorting.

Thanks again for the help.

just do it this way...delete everything in the iTunes library by clicking the first song, then pressing and holding the shift key, then drag the slider down and click on the last song in your library....right click/clear or go to edit/clear, and delete everything. After this close iTunes. Then delete the iTunes libary.xml and the other file with it....THEN....throw all of your music into the the folder where your music previously was/open up itunes/then go to file/add folder to library/and do My Music/iTunes/iTunes Music

lot of steps, but it will work correctly then and pick up all of your files.

After this open up itunes...delte

 

[munckee]

Will do, thanks!

 

[munckee]

While I'm at it, is there any way to add music to my ipod randomly from my library? Smart Playlist?

 

[madmaxmedia]

Yes, smart playlists.

Also, since it sounds like you want to keep your music organized in your way, you can easily do this and still use iTunes (after following daftunion's directions to clear your iTunes database.)

You should actually uncheck the 'Keep iTunes Music folder organized', and also uncheck 'Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library.' After doing this, you can add your music to iTunes without iTunes touching the actual mp3 files in any way. If you drag some mp3's on your desktop into iTunes, then that's where iTunes will look for them (so you normally would move your music to where you want to keep it, then add to iTunes.)

That being said- If you are using an iPod, you may find it easier to have iTunes actually keep your music organized (and checking both of those options.) 99% of the time you will probably be managing your music from within iTunes, and the iTunes database (along with stuff like smartlists) is much easier to work with than relying on file structure for organization, like Lacero said.

If say I have a bunch of music on my desktop, I drag into iTunes. After iTunes copies the files, I just delete them off my desktop.

I can understand wanting to keep your music the way you want it, but iTunes is such a nice program that you should find it's not really necessary.

 

[cschmidt]

follow on question - multi user libraries suggestions

Folks,

I'm just getting into ipod / itunes... mostly as the content manager for my wife and kids. We have 3 users and 3 ipods in the family. All users share one computer.

Are there preferred setups for sharing libraries and/or playlists? I would prefer not to have 3 copies of each set of music on the computer. In my newbie ignorance I was thinking of setting up a common library area of some type, and then pointing each user to it. That would cover the basic storage question. Suggestions on the viability of this? Any special tricks?

Next is the playlist question. I would expect they are kept at the individual user level and are just be a pointer list to the source files. Again, any usability suggestions?

Any other comments on coordinating and managing mutiple users?

Thanks,
Chuck