Itunes file location/format questions for Windows

[Simicino]

I am very close to picking up a Classic but one thing is holding me back...I'm
wondering how music files are stored (in a Windows machine) once placed in Itunes. As I recall from my 1st generation Nano and experience with Itunes a couple of years ago, once you load an mp3 file into Itunes, that music file no longer shows up as it once did in Windows folders...Instead, I remember some strange Itunes folders in which files where given strange numbers that didn't identify the file by name. Is this right? Can ITunes not play music files off the HD but leave them where they are as other mp3 players do? Basically, I like to have quick access to my music files, as I often use other programs to make myself mixes, insert them into video clips I'm editing, or just drag and drop them into another player besides ITunes.

Secondly, I'm wondering if ITunes supports FLAC format yet. I don't believe it does but perhaps somebody knows something I don't.

 

[mad jew]

iTunes still gives you the option of managing your own music files, allowing you to keep them wherever you like. So long as you don't move them after they've been added to iTunes, you'll be right. To the best of my knowledge, iTunes still does not support FLAC.

 

[theLimit]

By default, I believe it is

C:\Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Artist\Album\

You can point iTunes to any folder, and you can also manage your library manually if you prefer.

There was a 3rd party QuickTime plugin for FLAC decoding, a quick search in Wikipedia or Google may give you what you're looking for. Personally, I use xACT and Max for ripping and encoding to an iTunes friendly format such as AIFF or Apple Lossless.

 

[mad jew]

I'm aware of some FLAC plugins but I assume they don't transfer to the iPod, right?

 

[Rapmastac1]

The best thing to do is to manually manage your library and make sure you have "Copy files into itunes folder" option selected. This will make a copy of the file which is great because you can just back up the whole of the itunes library as is...