'Automatically Add to iTunes' in alternate media folder not working

iTunes 11.1.5.5
Fresh install today on a more-or-less fresh install of Windows 8
Procedure:
Install iTunes
Before creating a library, change my media folder in Preferences -> Advanced
Try to add media by putting it in the 'Automatically Add to iTunes' folder created in the new media folder
Restart iTunes repeatedly in frustration
What happens:
Nothing
What I expect to happen:
Something. Either importing the file, or moving it to the 'Not Added' folder.
Notes:
If I don't change the location of the media folder, the 'Automatically Add to iTunes' folder works fine.
The path to the alternate folder is E:\...music\ while iTunes is installed on C:\ - could this be a problem?
The automatically-created Automatically Add to iTunes folder is located at E:\...music\Automatically Add to iTunes
Thanks for your time!

I relocated my iTunes library
What exactly did you relocate and how?

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I'm having trouble with the folder "Automatically add" function. She opens a folder "not added". My machine is a Vaio with Windows 7 home basic antivirus using Microsoft. Regards.

I'm having trouble with the folder "Automatically add" function. She opens a folder "not added". My machine is a Vaio with Windows 7 home basic antivirus using Microsoft. Regards.

Its a 64 bits.

Media Folder not working

k, i'm at a loss on this one.
from what i have read the media folder that you designate is where itunes will store and catalog all your music/video etc. c:\...\media folder\ then it will have music and video and podcast etc.
i want it to be C:\docs\ to my music/video/podcasts etc.. if i set my docs folder to be my media folder it just starts cataloging my artists, no \music\artists.
if i make my media folder c:\docs\music, when i import a cd it starts cataloging all my music in c:\doc\music\music\ artists... from what i gather itunes is cataloging correctly here. but when i try to eliminate the music\music by making my media folder just docs, it is not working correctly.
sorry if this is kinda long winded and confusing, but i am really frustrated at such a simple thing not working correctly.

finally after 3 hours of mucking around i found it. although i had itunes set to organize my music automatically. the fix was telling it to re-organize it... stupid itunes...

New MBP - set up - media folder not working?

ok, I have a lovely new MBP, I used to have my external HD as my Itunes Media folder location, just pointed it to that folder again, but itunes is doing nothing. usually when I have done this in the past it starts to feed in all my playlists etc.
any ideas of what I might be doing wrong here? something changed since I did it previously in Tiger?

on my previous MBP I had itunes set to use my external for my songs. then how come they are not showing?
File -> Add to library and select the folder where the music is located.
I can't get itunes to recognise those playlist or even the library as before?
"Those playlists" are in the iTunes library file in the \Music\iTunes\ folder on your old computer.
Did you copy the \Music\iTunes\ folder from your old computer to your new computer?

Automatically Add to iTunes folder is not working in iTunes 10

I recently installed iTunes 10 (x64) on my Win7Pro computer. iTunes does not seem to do anything with the Automatically Add to iTunes folder. The only things I have done so far are to set the main music folder to my server folder (for backup purposes) and set it for iTunes to manage my files. So far, I have added folder and files to the Automatically Add to iTunes folder but nothing happens, even after reboots of either iTunes or my computer. Any info or setting I am missing to make this happen would be appreciated. Thank you for your time in advance.

yeah. . .
this "feature" is wonderful. . . if you want to throw away all your music....
I wanted to use iTunes to organize my music via iTunes library folder organization... you know "Artist\Album\Track No - Title"
so -
I installed iTunes 10
In preferences, I set my iTunes media folder to "D:\Media Files"
went to my windows media library folder,
hit ctrl+a, ctrl +x to 'select and cut' all the subfolders
went to the "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder that was created by iTunes under "D:\Media Files"
hit ctrl+v to paste
Watched "Automatically Add to iTunes" start filling with the folder it had "cut"
And watched as the folders then started to go away (i assumed that iTunes was doing its magic and organizing them under "D:\Media Files\Music")
when done. . . "Automatically Add to iTunes" was completely empty...
and so was the iTunes library. . . and nothing in "D:\Media Files\" except for:
"D:\Media Files\Automatically Add to iTunes"
and
"D:\Media Files\.iTunes Preferences.plist"
furthermore. . . no folder named "not Added" which is were they were supposed to go if the autmatic add to library failed.
did a search from the command line:
dir D:\*.mp3 /s/b
and
dir D:\*.mp3 /s/b
in both cases. . . "file not found"
thanks crapple. . . I just lost about 2 grand in music that I actually payed for as well as 10 years of music collecting.
google "unit testing." you novices should look into it.
"crApple. . . we make expensive computers to run software that doesn't work. . . but thats ok. . our customers don't know how to use computers anyway"
over/under on the duration this post remains in the forum before the admin deletes it for pointing that apple ***: 5 minutes

How do I save songs in the Automatically Add to iTunes folder

How do I save songs in the Automatically Add to iTunes folder? Is this done via settings somehow?
Stated another way......songs recently added to my music folders in the iTunes libary are not updated in the media library automatically. How do I save songs in the Automatically Add to iTunes folder?
Still another way......I'm trying to backup songs in my iTunes library by dragging them into a flash drive. But I noticed that not all songs are included in the iTunes Media folder from which I am making my backup file. Is there a better way to do a backup? If not, how do I get the iTunes Media file updated to include all songs in my iTunes library?

See this Apple support document.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1751
B-rock

ITuned 9 "automatically add to itunes" folder does not add files

Help! I am new to iTunes 9, just built a Win 7 HTPC works well but now wanting to add all of my music to iTunes. Have approx 7k songs in iTunes but when I drop any other folders into the Automatically Add to iTunes folder created by iTunes it does nothing with the files. They are not added to the library, they are not moved or deleted.
It makes no difference if I re-start iTunes or if I give the application Administrator privilages. Help / ideas please...

I too, have an external drive and it works for me.
The "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder should be in the "iTunes Media" folder on your Music drive. I created a shortcut to this folder and put it on my desktop. I can drag mp3's to this shortcut and they get added to iTunes.
Check your iTunes Advanced Preferences. The "iTunes Media folder location" should be "/Volumes/Music/iTunes Media". You *may* have to check "Keep iTunes Media folder organized".

Based on wich file information does iTunes sort music in "Automatically add to iTunes" folder?

Hey I have some files ( here 3 for example).
I put them into the "Automatically add to iTunes" Folder.
After that iTunes sorts them without any problem.
But based on which information does iTunes sort them?
I looked into the details of the file but i cannot find the structure.
Look at your self:
File:
M:\Music\Media\Music\Phil Collins\Hits\07 Against All Odds.mp3
StartTag                   : TagLib.NonContainer.StartTag
EndTag                     : TagLib.NonContainer.EndTag
TagTypes                   : Id3v1, Id3v2
Tags                       : {, }
Title                      : Against All Odds
Performers                 : {Phil Collins}
PerformersSort             : {}
AlbumArtistsSort           : {}
AlbumArtists               : {Phil Collins}
Composers                  : {Phil Collins}
ComposersSort              : {}
TitleSort                  :
AlbumSort                  :
Album                      : Hits
Comment                    :
Genres                     : {Adult Contemporary}
Year                       : 1984
Track                      : 7
TrackCount                 : 0
Disc                       : 1
DiscCount                  : 1
Lyrics                     :
Grouping                   :
BeatsPerMinute             : 121
Conductor                  :
Copyright                  :
MusicBrainzArtistId        :
MusicBrainzReleaseId       :
MusicBrainzReleaseArtistId :
MusicBrainzTrackId         :
MusicBrainzDiscId          :
MusicIpId                  :
AmazonId                   :
MusicBrainzReleaseStatus   :
MusicBrainzReleaseType     :
MusicBrainzReleaseCountry :
Pictures                   : {}
IsEmpty                    : False
Artists                    : {Phil Collins}
FirstArtist                : Phil Collins
FirstAlbumArtist           : Phil Collins
FirstAlbumArtistSort       :
FirstPerformer             : Phil Collins
FirstPerformerSort         :
FirstComposerSort          :
FirstComposer              : Phil Collins
FirstGenre                 : Adult Contemporary
JoinedArtists              : Phil Collins
JoinedAlbumArtists         : Phil Collins
JoinedPerformers           : Phil Collins
JoinedPerformersSort       :
JoinedComposers            : Phil Collins
JoinedGenres               : Adult Contemporary
File2:
M:\Music\Media\Music\Compilations\Das Dschungelbuch - Deutscher Original F\06 Ich Wäre Gern Wie Du.mp3
StartTag                   : TagLib.NonContainer.StartTag
EndTag                     : TagLib.NonContainer.EndTag
TagTypes                   : Id3v1, Id3v2
Tags                       : {, }
Title                      : Ich Wäre Gern Wie Du
Performers                 : {Disney}
PerformersSort             : {}
AlbumArtistsSort           : {}
AlbumArtists               : {Disney}
Composers                  : {R. M. Sherman}
ComposersSort              : {}
TitleSort                  :
AlbumSort                  :
Album                      : Das Dschungelbuch - Deutscher Original Film-Soundtrack
Comment                    :
Genres                     : {Film-musik}
Year                       : 2007
Track                      : 6
TrackCount                 : 0
Disc                       : 1
DiscCount                  : 1
Lyrics                     :
Grouping                   :
BeatsPerMinute             : 0
Conductor                  :
Copyright                  :
MusicBrainzArtistId        :
MusicBrainzReleaseId       :
MusicBrainzReleaseArtistId :
MusicBrainzTrackId         :
MusicBrainzDiscId          :
MusicIpId                  :
AmazonId                   :
MusicBrainzReleaseStatus   :
MusicBrainzReleaseType     :
MusicBrainzReleaseCountry :
Pictures                   : {}
IsEmpty                    : False
Artists                    : {Disney}
FirstArtist                : Disney
FirstAlbumArtist           : Disney
FirstAlbumArtistSort       :
FirstPerformer             : Disney
FirstPerformerSort         :
FirstComposerSort          :
FirstComposer              : R. M. Sherman
FirstGenre                 : Film-musik
JoinedArtists              : Disney
JoinedAlbumArtists         : Disney
JoinedPerformers           : Disney
JoinedPerformersSort       :
JoinedComposers            : R. M. Sherman
JoinedGenres               : Film-musik
File3:
M:\Music\Media\Music\Compilations\Album\9999 Title.mp3
StartTag                   : TagLib.NonContainer.StartTag
EndTag                     : TagLib.NonContainer.EndTag
TagTypes                   : Id3v1, Id3v2
Tags                       : {, }
Title                      : Title
Performers                 : {Contributing artists}
PerformersSort             : {}
AlbumArtistsSort           : {}
AlbumArtists               : {Album artist}
Composers                  : {Composers}
ComposersSort              : {}
TitleSort                  :
AlbumSort                  :
Album                      : Album
Comment                    : Comments
Genres                     : {Genre}
Year                       : 2013
Track                      : 9999
TrackCount                 : 0
Disc                       : 0
DiscCount                  : 0
Lyrics                     :
Grouping                   : Group description
BeatsPerMinute             : 1111
Conductor                  : Conductors
Copyright                  :
MusicBrainzArtistId        :
MusicBrainzReleaseId       :
MusicBrainzReleaseArtistId :
MusicBrainzTrackId         :
MusicBrainzDiscId          :
MusicIpId                  :
AmazonId                   :
MusicBrainzReleaseStatus   :
MusicBrainzReleaseType     :
MusicBrainzReleaseCountry :
Pictures                   : {}
IsEmpty                    : False
Artists                    : {Contributing artists}
FirstArtist                : Contributing artists
FirstAlbumArtist           : Album artist
FirstAlbumArtistSort       :
FirstPerformer             : Contributing artists
FirstPerformerSort         :
FirstComposerSort          :
FirstComposer              : Composers
FirstGenre                 : Genre
JoinedArtists              : Contributing artists
JoinedAlbumArtists         : Album artist
JoinedPerformers           : Contributing artists
JoinedPerformersSort       :
JoinedComposers            : Composers
JoinedGenres               : Genre
Thank you for your help in advance.
Mk-maddin

