How do I add music to iTunes from one "main folder" without duplicates?

[lip5016]

Hello. I was hoping somebody could help me out with this..

I keep one "main" folder that contains all of my music, separated out into individual sub-folders based on my personal sorting.. Whenever adding new music, I usually always have to completely delete everything I have in iTunes, wipe my music from my phone, and then re-add my music folder, as to not get stuck with 1500 duplicate tracks..

I move around this "main collection folder" pretty frequently, and don't want to have to get stuck adding or copying files (creating more duplicates) to the iTunes media folder..

So pretty much, I keep those options disabled in the iTunes preferences (the "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized" and the "Copy Files to iTunes Media Folder when adding to Library" options)..

I really wish to be able to keep the "drag-and-drop" approach to adding new music files to my iTunes, just because it's just so simple and convenient.. But since I will be "drag-and-dropping" these cumulative music folders to iTunes, as I continue to add music to them, I don't want to have to deal with a million duplicates..

I would like to be able to just drag over whatever folder I want, have iTunes do a quick comparison of which tracks in that folder are already present in the iTunes library, and copy over only the new/unique music files that I've recently added..

Is there any way to actually do this with iTunes? Once again, I want to *avoid* using the iTunes "Media Folder" at all costs, since it's just a headache using and I'd rather just be in control.. Can anybody help with this? Thank you!

 

[mfram]

I sorta do what you want. I have one machine machine where I purcahse music. I use 'rsync' to copy that folder onto a Linux server on my network which serves that directory out to the other machines on my network. Here are my steps:

1. Purcahse music on my laptop with iTunes.
2. Use rsync to update the media directory on my Linux box. This could be any server folder.
3. On my Windows game machine, I blow away the iTunes library file. Then restart iTunes. It'll start with no media. Drag in the folder with all my music. Yes, iTunes has to re-build it's library. But this only takes a few minutes. Then it's done with no dups.
4. You can do the same thing on a Mac. Blow away the iTunes database file and drag the full directory in and let it re-build.

I supposed if you had a really huge collection that might take a while.

 

[lip5016]

I sorta do what you want. I have one machine machine where I purcahse music. I use 'rsync' to copy that folder onto a Linux server on my network which serves that directory out to the other machines on my network. Here are my steps:

1. Purcahse music on my laptop with iTunes.
2. Use rsync to update the media directory on my Linux box. This could be any server folder.
3. On my Windows game machine, I blow away the iTunes library file. Then restart iTunes. It'll start with no media. Drag in the folder with all my music. Yes, iTunes has to re-build it's library. But this only takes a few minutes. Then it's done with no dups.
4. You can do the same thing on a Mac. Blow away the iTunes database file and drag the full directory in and let it re-build.

I supposed if you had a really huge collection that might take a while.

yeah.... that's what i do now, more or less.. clean sweep every time.. but only problem is that it takes the playlists with it.. which is a pain in the aceee

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Why not just use smart folders or normal folders in iTunes instead? Then you can add/remove as you like, and still maintain extreme order.

I am curious as to what limitations you think there are. The only reason you state for doing this, is the drag and drop convenience, which you already have with A. the iTunes icon, B. the iTunes window, and C. the "Add to iTunes" folder.