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Honestly I don't see the benefit of sorting your music yourself by genre doesn't it make albums hard to find sometimes? iTunes will sort them by artist \ album then the player will allow you to list your music it different ways by artist, album, songs and of course genre. Even on android if you buy an album and rip it you have to go and organize it yourself. Even windows doesn't rip albums the way you like. The only thing your missing is organizing your music manually and why bother?

It's just that I've already done the sorting work, years ago, and I have like 10 basic genres. I know where to go to for everything.
 
It's just that I've already done the sorting work, years ago, and I have like 10 basic genres. I know where to go to for everything.

We'll sorry man thats just not going to work with iTunes. That said you can still get an external drive and keep your files organized the way you like them or keep the dropbox. Thats about the only solution I know of. Years ago I ripped all my CDs with windows media player. I let it organize them. Since then I just dropped them all in iTunes and let it figure it out. I had to re-rip some stuff but eventually I got it all sorted (by artist). At one point when I got iTunes match after it matched all my music I deleted the entire library and downloaded the new and improved matched versions from Apple. That gave me all new .m4a files.
 
If you set up iTunes to keep your Music Library organized, it will create a folder structure by artist/album/songs.
You can get to this folder on your Mac.
In the Finder go to Music -> iTunes -> iTunes Media -> Music -> then you see the Artist folders, and inside them the albums and songs.

To copy them from one Mac to the other, you can browse manually and then copy and paste.

Now what I am doing is using iTunes Match, my main Mac has all the music files and the other satellite Macs/iDevices access my collection via iTunes Match. Problem solved.

Maybe you can also try other cloud services like Amazon Music or Dropbox as alternatives to iTunes.
 
The OP hit the nail on the head for me. I work in IT, have certifications, and know how to use computers. But...

iTunes syncing is a mess. I don't get it, either. I too just want to move some files over to the device and then safely disconnect it. What should take about 3 minutes of connecting/dragging/dropping/disconnecting ends up being a trial and error, Internet research, tutorial seeking extravaganza that lasts 45 minutes.
 
We'll sorry man thats just not going to work with iTunes. That said you can still get an external drive and keep your files organized the way you like them or keep the dropbox. Thats about the only solution I know of. Years ago I ripped all my CDs with windows media player. I let it organize them. Since then I just dropped them all in iTunes and let it figure it out. I had to re-rip some stuff but eventually I got it all sorted (by artist). At one point when I got iTunes match after it matched all my music I deleted the entire library and downloaded the new and improved matched versions from Apple. That gave me all new .m4a files.

I'm been working on iTunes for the last 3 hours, and I'm starting to get a better feel for the syncing. Still not a fan.. but.. trying to adapt and stay up with the times :)

I hear you, same here.
Probably started around the napster days:D

IRC :)

If you set up iTunes to keep your Music Library organized, it will create a folder structure by artist/album/songs.
You can get to this folder on your Mac.
In the Finder go to Music -> iTunes -> iTunes Media -> Music -> then you see the Artist folders, and inside them the albums and songs.

To copy them from one Mac to the other, you can browse manually and then copy and paste.

Now what I am doing is using iTunes Match, my main Mac has all the music files and the other satellite Macs/iDevices access my collection via iTunes Match. Problem solved.

Maybe you can also try other cloud services like Amazon Music or Dropbox as alternatives to iTunes.

Well I have dropbox, and all my stuff is there, but I need to be able to have a lot of content on my phone for when I don't have data access. When I'm traveling it's usually spotty, or there is no data coverage at all.

The OP hit the nail on the head for me. I work in IT, have certifications, and know how to use computers. But...

iTunes syncing is a mess. I don't get it, either. I too just want to move some files over to the device and then safely disconnect it. What should take about 3 minutes of connecting/dragging/dropping/disconnecting ends up being a trial and error, Internet research, tutorial seeking extravaganza that lasts 45 minutes.

Yes, exactly, thank you! I was used to Winamp, where you just have a folder with some music and you tell it what to play. It worked wonderfully. Life was simple. :)
 
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I think there may be apps that allow you to do what you describe. I kinda do this with video files but haven't tested it with audio. The one I use is called AcePlayer. It lets you drag and drop files and folders to the app using desktop iTunes, so in theory you could drop all your folders of music in there and use that to play your music instead of the stock Music app. Give it a try!
 
I think there may be apps that allow you to do what you describe. I kinda do this with video files but haven't tested it with audio. The one I use is called AcePlayer. It lets you drag and drop files and folders to the app using desktop iTunes, so in theory you could drop all your folders of music in there and use that to play your music instead of the stock Music app. Give it a try!

I tried quote a few but none could do it. After reading a bit it appears that the more recent iPhones are really locked down as far as free access to the file system.
 