Past experience suggests that iTunes doesn't handle files with multiple tags well. I've not worked out which tag gets read when there are multiple tags but I've seen cases where iTunes can update one while reading back unchanged data fom the other.
At the file level iTunes will organize the files first by Album Artist, or if blank, Artist, or if blank use Unknown Artist. If the tracks have the custom iTunes property Part of a Compilation = True then they get stored in the Compilations folder instead of under their artist.
The next layer of folders is based on Album title or Unknown Album if none given.
FIles are stored in the format [[<Disc> ]## ]<Name>.<Ext> where leading disc numbers are omitted if the the disc no. reads 1 of 1 or 1 of <Blank>.
Tracks with the same Album Artist or Artist and the same Album title should be grouped together in iTunes as albums.
Within the iTunes interface sorting is based on the first non-empty value from Sort Album Artist > Album Artist > Sort Artist > Artist and Sort Album > Album.
See Grouping tracks into albums for more info.
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Hi, welcome to Apple Discussions.
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Hello,
I have a problem since the iTunes Update 10.0->10.1.
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It always worked that way. iTunes only acts on that folder if iTunes is running. It does not have to be playing, but it does need to be open.
If you add files to the Automatically Add folder while iTunes is closed, they will sit there until iTunes is restarted.

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How can I bypass Automatically Add to iTunes?

I have a large CD collection (>3000) that I've ripped to iTunes in ALAC format; I only listen to CD or better quality music, so I don't have any mp3 or AAC files in my iTunes library. I keep my music on an external hard drive. I recently bought a larger external hard drive and moved all of my music to that drive. For some reason, iTunes chose to put all of my music in a folder called "Automatically Add to iTunes". This was fine, except that I could no longer see the contents of the hard drive; however, I did know that the files were there, becasue of the disc space that they consumed.
Today, I ripped two new CDs to the hard drive through iTunes and I noticed that iTunes placed the music folders for those CDs outside of the "Automatically Add to iTunes". I decded to drag the new folders into the "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder. When I did so, all of the previous music disappeared and I cannot recover it. Fortunately, I have a copy of Sentuni, so I'll be able to put the music back on the hard drive from my iPods, but this process will require several hours. In addition, ripping my CD collection to iTunes required a lot of time, so I'm not pleased with the "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder feature. Is there a way to disable this feature, so that I can simply put my music on my external drive and be able to see that the folders are there.
I've been a devoted Apple customer for almost a decade, so I won't get too upset over this issue, but I wish that your developers would have addressed this issue during the development stage. Thanks for your attention to this problem.
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Heath Watts wrote:
If only this were the case. I tried to move several albums into the "Automatically add to iTunes" folder, which resulted in thousands of albums being erased from the folder. One should be able to drag a music folder into the "Automatically add to iTunes" folder without iTunes erasing the original contents of the folder.
It didn't erase anything.
It automatically added them to iTUnes and moved them to the correct folder (Movies, Music, etc.) in the location shown in iTunes prefs > Advanced - iTunes media folder location.
I would like to disable the "Automatically add to iTunes" feature in iTunes,
You "disable" it by not putting anything into it. If you don't want to use it, don't use it.
If you want to manually manage, do not put anything into this folder.
Go to iTunes prefs > Advanced and uncheck Copy files to iTunes media folder when adding to library.
Then File > Add to library adn select what you want to add to iTunes. Do NOT put anything into the Automatically add to iTunes folder
and would like to be able to see the albums and artists on my external hard drive without having to do Spotlight searches
You wouldn't have to do Spotlight searches anyway.
The files are in /Music/Artist/Album folderin the location shown in iTunes prefs > Advanced - iTunes media folder location.
Also, in iTunes, you can select a song, right click - Show in Finder.

