"iTunes music" folder inside "iTunes"

in iTunes preferences i have /Users/me/Music/iTunes for my iTunes Media folder location
inside this folder i find a folder called "iTunes Music" that contains: duplications from the "iTunes" folder (in the higher level), songs/albums which are exclusively there but not linked from iTunes (when i ask i tunes to "reveal in finder"), and some which ARE linked from iTunes -- so, i cant really understand the logic of it.
something tells me it got to do with the home sharing, because i find there some tracks from other libraries/computers... but all and all, it takes some lots of space on my HD, and i would be happy to know if there's a way to consolidate all of it into one folder and get rid of the duplication.
thanks for the help!

Here are typical layouts for the iTunes folders:
If you have upgraded from version 8 (or earlier) to iTunes 9 (or later) at some point, then your media folder (everything inside the red outline) may still be called iTunes Music instead of iTunes Media. The extra Music folder inside the media folder is used if you have allowed iTunes to Upgrade to iTunes Media Organization (iTunes 9) or used File > Library > Organize Library > Reorganize files in the folder "<Media Folder>" (iTunes 10). Depending on your choices for Keep iTunes Media folder organized and Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library plus a little bug in which one build changed the name of the file storing the choice of layout it is quite easy for some of your files to be organized according to one layout and some the other.
Assuming you're happy letting iTunes organize your files the following steps should tidy things up (should it be necessary):
1. Select File > Library > Organize Library... > Tick Reorganize files in the folder "<Media Folder>" and click OK. Skip if this option is greyed out (already upgraded) or you prefer the older layout.
2. Select File > Library > Organize Library... > Tick Consolidate files and click OK. This will bring any files currently organised outside the designated media folder into it. NB This will create duplicate copies of any file that needs to be consolidated, and you will need to manually clean up afterwards. If space is at a premium try Doug Scripts has something that will move files rather than copy them.
3. Select Edit > Preferences > Advanced tab, uncheck Keep iTunes Media folder organized and click OK.
4. Select Edit > Preferences > Advanced tab, check Keep iTunes Media folder organized and click OK. This triggers iTunes into reorganizing everything according to your preferences.
5. (Optional) Close iTunes, rename the folder iTunes Music as iTunes Media then restart iTunes. Check under Edit > Preferences > Advanced tab that the location has automatically updated. If you can't access the media for any reason just undo the folder rename. (Assumes you don't already have a folder called iTunes Media and that iTunes Music is the currently designated media folder.)
PS If you really prefer the older layout, but it is already in the new one then edit the file called .iTunes Preferences.plist in your media folder and change the integer from 1 to 0 before doing step 3.
tt2

Similar Messages

Using Time Capsule as External Drive for iTunes Music Folder in iTunes 9

First, prior to upgrading to Snow Leopard and iTunes 9, I had my 210 GB of music on a 1TB Time Capsule which I accessed wirelessly through my Macbook Black and I set my path to the "iTunes Music (External) Folder" I created on the Time Capsule as the default path for iTunes to access the iTunes Music (External) Folder. My iTunes Library and Album Art reside on the Macbook hard drive. Unless I opened iTunes when the Macbook was disconnected from the Time Capsule (e.g., not at home), it always remembered the drive path the next time it was opened and would play music fine. If I had to reset the drive path, iTunes would remember it (again, unless I was disconnected from my Time Capsule). Now, under iTunes 9.0.1 and Snow Leopard, iTunes always defaults back to the iTunes Media Folder on the Macbook each time I open iTunes even if I set the path to the Time Capsule. The TC is also used as my airport connection to the cable modem and Home Sharing is enabled. Oddly, iTunes seems to play music just fine even though the drive path to the iTunes Music (External) Folder is not being utilized, which it would not do under the old version of iTunes. A screenshot is below. Anyone know what is going on here?
/Users/seanrichardson/Desktop/Screenshot_1.png

Make sure the Time Capsule is ready and mounted before launching iTunes.
You can add it (the Time Capsule) to your Login items in System prefs -> Accounts.