I tried quote a few but none could do it. After reading a bit it appears that the more recent iPhones are really locked down as far as free access to the file system.

You got me curious, so I just gave it a try. It worked using AcePlayer on my iPhone 5S on iOS 8.4. Here are the steps I tried:

1. From your phone, download AcePlayer from the App Store.
2. Plug your phone into your computer and start iTunes.
3. Click on the iPhone tab at the top.
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the page where it shows you the different apps iTunes can transfer files to.
5. Click on AcePlayer.
(the "add files" button doesn't allow entire folders to be added, so we won't use that)
6. Make the iTunes window small enough so you can also have a Finder window open.
7. Find your music folder in Finder, and drag the whole thing (or whatever you want to put on your phone) to the part of the iTunes window that shows the contents of the AcePlayer folder.
8. After waiting for the folders and songs to transfer, open AcePlayer from the iPhone.
9. Choose "Media explorer".
10. Choose the "Documents" folder.

Everything should be there, nested in their respective folders. I played a few songs and everything worked fine (including closing the app and having the music play in the background), even if the UI isn't the greatest.
 
You got me curious, so I just gave it a try. It worked using AcePlayer on my iPhone 5S on iOS 8.4. Here are the steps I tried:

1. From your phone, download AcePlayer from the App Store.
2. Plug your phone into your computer and start iTunes.
3. Click on the iPhone tab at the top.
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the page where it shows you the different apps iTunes can transfer files to.
5. Click on AcePlayer.
(the "add files" button doesn't allow entire folders to be added, so we won't use that)
6. Make the iTunes window small enough so you can also have a Finder window open.
7. Find your music folder in Finder, and drag the whole thing (or whatever you want to put on your phone) to the part of the iTunes window that shows the contents of the AcePlayer folder.
8. After waiting for the folders and songs to transfer, open AcePlayer from the iPhone.
9. Choose "Media explorer".
10. Choose the "Documents" folder.

Everything should be there, nested in their respective folders. I played a few songs and everything worked fine (including closing the app and having the music play in the background), even if the UI isn't the greatest.

Hrmm, interesting, I will try this and report back! Not tonight though, its 2am and I feel guilty even being awake lol.
 
Well you're not willing to have a big hard drive.

And you're not willing to have an external drive.

Yet you want a lot of music on there....

That not really a constraint that iTunes organization was meant to work with. Its very powerful organization, but, you're gonna need the drive space somehow.

Or better yet, just skip all the old school stuff, forget your pirated files, and subscribe to Apple Music lol

Stream or download just the songs you want straight from the internet anytime ;)
 
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I'm quite happy with my iPhone, but one of the reasons why I decided to get a Nexus 7 tablet instead of an iPad Mini is because I wanted my tablet to have a real file management system where I could make folders, drag and drop, etc. Instead of having to connect to my computer and manage everything through iTunes. iOS has its advantages, but I don't understand why it allows you so little control of your files/media on the device.
 
…but I don't understand why it allows you so little control of your files/media on the device.
Because Apple doesn't want you thinking about what's behind the curtain - they just want everyone to use the device the same way.
 
I have all of my music files in one giant folder on an external drive (no sub folders).
I point iTunes at that giant folder and have it set to manually manage (so no files or folders are created at all).
I sync various playlists when I feel like it to my iPhone and it doesnt take any space up on my laptop.

The only downside to this is that I have every single file tagged properly with albums, artists, etc and also have kept all my playlists from over the years. As long as I always have the iTunes files backed up (itl, library, etc) then all being well I should be fine with no interference from iTunes.
I also have some smart playlists set up that I check regularly to make sure there are on straggler files that are missing some of their tags.

having to use iTunes is a bit of a pain for syncing but to be honest being able to view all my albums in grid view (with album art) is much better than having to look at folder names - encourages me to play different stuff whereas just looking at words forces me to pick the same stuff all the time (but I think thats a quirk of mine).
I have also tried various mp3 managers over the years (media monkey etc) but iTunes always comes out the easiest to use and most predictable. I also only use it for my own music so the store, genius, and everything except music is disabled.
 
I'm quite happy with my iPhone, but one of the reasons why I decided to get a Nexus 7 tablet instead of an iPad Mini is because I wanted my tablet to have a real file management system where I could make folders, drag and drop, etc. Instead of having to connect to my computer and manage everything through iTunes. iOS has its advantages, but I don't understand why it allows you so little control of your files/media on the device.

