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Would you pay for a properly formatted iTunes library?

G

G19max1

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 17, 2009
4
0
Ok so we all have iTunes libraries, or at least most of us right? I don't know about you guys but not all of my music comes directly from the iTunes store or CD's. Sometimes, when you get music from an alternate source, tags and other information such as artists, album artwork, or BPM can all be either incorrect or missing completely.

My question is, would you pay to have your whole library properly formatted in every aspect and tagged correctly? If so, how would you want to pay? A flat fee or a by-the-song rate?

Thanks!
 
Yeah, there are plenty of free apps and dashboard widgets that use amazon.com or some other source to add all lyrics/album artwork to your songs.
 
No I see where the OP is going. Like taking a jumbled mess and getting it back the way you'd like it. Not everyone's into apps, scripts or bothering to tweak it. Some just want to keep it simple and turn on the juke box, and might be willing to pay for the juke box to be fixed...

I'd rather tweak my own stuff but if I were in the market then since I have lots of stuff I'd rather pay by the gig, say, then by song or for a flat fee.
 
I get all the tags right before importing the CD. The stuff from iTunes and local site Digirama is usually tagged well too. Sometimes I'll run into badly tagged songs (a local radio station had a collection of free songs and many of them didn't even have the artist tag filled) but I handle those as soon as I get them.
 
Well I guess every one at a tech forum would rather tweak there own bu think about the standard eevery day iTunes user. Enthusiasts excluded. Do you know people that would rather have someone do it for them?
 
They're probably out there. I know a few people whose iTunes libraries are just so awful. Full of stuff that's just track numbers, for instance. But they don't have big libraries and they mostly just wanted to get the music onto their nano iPod and put it on shuffle and let it roll.

The thing is, you wouldn't want to promise more than you could deliver for the price. People can't expect you to decipher the uploads of burned mix-CDs their friends gave them... but that is what they'd expect because they're not willing to sit there and type up the tracklist.

So you'd have to be really careful to describe what you could or couldn't do for them. (and how would you do this anyway? they bring you their machine??)
 
The apps that automatically fill in tag information aren't always accurate. Besides, they come up with way too many genres: alternative rock, indie rock, alternative indie rock, indie alternative rock, indie alternative rock with a twist, etc. I prefer fewer genres (currently 48) that are meaningful to me and make it easier to find music by genre.

The same goes for lyrics. Many times, the lyrics that are automatically downloaded are inaccurate, including some that are for a completely different song or have garbage information instead of any lyrics. If you want it done right, do it yourself.

Another example is the "year" field. With compilation albums, especially, the year is meaningless to me. A "Best of" album that was released in 2008 may contain songs that were originally released in 1964. Rather than the year the compilation album was released, I want the year to reflect when that song originally came out (unless it was remade or performed live at a later date).

Finally, artwork. Most of the album art that's automatically downloaded is of low resolution. I prefer getting high-res artwork from sites like AlbumArtExchange. All of this takes time and work (and it's still not finished), but the end result is far more appealing to me.

Currently:
Total songs in library: 27,918
Songs with no lyrics: 9,812
Songs with no year: 3,020​

I wouldn't pay for a pre-formatted library, because it probably wouldn't be formatted using my criteria. I wouldn't pay extra for something I'd have to re-work anyway.
 
LizKat said:
So you'd have to be really careful to describe what you could or couldn't do for them. (and how would you do this anyway? they bring you their machine??)
Click to expand...

Is there not a way to see the iTunes library and import the information without actually having all of their files? If this could be done then all you would need from them is the library XML file which is easily transfered many ways like email, flash drive, IM clients, or even a forum such as this one.

As for the person's personal preferences, that can be solved by just a phone call or email.
 
G19max1 said:
Is there not a way to see the iTunes library and import the information without actually having all of their files? If this could be done then all you would need from them is the library XML file which is easily transfered many ways like email, flash drive, IM clients, or even a forum such as this one.
Click to expand...

All the information is stored in three places: In the music files themselves, in the "iTunes Music Library.xml" file, and in the "iTunes Library" file. All three have to be changed, and the only reliable way I can think of is either doing it manually in iTunes, or by using AppleScript or some software creating AppleEvents.

And if I gave you the library XML file, and it says "Track 1 of 12, Artist unknown, song title unknown, everything else unknown", well, what are you going to do with that?
 
Well that would be the only issue I guess. I was going to try and do it to my friend's later tonight so I will get back to you guys on the successes and failures of it. Thanks.
 
gnasher729 said:
All the information is stored in three places: In the music files themselves, in the "iTunes Music Library.xml" file, and in the "iTunes Library" file. All three have to be changed, and the only reliable way I can think of is either doing it manually in iTunes, or by using AppleScript or some software creating AppleEvents.
Click to expand...
You're right. That's another issue. If you do it yourself, you can have all the track info stored in the .mp3 file, as opposed to the other two files. That helps with portability.
 
If there was a constantly updated iTunes that has a one time fee like the one you describe, I would willingly pay $5.00. Once it hits like $10.00, I'd probably not.
 
I got a one year tuneup subscription because the initial 500 trial songs it allows you to do worked GREAT. I have about 40 gigs of music (small I know) but its a jumbled mess from being pimped around various different platforms and computers over the years. Alot of stuff I don't even know how it got here.

Problem is it only works half of the time. You'd think the concept was simple. Give it the file, it ID's it, and it fixes it in your iTunes, but sometimes it just freezes out, sometimes it simply won't find the file in Gracenote and hang and you'll have to restart the entire program with itunes which may or may not work.

They've come out with an updated version but its still not working well for me. I'm going to try and redo my library and if that doesn't work i'm going to see if paypal can give me a refund. :D
 
Having the same problem with Tune Up. Free version worked great, and as soon as I paid, it seemed to freeze up all the time. Very frustrating, but I have a large library, and even if it works half the time, it will be worth it.
 
Hey there! Just wanted to address some of the issues estee065 and Eddyisgreat had with TuneUp. We are sorry to hear you had unsuccessful runs. There have been quite a few bug fixes and releases since you downloaded - hopefully the issues you were experiencing have been fixed. And if not, we would love to know what problems you're having (in detail). We are always trying to make TuneUp better - so please feel free to check us out again or let us know how to improve. Thanks!
~ tiffany
 
regardless of where it comes from, friend or straight from the disc, I will eventually convert it to my style of file structure and tag information anyways.
so itsbetter i just sift through it.
the past two months i had to correct atleast 800-1100 albums both tags and file structures.

But if iTunes ever supports a good lossless format aka FLAC, ill be doing this probably all over again with re-ripping and tagging :D:rolleyes:
 
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