Switched laptops - music moved - appears in itunes music folder, not itunes

I used my ipod as a hard drive to move my music from my old windows laptop to the new. The music all shows up in my folder for itunes music but not in my itunes program. What am I doing wrong?

File -> Add to library...
then pick the folder with all your music in it.
Patrick

ITunes Music folder is dated 1/24/84 and will not open

iMac, Late 2009
OS X Yosemite 10.10.1
16 GB 1067 MHz
iTunes 12.0.1
I cannot see inside my iTunes Music folder (home/iTunes/iTunes Music) or iTunesU or Mobile Applications. The folders are pale and dated (created and modified) 1/24/84, 2 A.M.
iTunes app seems to find music and movies fine tho. When I first noticed this, the Music/iTunes folder had created a 'iTunes Music 2' folder and all the music/movies folders would show up in there. I tried to 'move' those into the original iTunes Music folder (and it acted like it moved) - deleted the '2' folder and renamed '2' to plain iTunes Music. Still the same pale folder, inaccessible.
I tried repairing privileges (twice), resetting PRAM (twice) deleting any apple.com preferences referencing iTunes and even the Finder plist. Nothing is helping these sick folders. - But, as I said the iTunes app seems to work fine. I just need to see inside the music folder.
I use home sharing and whether another machine is on or not makes no difference. I have a new MBP and it's iTunes seems fine. I have tried an app called Files Property Editor to change the date on the folder, but it doesn't seem to work.
Thank you for any help!

Back up all data before proceeding.
Select the text on the line below by dragging across it. Don't include the blank space at the end of the line. Only the text should be highlighted.
touch -t 198001010000
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.
Paste into the Terminal window by pressing command-V, then press the space bar.
Now switch to the Finder and and select the item(s) in question. Drag into the Terminal window. More text will be added to what you entered.
Click in the Terminal window to activate it, then press return.
Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear. You can then quit Terminal.
Relaunch the Finder.

ITunes not updating sorting in iTunes Music folder

I have enabled "Keep iTunes Music folder organized". iTunes will properly sort files based on the ID3 data when I first import them, but it does not update the filenames or folder names when I change song information from within iTunes. I don't know what the exact behavior of this option is supposed to be. iTunes says it "Places files into album and artist folders, and names the files based on disc number, track number, and the song title." This description is consistent with its behavior when importing tracks but does not say whether it will continue to move things afterward.
I'd like to know what the exact behavior of this option is supposed to be and if there is a way to force an update of the sorting. I'm thinking re-importing would work, but I've got 25,000 songs so that would be an unwieldy last resort at best.

Try one of these solutions already posted to this forum or use the "Search Discussions" for many more:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4358684&#4358684
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4123245&#4123245
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4090531&#4090531
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3960710&#3960710
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3950754&#3950754

ITunes Music Folder

Ok, so I tried downloading a TV show last night from the iTunes store and it said I didn't have enough space on my Hard Drive to complete the download. Well, that threw me off and as I was looking to see what was eating all my memory I noticed that my iTunes Music Folder, when navigated to via the finder, shows I have 30 GB of music files. If I look at the bottom of the iTunes window when the program is open it only shows 14 GB. I did FILE>SHOW DUPLICATES and it only shows 6.5 GB of duplicates. Does anyone know what is going on or how to correct? It is like there is two of every song, but I don't see duplicates in the iTunes Music Folder.

it is possible and likely that you have song files in your iTunes music folder that aren't referenced in your iTunes library. in other words, there are files in your iTunes music folder that iTunes doesn't know about.
for an unknow reason, you may have duplicate your songs using the finder. you can validate this by doing a "Get info" in iTunes on a song for which you see duplicate using the Finder. The Get info will show you the path of the selected song in the General tab. The duplicate you will see in the finder would have a difference in the name. This will allow you to manually discriminate which song is referenced in iTunes. But this could be a tedious task.
At this point, you will need to clean up this mess and there is several way to go. the simplest could be to drag'n drop your whole iTunes Music File into the iTunes window in order to have iTunes reference all your files and then, clean up the duplicates.
you may think of other way to go, but this will not be simple if you have a large library.

