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How do I play a folder of MP3s?
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I like OS X but Apple software doesn't do it for me. I thought there would be all sorts of cool Mac apps.
benmrii
macrumors 65816
Having a smaller user base can, at times, be both blessing and curse. Having the cross-the-platform compatibility (want music? most programs will look straight to iTunes, etc.) is nice but not if you don't like the Apple Software solutions to general uses... like iTunes. Then there are significantly less options Mac-side.
Encourage you to keep checking out iTunes and what it can do, however. Something like playing music straight from a folder is similar to how I used to do things until I found, when switching, that a lot of ways I used Windows could be done better within Apple software. Not everything, mind you, but a lot.
Mr.Noisy
macrumors 65816
From time to time i use Cog it's ok 🙂 , when i don't want to use iTunes,
as close as we can get to winamp i think 🙁
http://cogx.org/download.php
as close as we can get to winamp i think 🙁
http://cogx.org/download.php
Hi!
I used to play folders with mp3s before I switched to Mac and iTunes. I have to say, it took some time for me to get used to the way, iTunes works. Now I have everything in my library. All my mp3s are nice and neat and I use smart playlists alot (especially based on genre, rating and skip/play counts).
You can use Automator to import lists of mp3 into your iTunes library (be sure to check off the option in iTunes, so it doesn't copy everything into its music folder, so you don't end up with a ton of duplicates).
Smart Playlist are a really good way to "explore" your music. Drop a line, if you need some help with iTunes, Smart Playlists or Automator.
Hope that was helpful.
/Rupert
I used to play folders with mp3s before I switched to Mac and iTunes. I have to say, it took some time for me to get used to the way, iTunes works. Now I have everything in my library. All my mp3s are nice and neat and I use smart playlists alot (especially based on genre, rating and skip/play counts).
You can use Automator to import lists of mp3 into your iTunes library (be sure to check off the option in iTunes, so it doesn't copy everything into its music folder, so you don't end up with a ton of duplicates).
Smart Playlist are a really good way to "explore" your music. Drop a line, if you need some help with iTunes, Smart Playlists or Automator.
Hope that was helpful.
/Rupert
You can't, and that's the thing I hate most about iTunes.
All iTunes would need to be perfect is a "Stand Alone" mode. Where it operates without the library, just as a player (like Winamp etc).
So, all your carefully laid out subfolders will disappear in iTunes and become a big heaping mess.
Of course, as suggested, you could make playlists, but this is yet more steps that you have to take to make your music "iTunes Compatible".
Before iTunes, none of my music was tagged. It was a simple blissful collection of music. Now I must spend a lot of time making sure everything is tagged perfectly, otherwise everything breaks... such is life in a propietry world I suppose.
Still, it sure beats Windows 😀
All iTunes would need to be perfect is a "Stand Alone" mode. Where it operates without the library, just as a player (like Winamp etc).
So, all your carefully laid out subfolders will disappear in iTunes and become a big heaping mess.
Of course, as suggested, you could make playlists, but this is yet more steps that you have to take to make your music "iTunes Compatible".
Before iTunes, none of my music was tagged. It was a simple blissful collection of music. Now I must spend a lot of time making sure everything is tagged perfectly, otherwise everything breaks... such is life in a propietry world I suppose.
Still, it sure beats Windows 😀
karenflower
macrumors 6502a
The first folder I tried it went through each mp3 in less than a second with no sound. Others play fine though.
I've never liked VLC as a video player but it looks like it will be fine as an mp3 player.
I never did like the mp3 folder approach, give me a library system any day of the week, i wonder what it is about a person that makes them like one over the other...
Well, it could be the way I started?
Back in 97 there wasn't much in the way of anything. Winamp was it (I was on a PC at the time), so I had all my music organised in folders;
/Artist/Year - Album/01 - Track Name.mp3
With that system, I can see my entire collection in one glance, from A-Z.
I think another key thing is that I am an album person. I can't just listen to a song. I need to hear the whole album. And then usually the next album, in chronological order.
I've never had a need for Genre, or Ratings and so on, or any of the ID3 tags.
Moving to iTunes was hard. I only really did it for my iPod. I've meticulously edited all my tags to make sure they all play nice in iTunes, but it's still about a million miles away from my folders.
Often, I have an artist's folder organised into Live, Bootlegs, Studio, B Sides and so on. iTunes fails there (except with playlists? I haven't tried yet).
VLC is my default audio player. Oh, how I wish for Winamp 🙂
Back in 97 there wasn't much in the way of anything. Winamp was it (I was on a PC at the time), so I had all my music organised in folders;
/Artist/Year - Album/01 - Track Name.mp3
With that system, I can see my entire collection in one glance, from A-Z.
I think another key thing is that I am an album person. I can't just listen to a song. I need to hear the whole album. And then usually the next album, in chronological order.
I've never had a need for Genre, or Ratings and so on, or any of the ID3 tags.
Moving to iTunes was hard. I only really did it for my iPod. I've meticulously edited all my tags to make sure they all play nice in iTunes, but it's still about a million miles away from my folders.
Often, I have an artist's folder organised into Live, Bootlegs, Studio, B Sides and so on. iTunes fails there (except with playlists? I haven't tried yet).
VLC is my default audio player. Oh, how I wish for Winamp 🙂
Cromulent
macrumors 604
Yes you can. Just set iTunes to not automatically organise your music and it will keep your music in exactly the same layout as you have put it in. Then you just play the tracks in the normal way through the iTunes library.
Sure, it keeps your folder structure. But who cares if iTunes doesn't display that?
As I've said above, I'd have an artists folder with subfolders for studio albums, live albums, bootlegs, b sides etc all set out chronologically. But when I fire up iTunes, it just flattly displays all content by that artist, without any hierarchy.
If I want to look at only studio albums, or only bootlegs, then I have to make a playlist for those things.
As I've said above, I'd have an artists folder with subfolders for studio albums, live albums, bootlegs, b sides etc all set out chronologically. But when I fire up iTunes, it just flattly displays all content by that artist, without any hierarchy.
If I want to look at only studio albums, or only bootlegs, then I have to make a playlist for those things.
Both Cog and Play look good.
I like the replay gain support in Play. But when I drop a folder on Play the tracks show up in the right order in the library but not in the playlist. Also, the title for wav files don't show up in the player.
I like the replay gain support in Play. But when I drop a folder on Play the tracks show up in the right order in the library but not in the playlist. Also, the title for wav files don't show up in the player.