It all works for me say I get a PDF in an email I can use adobe app to open and save the file to the device. If I get a picture it saves it to my photos. I don't need to make folders and organize the stuff its in the app or saved to the cloud. The only time its really an issue is if I wanted to save a .exe or .dmg to the device to take home. That I can't do but I have iCloud and can just upload it and get it when I get home. Also I had to install Android File Transfer to use android on my MAC. So whats the big deal with using iTunes you still have to plug in your device to copy over the files. Is it just because you can't decided the locations?

The only time its a big deal is when you want to take say a movie to your friends then I would just use a jump drive.
 
Can Apple make it easy to transfer music? Of course, but they won't. They want you to buy your music from iTunes, and they make it easy to restore purchases on any device you like. Moving music from your phone to a backup is another puzzle if you don't resort to using a third party application. On a related note, I like Apple music but trying to play a playlist from my own music has turned into a three step process...navigating from "For You" to "My Music" then selecting playlists. Not sure if there's a way around this without disabling Apple music completely.
 
Well you're not willing to have a big hard drive.

And you're not willing to have an external drive.

Yet you want a lot of music on there....

That not really a constraint that iTunes organization was meant to work with. Its very powerful organization, but, you're gonna need the drive space somehow.

Or better yet, just skip all the old school stuff, forget your pirated files, and subscribe to Apple Music lol

Stream or download just the songs you want straight from the internet anytime ;)

I already have a big hard drive - it's called dropbox

You don't understand the definition of the word constraint

My music isn't pirated, thanks for making that assumption

I already stated I can't stream them because I travel to areas without data coverage. Last year I spent 3 weeks in a town without even a power grid - the town was run on generators.
 
I love Apple products but cannot stand iTunes.

I've now uploaded all my music to Google Music. I can then manage and listen to what I want on the phone using the Google Music app. Using this method I have full access to my music anywhere I have a data connection. For times when there is no data connection I have selected albums downloaded for offline play.
 
Well you're not willing to have a big hard drive.

And you're not willing to have an external drive.

Yet you want a lot of music on there....

That not really a constraint that iTunes organization was meant to work with. Its very powerful organization, but, you're gonna need the drive space somehow.

Or better yet, just skip all the old school stuff, forget your pirated files, and subscribe to Apple Music lol

Stream or download just the songs you want straight from the internet anytime ;)
Then when you go offline, what would you have? Nothing but songs available offline, right?
 
So, correct if I'm wrong - I basically have to sync my music to the phone via iTunes unless I go to extreme measures, right? Let's say I download a folder from my dropbox to my macbook, like 10GB worth, then I use iTunes to sync it, is it going to create a duplicate of that 10GB on my laptop as an iTunes library, or will it just organize the existing 10GB folder I made?
Under the advanced tab in preferences if you uncheck copy to iTunes media folder, you won't have to worry about it making a second copy when added to iTunes to sync. It will just add the files to iTunes in the current location you downloaded them to.
 
I also used your way to store music when I was using old-fashioned MP3 players.

Now I use iTunes and media tags to organise media files.

iTunes is not perfect, but at least I don't need to be bothered much about file system, folder, and file location unless I need to locate something missing.
 
I'm been working on iTunes for the last 3 hours, and I'm starting to get a better feel for the syncing. Still not a fan.. but.. trying to adapt and stay up with the times :)



IRC :)



Well I have dropbox, and all my stuff is there, but I need to be able to have a lot of content on my phone for when I don't have data access. When I'm traveling it's usually spotty, or there is no data coverage at all.



Yes, exactly, thank you! I was used to Winamp, where you just have a folder with some music and you tell it what to play. It worked wonderfully. Life was simple. :)
iTunes is just the same? You put all your music in one folder, you point iTunes to that folder and it picks up all the music in that folder? In fact it's absolutely no different to Winamp!
 
It all works for me say I get a PDF in an email I can use adobe app to open and save the file to the device. If I get a picture it saves it to my photos. I don't need to make folders and organize the stuff its in the app or saved to the cloud. The only time its really an issue is if I wanted to save a .exe or .dmg to the device to take home. That I can't do but I have iCloud and can just upload it and get it when I get home. Also I had to install Android File Transfer to use android on my MAC. So whats the big deal with using iTunes you still have to plug in your device to copy over the files. Is it just because you can't decided the locations?

The only time its a big deal is when you want to take say a movie to your friends then I would just use a jump drive.

I use Windows PCs, so there's no need for Android File Transfer (I didn't even know that was a thing). I'm glad iOS suits your needs though, but you're actually describing what I don't like. Each app basically handles its own file type. It makes everything feel so... I don't know, isolated? I just like having an actual file manager, at least on my tablet. Like I said, I'm fine with iOS on my phone.
 
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After years of fighting with iTunes to organize my large music collection I made the switch to foobar2000 and have never looked back. Still working to unravel the mess I made of my folder directories and music files using iTunes.
 
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