I imported a CD audio book into iTunes 11, searching says its there, but I cannot find it. It does appear in my iTunes music folder.

Using Audiobook builder I imported an audiobook CD into iTunes 11. I can see it in my iTunes music folder on the hard drive, searching in iTunes 11 says its there, but in either the albums or list, it does not appear. I have successfully imported many CDs using Audiobook Builder before, but with this particulary book I have this problem.
Any ideas anyone ?

The missing file thing happens if the file is no longer where iTunes expects to find it. Possible causes are that you or some third party tool has moved, renamed or deleted the file, or that the drive it lives on has had a change of drive letter. It is also possible that iTunes has changed from expecting the files to be in the pre-iTunes 9 layout to post-iTunes 9 layout,or vice-versa, and so is looking in slightly the wrong place.
At guess you've used a different profile name. Files inside the media folder have survied the transfer, but those outside are expected to be on the same absolute file paths, but no longer are.
Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Ctrl-I to get info, then cancel when asked to try to locate the track. Look on the summary tab for the location that iTunes thinks the file should be. Now take a look around your hard drive(s). Hopefully you can locate the track in question. If a section of your library has simply been moved, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions.
Alternatively, as long as you can find a location holding the missing files, then you should be able to use my FindTracks script to reconnect them to iTunes.
tt2

Drag and Drop Music folder to iTunes Media folder?

My HDD lacks the space for running "Consolidating Files" (File->Library->Organize Library->Consolidate Files), since iTunes doesn't move the items but rather copies them to iTunes Media. My goal is to have the Music folder live inside the iTunes Media folder. Can I drag and drop the Music folder into iTunes Media? Any adverse consequences for doing this? I am trying to straighten my iTunes folder and file structure. As it is now, in addition to what I mentioned, the *library.xml and other related files are living inside the iTunes Media folder but I believe those should reside under the iTunes folder. How do I get them back out there? Does any of this reorganization matter? Everything displays just fine in the iTunes browser. Thank you for your help.

ohneSchatten wrote:
My HDD lacks the space for running "Consolidating Files" (File->Library->Organize Library->Consolidate Files), s
Where are these files now if not inside the itunes media folder?
since iTunes doesn't move the items but rather copies them to iTunes Media.
Correct. Any music now in iTunes should be in /Music/iTunes/iTunes media/ folder.
Are you looking to add more music to iTunes?
Do this...
Go to /Music/iTunes/iTunes media/ folder.
Find the Automatically add to iTunes folder and make a shortcut on the desktop.
Drag songs here. This will add to iTunes and move, not copy, the song to the iTunes folder.
I am trying to straighten my iTunes folder and file structure. As it is now, in addition to what I mentioned, the *library.xml and other related files are living inside the iTunes Media folder but I believe those should reside under the iTunes folder. How do I get them back out there? Does any of this reorganization matter
Go to iTunes prefs > Advanced.
Makes sure the iTunes media folder location is set to /Music/iTunes/iTunes media/.
Uncheck Keep iTunes folder organized then click OK.
Then recheck Keep iTunes folder organized then click OK.

100's of titles in my iTunes music folder say streaming..

