I screwed up Itunes libraries- help

[tonykriegmaui]

Ok this is a mess and I should've become more familiar with how itunes works. Anyway, I have a number of itunes databases that reference songs from different hard drives (some drives are now gone). I have a new 27" 512 ssd Imac with the itunes stuff on and external hard drive (maybe there is also a itunes db on the ssd) Anyway, can I just delete all of the itunes libraries (databases) and put all of my music together in one file on the ext hard drive, reboot my computer ... start itunes ... will this create a new library and if so how do I link the songs to the data base.

Or what do you recommend?

 

[762999]

yes, you can delete all your libraries.. make sure you still have your music/video files and you will be fine.

instead of deleting your libraries, you could just rename them (in case you need to get something back).

Once you open iTunes it will create a new empty library. In the iTunes preferences, click ADVANCED, you have two options of interest:

• keep iTunes media folder organized
• copy files to iTunes media folder when adding to library

If you select theses options, when you add media files to iTunes, instead of referencing the source files, it will create a copy under the iTunes folder (which is normally a good idea).

Once done, you can do what you want with the source files. You can also go into the iTunes store (from within iTunes) and chose to restore your purchases. If you bought TV shows or movies, these will get downloaded back into your library.

To add files to iTunes

• Click on the File menu
• Click Add to library.. you can then select individual files or a folder (it will automatically add everything under that folder).