Playing music without creating playlists

If you play songs using iTunes, it automatically adds it to your iTunes library, but does not create a playlist. If you want to simply listen to a song without it being added to your iTunes library, select the song in Finder and press the spacebar to preview the song.

 

I have never seen iTunes create a playlist by itself unless the user specifically creates one.

 

What PC app were you using and how were you playing music? Were you selecting each track? Did the player just play files in the folder sequentially? Something else?

Why can't you just play music from your library? A folder's a container in much the same way that a library is. What's the perceived benefit of your approach?

 

iTunes always has a library and can only have one library. The library is like saying "all music".

All songs are always in the library, if you want to have a "folder", "mix tape" etc. like place you create a playlist and add music to it. If you add a song to a playlist it will still show up in the library too.

What I would suggest is you drag all your music from your old music folder into iTunes (it will then all be in the library). If you want to do more sorting, start making playlists.

I'm assuming you are running a newer version of iTunes which would mean that the sidebar is hidden by default. I would recommend showing it as it make iTunes a lot easier to use and understand. To show the sidebar when in iTunes, in the menubar click on View > Show Sidebar.

This was a very brief explanation of iTunes. If you have any trouble just ask. By the way if you figure out iTunes you should pat yourself on the back because iTunes is one of the most unintuitive Mac apps, but it does do a good job.

 

iTunes copies music to its library location by default, but you can uncheck the box in preferences.

Your folder organization sounds rather hard to move into iTunes if you want to keep all the structures, etc, especially if you are unfamiliar with the program. If you are willing to put in the time to properly set up your iTunes library you will get the benefit of more advanced tagging options, smart playlists, easy sync with your i-device, instant search and much more.

Your way of doing things is definitely legit, and I know many people prefer it to Library-style approach (same story with photos, too). But if you are open-minded and want to try something different, you could very well discover a more efficient method.

iTunes has its drawbacks, as all things do, but give it a try and see if its worth your trouble.

 

Give Cog a go. It presents your file system as your music library. You select what you want to play and hit play.

http://cogx.org/development.php

I used Cog a while back. it's been several OS revs since I used it so I can't vouch for it's compatibility with Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks.