The reason I ask is because if it does, I will like to delete the music I add to iTunes from its original location. Can I do this or is it recommended that the music also be in the original location?
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Does adding music to iTunes make duplicates?
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GGJstudios
macrumors Westmere
It's your choice if you want the music to remain in a location you choose, or let iTunes make a copy.
iTunes > Preferences:
iTunes > Preferences:
Thanks! Did not know of those options. However, my question was should I delete my music from its original location after I added them to iTunes? In other words, does adding music from one location into iTines create duplicates thus taking up HD space?
GGJstudios
macrumors Westmere
If you've checked the option for iTunes to make a copy, then yes, copies take up more space. You can delete from the original location after those songs have been added, if you choose. If you have not checked that option, iTunes uses the music in the original location and does not make a copy.
That is much clearer, thanks. Last question forum friend, if I have deleted some of the music from the original location once added to iTunes before I changed the settings to leave them at their original place and then change the setting to leave music in original place, would that affect the music that was already added? Hope I made myself clear.
GGJstudios
macrumors Westmere
No, it wouldn't. Any music added follows the settings in place at the time it was added.
My preference is to manage my music files myself, rather than have iTunes do it. I prefer my organization to iTunes' method.
GGJstudios
macrumors Westmere
Well, it's always much easier to backup your music if it's in one folder, if possible. I can't do that, since mine won't all fit on my internal hard drive. But what I'm referring to is the way iTunes creates folders for music it imports.
iTunes makes a new folder for each artist, then sub-folders for each album.
This makes for a very long list of artists. Then, if there's any variation in artist name, iTunes creates a new artist folder. While iTunes remembers all this, it's a pain if I ever want to locate all music files by an artist.
For example, iTunes would organize like this. In this example, all her music is together, but in the actual library, they would be scattered, with hundreds of other artists in between:
Using my method, all her music will stay together, regardless of the name of her band.
I do keep folders on an external drive with music, music videos and movies that won't fit on my internal hard drive. They're all in the same iTunes library, but the files are split between my internal drive and the external.
if you were to update your tags so that all the variations of her name/band name were just "janis joplin" would iTunes then put them in the same folder (assuming you have the 'let iTunes decide' option checked)?
GGJstudios
macrumors Westmere
Yes, but that's not desirable, as you lose the accuracy of the artist name. It's much easier to simply manage my files the way they are, especially since it's taken many years of work to get my library in its current state.