Organizing music in iTunes

Hello-
I apologize if this question has been posted in the past, but I'm having a difficult time successfully searching the thousands of threads here.
I am a new iPod owner (80gb) and am trying to organize my music. I am running Windows XP and have my mp3s organized exactly as I'd like them on an external hard drive. My problem is that I cannot figure out how to get iTunes to import and organize them the same way.
An example of how my music is organized (in Windows Explorer on my hard drive) is as follows:
<folder> mp3s
--<folder> classical
----<folder> bach
------*files
------*Winamp playlist(s)
------*subfolders
----<folder> beethoven
------*files
------*subfolders
------*subfolders within subfolders
----<folder> brahms
--<folder> jazz
----<folder> charlie parker
------*files
------*Winamp playlist(s)
------*subfolders
----<folder> miles davis
Any suggestions on how to successfully make my iTunes library look like my Windows Explorer library would be much appreciated. I've spent considerable time in the past organizing my files and playlists into Windows folders/subfolders and would like to avoid re-learning how to re-organize everything in iTunes.
Thank you!
Toshiba Satellite   Windows XP  
Toshiba Satellite   Windows XP  
Toshiba Satellite   Windows XP  

No, iTunes cannot do as you want.
It organizes on the drive by Artist -> Album.
But everything is done in iTunes. so how/where it is stored on the drive is pretty much irrelevant.
You can maintain your own structure in one of two ways.
1
iTunes prefs -> Advanced.
Uncheck Copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library.
File -> Add folder to library and start adding yoru folders. They will go into iTunes but willstay where they are. iTunes will not copy them into the iTunes music folder.
2
iTunes prefs -> Advanced.
Uncheck Keep iTunes music folder organized.
Drag your music folders into the iTunes music folder.
File -> Add Folder to library and select these folders.
iTunes will keep the directory structure as it is and simply add them the library.
If you later tick Keep iTunes music folder organized, it will move and rename everything according to the ID3 tags into Artis -> Album folders.
Note that iTunes playlists are not saved as a separate file like WinAmp or WMP. They are part of the iTunes library file.

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