Listening to songs without adding them to iTunes library

[raelkid]

Hi!
I'm getting used to Mac and iTunes and was wondering; how can I open and listen to a song (mp3) in iTunes without adding it to my library. I want to make a distinction between my library (organized music, with tags and all) and just songs I want to play just once or twice. Is that possible, or do I just add them to my library and delete them from it when I'm done?
Sorry if this question has been answered before, I've tried the forum-search and it didn't help me...
Thanks!
rael_kid

 

[Blue Velvet]

I tend to use Quicktime for playing things I don't want in my iTunes library...

 

[raelkid]

Hmmmz... Okay... Does that mean that it's not possible to simply play a song in iTunes (ie. without adding it to the library)?

 

[vi2867]

I think there is an option in iTunes Preferences that allows you to play songs and not add them to your library.

 

[LizKat]

In Tiger OS at least, you can actually play an MP3 track right on your desktop or from wherever the file exists on your machine, using the mac's Preview application. Put your cursor on the song file, do a get-info command [apple-I] and in the information box that appears, look to where it says called Preview: then just click on the grey arrow and a typical playbar appears with a volume, start/pause etc.

 

[echeck]

In Tiger OS at least, you can actually play an MP3 track right on your desktop or from wherever the file exists on your machine, using the mac's Preview application. Put your cursor on the song file, do a get-info command [apple-I] and in the information box that appears, look to where it says called Preview: then just click on the grey arrow and a typical playbar appears with a volume, start/pause etc.

Or just bring the file up in Finder and play it from there. That's how I listen to tracks I don't want to add, just make sure you don't double-click.

 

[mad jew]

I think there is an option in iTunes Preferences that allows you to play songs and not add them to your library.

Maybe... There's an option to not let iTunes copy the file to the Music Library Folder when adding to iTunes, but this basically just turns off iTunes' ability to manage your tracks.

Although I use QuickTime for individual tracks in these circumstances, VLC might be a good alternative since it has playlists.