organizing music

[J.Stunnaz]

i just tansferred all my music files and i was trying to sort it into albums, but when i view the folder as a list it, doesnt have an albums tab,is there a way to do this or is that albums tab a windows feature? thanks

 

[iMeowbot]

Is this in iTunes? Ctrl-click (or right-click) on any of the columns that do show, and you can pick more to add (or remove).

 

[J.Stunnaz]

no, my files are in a folder.

 

[iMeowbot]

Okay, in a folder. So is it in the Finder that you are looking for this feature? The Mac Finder doesn't do that, the job is delegated to iTunes.

 

[J.Stunnaz]

damn itunes is horrible for organizing music is there any other way to do this?

 

[PlaceofDis]

damn itunes is horrible for organizing music is there any other way to do this?

why exactly is iTunes horrible?

 

[Flowbee]

damn itunes is horrible for organizing music is there any other way to do this?

Actually, I think folders are horrible for organizing muisc.

 

[J.Stunnaz]

itunes is horrible because it cant organize music into albums only into artists.

 

[Applespider]

itunes is horrible because it cant organize music into albums only into artists.

If your music is tagged correctly, you'll see albums in iTunes. You can organise your music by album/artist/year/rating/genre/bpm if you use the application to view and organise your music. Why bother using the Finder?

Click the eye on the bottom right of your library. You'll get the browse feature up which will allow you to select a genre/artist/album or any combination of the above.

You could also set up a smart folder for particular albums or just sort your library by album name.

 

[J.Stunnaz]

basically my music folder is a mess, i want to organize it, i have hella single and duplicate files that i want to bunch together is there a way to do this with finder

 

[captainbeefheat]

basically my music folder is a mess, i want to organize it, i have hella single and duplicate files that i want to bunch together is there a way to do this with finder

Not that I can think of in finder, however in...itunes go View > show duplicates and it will show all tracks that have a duplicates. Highlight the excess one and delete and choose move to trash, be careful as some won't be duplicates and it shows both files not just the extra one. So don't apple A and delete all.

 

[MacAnkka]

Can't think of a single good reason why anyone would prefer a folder-based organizing system to having well-tagged songs in iTunes library.

iTunes even stores all the songs of the library in a folder system like this /Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/[artist]/[album]/[song-file] (based on the info on the ID3-tags), so if you reeeally want your folder-based organizing system, it's there even if you use iTunes...

I, personally, can't live without iTunes. The spotlight-like search in the top right especially rules. It's so easy to find the albums by certain artists. I can write "apoc metalli" in there and it instantly shows songs by Apocalyptica from the album "Plays Metallica By Four Cellos" and it won't show my metallica songs.

The only thing that can be painful is if your current id3-tags are irregular/lacking/nonexistant.

 

[simontarr]

Can't think of a single good reason why anyone would prefer a folder-based organizing system to having well-tagged songs in iTunes library.

I agree totally. iTunes is a really good bit of software. Have some patience with it and you may find out just how good it is.

 

[kalisphoenix]

I never understood this criticism of iTunes... five minutes playing with the flat database and I was hooked for life.

 

[Sesshi]

The key is of course tagging your music. If your library consists mainly of P2P'd songs it makes more sense to sort by folders, since the tagging will be chaotic. It's also a problem with classical music even if your stuff is tagged, because so much Gracenote tagging for classical music is haphazard.

If I were being judgemental based on the OP's choice of name, I'd guess that s/he might fall into the former category 😉 😛

The Mac + iTunes + iPod doesn't really cater for a way of working with music unless you do have all your stuff tagged properly (or the way you want it).

If on the other hand your stuff is properly tagged and you're just working with a folder structure out of habit, perhaps it's time to switch to the iTunes way of doing it. You can definitely get much more out of your player if you switch to using the tags for organisation.

 

[balamw]

I never understood this criticism of iTunes... five minutes playing with the flat database and I was hooked for life.

Me too. iTunes led to iPod and my return to the Mac.

Try replicating the sheer power of smart playlists with a file/folder structure. 🙄

As Sesshi says all you need to organize your music with iTunes is to properly tag it. "Properly" includes the use of comment, grouping, rating, etc... tags to make it fit the way you want to do things.

B

 

[Sesshi]

If tagging is not an option, well... there are precious few decent USB Mass Storage (UMS, i.e. 'drag & drop') players on the market which will allow you to dump your music folder structure 'as is' onto a player.

About the only one which is any good and is still sold is the iAudio X5, but apart from the UMS compatibility it's inferior in almost every respect to the iPod.

The other option is Rockbox for iPod. Expect oddness as it's still in development but it does turn the iPod into a drag & drop UMS player.

 

[PYR0M310N]

Me too. iTunes led to iPod and my return to the Mac.

B

Same as me, i wouldn't be an apple fan boy if it weren't for iTunes + iPod