ITunes: Bulk of music is in media folder, not in Library.itl file

Hello,
Windows 8.1
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The bulk of my music is in my iTunes Media and cannot be accessed by the iTunes Library.itl file. (The Library.itl has approximately 900 songs and I have over 7,000 in the media folder.) I can open the individual files under the Media Folder and actually click and move those files onto the iTunes "My Music" section and they become a permanent part of the Library.itl file and stay there with no more issues. The songs are no longer in the Media folder after moving them to the Library.itl file. Is there an easier and quicker way to move the files from one to the other? I have tried consolidating and organizing. I have moved the Library.itl file to the desktop, deleted the one within iTunes, and attempted to have it import the playlist, and that didn't work.
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Wordy

If you apply either method to the folder Broken Social Scene this will add the album(s) to your library. The location of your media folder may indicate that your library is misconfigured, or that some other application (typically Windows Media Player) is conflicting with iTunes and moving files and folders to locations that iTunes then can't find. See turingtest2's user tip on Getting iTunes & Windows Media Player to play nicely for guidance on this issue. At this point I'd also take a backup of your current iTunes folder and all its contents so that if necessary you can revert to the current state in case anything doesn't work as intended. I'd also suggest looking at another of tt2's documents on Repair security permissions for iTunes for Windows - sometimes you end up with a structure as you describe if iTunes can't access its default locations due to issues with Windows permissions.
Unless you have specific needs to do something different, I'd recommend configuring iTunes as follows, under Edit > Preferences > Advanced:
This is the location of your iTunes Media folder. For best results this should be contained in the same folder that holds your iTunes database (the iTunes Library.itl file). The example above is from my library, which is located on external drive, so the database file is in K:\iTunes and the media folder is as shown in the screenshot. In the default case:
the iTunes Library.itl file is in C:\Users\username\Music\iTunes
the media folder is C:\Users\username\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media
When this option is checked iTunes will place everything in folders and may rename files based on the metadata held within the database and/or embedded within the media files - for music, this will be folders of the form iTunes Media\Music\artist_name\album_title with files named according to the values of disc number (if set), track number and song name. The one exception to this is for albums that are grouped by having the "Part of a Compilation Flag" set - these will be found in iTunes Media\Music\Compilations\album_title.
This option works in conjunction with the different methods by which media can be added to the iTunes library, as shown in the table below:
Having both the Keep iTunes Media folder organized and Copy files to iTunes Media folder ... options checked results in a completely self-contained library structure.
Just to reiterate what was in my original response, using your example, either:
in iTunes, make sure that the menu bar is visible (press Ctrl-B if it is not), then select File > Add Folder to Library... navigate to your iTunes Media folder and select the Broken Social Scene folder (just select it, don't open it to see the contents), and click Select Folder, or
in Windows Explorer, select the Broken Scene Folder and copy (or drag and drop) it to your iTunes Media\Automatically Add to iTunes folder; assuming iTunes is running, the albums/songs will immediately be added to your library, the media files moved into the iTunes Media\Music hierarchy, and the Automatically Add to iTunes folder left empty (if iTunes isn't running when you do this, the process will start automatically when you next start it)
In either case you'll find that:
the Broken Social Scene album(s) will now be in your iTunes library, i.e., you can see / play / sync to iDevices from the iTunes UI
the media files for the album(s) will have been placed in iTunes Media\Music\Broken Social Scene\album_title
Continue this process until everything's correctly added to your library - you can add multiple folders using both methods I've described. Once everything's done, you can delete any folders/files that are still sitting outside the iTunes Media\Music folder hierarchy.
Then make (and continue to maintain) a backup of your library so that you have a duplicate in case of any disasters

Can I move my itunes media folder to an external hard drive without having Itunes managing the media folder

Hi all....I have spent weeks tidying up my music collection. I moved it all to Itunes media folder. Since I don't like how Itunes manages this folder I manually organised it myself so that albums where together etc. I am wondering if there is a fool proof way to move my media folder to an external hard drive without letting itunes manage and consolidate files as this will reverse all the work I did in organising. Im not sure if Im posting to the right place but fingers crossed:)
Thanks in advance

Just one more thing puhlease:) This is the list of things that are in my iTunes folder. Album artwork, Automatically add to iTunes, iTunes media, Mobile apllications, podcasts, previous itunes libraries, voice memos. Then it has files itunes preferences, itunes libary extras, itunes libarry genius, itunes libraary, itunes music library......Is there stuff in there that doesnt need to be there as some are repeated in itunes media folder which contains....automatically add to itunes, books, downloads, home videos, mobile applications, music, podcasts, tones, voice memos and itunes preferences. Any thoughts on deleting some folders??? Thankyou so much for your time on this

'Automatically Add to iTunes' in alternate media folder not working

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