Looking for a music app

[Zileri]

Hey guys,

I really hope someone could help me with this.

I have been searching the web and trying different media players in the last few weeks but can't find what I'm looking for.

I cleaned and updated my music library (after I bought the new iMac) as I would like it to see in a media player. iTunes had completely ruined my library by changing artist/album and even song names also it made many duplicates.
So I have spent a few weeks to clean it up.

But trying to import it in a media player (tried many besides iTunes) and they all change the album names.

So my question is: Is there any media player where I can just point out my music folder and it shows it exactly as I have it in my folders without changing anything?

Thanks in advance for your help, I really hope there is such a simple media player that leaves everything as it is....

Cheers,

 

[Jessica Lares]

VOX? http://coppertino.com/vox/

 

[jimthing]

Hey guys,

I really hope someone could help me with this.

I have been searching the web and trying different media players in the last few weeks but can't find what I'm looking for.

I cleaned and updated my music library (after I bought the new iMac) as I would like it to see in a media player. iTunes had completely ruined my library by changing artist/album and even song names also it made many duplicates.
So I have spent a few weeks to clean it up.

But trying to import it in a media player (tried many besides iTunes) and they all change the album names.

So my question is: Is there any media player where I can just point out my music folder and it shows it exactly as I have it in my folders without changing anything?

Thanks in advance for your help, I really hope there is such a simple media player that leaves everything as it is....

Cheers,

Mmm, what do you mean by wanting to "import it in a media player"? There is no reason to do this for normal users just wanting to play content on their Mac and iDevices: iTunes.app deals with it fine most of the time...

Provided you have checked the metadata is all in exactly the correct places (using Get Info or similar) in iTunes.app on your Mac, then no problems should happen.

And if you sync to an iDevice, whatever you set to sync across (eg. whole library, certain playlists, etc.) in Mac iTunes.app, should load onto the iDevice exactly the same. (also check iDevice "Settings" app for each media type too, to make sure they appear as you want them on the iDevice.)


EDIT: the option most iTunes.app users use, is to make sure you let iTunes.app deal with the folders for you, as it does this automagically and better than a typical user would when you chuck music (or any other content) into iTunes.app... 2 settings in Mac iTunes.app:
1) "File" drop menu > "Library" > "Organise library" > choose option that suits you (usually "Consolidate files").
2) "Preferences" > "Advanced" tab > "Keep iTunes Media folder organised" [tick] & "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" [tick].

Good idea to copy your current library to another place BEFORE doing this, then check it has worked OK, before then deleting the copy.

Hope this works better for you. I know, iTunes can be difficult to get set-up all correctly as wanted.

 

[Zileri]

Jessica - With Fox you can only set up a play list, it doesn't allow you to go through your library to select an artist or album or so unless you want to scroll through all the songs...

Jimthing - What I mean by "import it in a media player" is I just want to see all my folders in the media player (like iTunes does) so I can select either an artist or album. I know there are a few media players where you can play your song directly from your music folders but then you have to select each time you want to play something (I also want to be able to play random songs from my library.

About the metadata: I didn't do that as I don't care about all those details it is about that it shouldn't reorganise my music folders. I just cleaned my music folders by putting the song number in front of the title and rename all the album names (and in some cases even the artist name)
Problem with iTunes is that it splits in some cases even the artist in 2 different folders (sometimes because of a slight difference in the name they used over the years)
Also I have arranged my albums by putting the year of release in front of the album name so I can easily see the albums chronicle order.
For example: 1975 - TNT

iTunes changes all of that and I don't want it.

Even worse thing is iTunes makes so many artist folders (even for just one song) while I have made a folder where I put the 1 song artists in.
In my last iTunes I had also so many VA (various artists) folders that it's hard to find what I'm looking for and it doesn't look organised at a all.

It even took out some songs of 1 album and put it in a separate folder!

What I have also done is making a folder with all compilation albums in it.

Anyway so far all media players I have tried can't just show my music library as I have set it up without making any changes.

Isn't there a way to tell the media player don't use the metadata and just leave everything as it is?
In my view I have organised it in the most logical way for me.

 

[coldsweat]

Is this your first mac? - if so then it seems that your mentality is still firmly rooted in making your iMac behave like your old PC! - Try to let go of thinking you need to manually organise your music into folders & let iTunes cuddle you with it's metadata goodness! Don't fight it - Learn it & Embrace it!

Import your music into a NEW library & let iTunes manage it completely (you may need to spend a while entering correct metadata for your tracks) then use playlists & smart albums to organise your tracks in a way that could never be done by manually organising & renaming folders! It's a different way of thinking but by using iTunes for your library management you can forget the files exist, stop wasting time moving files around & just enjoy the music!

Or as Jessica said, you could just try Vox!

 

[Zileri]

No not my first Mac it's my second (if I don't include my Macbook but don't use that one for Music)
On my first Mac I saw that my music library was completely screwed up that's why I cleaned it up when moving everything to my new iMac.

So it seems I will have to use iTunes again and spend a lot of time to correct the metadata.

Can you give me some tips about the correct settings to use in iTunes and what and how to change the metadata?

For example should I enable "Keep iTunes Media folder organised" or not?
And also the "copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library"
Any more tips for the settings?

Thanks all for your help. Really appreciate it!