100's of titles in my iTunes music folder say streaming.. this is the folder that holds the music for the iphone, it shows me this when it (iphone) is connected to the mac. Thing is, there are the same songs in the folder, but with a size listed. How do I remove these from my iphone (or this folder to stop wanting to stream these)?
See the attached image for what I am referencing.. Thanks for any insight

Aha, a clean install of iTunes 9 (or upgrading to iTunes Media organisation) would have defaulted to the new *iTunes\iTunes Media* folder layout instead of *iTunes\iTunes Music*. Main differences are that iPod Games & iPhone/Touch Apps are moved inside the iTunes Media Folder rather than the top iTunes folder and music ends up in *iTunes\iTunes Media\Music\Artist\Album* as opposed to the old *iTunes\iTunes Music\Artist\Album* layout.
tt2

Where is the music in my "iTunes Music" folder?

Hi,
So, I have plenty of music being played in my iTunes, however, when I go to look in finder, under the iTunes Music folder, there is nothing. It's the newest version of iTunes.
Why is this?

Aha, a clean install of iTunes 9 (or upgrading to iTunes Media organisation) would have defaulted to the new *iTunes\iTunes Media* folder layout instead of *iTunes\iTunes Music*. Main differences are that iPod Games & iPhone/Touch Apps are moved inside the iTunes Media Folder rather than the top iTunes folder and music ends up in *iTunes\iTunes Media\Music\Artist\Album* as opposed to the old *iTunes\iTunes Music\Artist\Album* layout.
tt2

What is the "iTunes Music" folder for?

I am looking for confirmation that it is a folder dedicated to holding converted files that i already have stored on my pc, and not doubles... Converted from WMA to w/e

Here are typical layouts for the iTunes folders:
If you have upgraded from version 8 (or earlier) to iTunes 9 (or later) at some point, then your media folder (everything inside the red outline) may still be called *iTunes Music* instead of *iTunes Media*. The extra Music folder inside the media folder is used if you have allowed iTunes to *Upgrade to iTunes Media Organization* (iTunes 9) or used *File > Library > Organize Library > Reorganize files in the folder "iTunes Media"* (iTunes 10). Depending on your choices for *Keep iTunes Media folder organized* and *Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library* plus a little bug in which one build changed the name of the file storing the choice of layout it is quite easy for some of your files to be organized according to one layout and some the other.
Assuming you're happy letting iTunes organize your files the following steps should tidy things up (should it be necessary):
1. Select *File > Library > Organize Library... >* Tick *Reorganize files in the folder "iTunes Media"* and click OK. Skip if this option is greyed out (already upgraded) or you prefer the older layout.
2. Select *File > Library > Organize Library... >* Tick *Consolidate files* and click OK. This will bring any files currently organised outside the designated media folder into it.
NB This will create duplicate copies of any file that needs to be consolidated, and you will need to manually clean up afterwards. If space is at a premium try my scripts Unconsolidated to find out what would need moving and ConsolidatebyMoving to move rather than copy it.
3. Select *Edit > Preferences > Advanced* tab, uncheck *Keep iTunes Media folder organized* and click OK.
4. Select *Edit > Preferences > Advanced* tab, check *Keep iTunes Media folder organized* and click OK. This triggers iTunes into reorganizing everything according to your preferences.
5. (Optional) Close iTunes, rename the folder *iTunes Music* as *iTunes Media* then restart iTunes. Check under *Edit > Preferences > Advanced* tab that the location has automatically updated. If you can't access the media for any reason just undo the folder rename.
6. (Optional - Windows only) If Windows Media Player has ever had access to your files it may have liberally scattered folder artwork files about which iTunes won't tidy up when it reorganizes things, thus leaving behind a heap of folders with artwork and no media. I've written a script for cleaning this mess up which you can find at http://samsoft.org.uk/iTunes/CleanDeadArt.asp
PS If you really prefer the older layout, but it is already in the new one then edit the file called *.iTunes Preferences.plist* in your media folder and change the integer from 1 to 0 before doing step 3.
tt2

Rip CDs to a different location than the iTunes music folder?

I just got my first iPod about two weeks ago: a 32 GB Touch. It's awesome. I started ripping a ton of music to my PowerBook G4's 80 GB hard drive. Now it's running out of space. I was thinking of buying a USB external drive to store all the music I want, but I'm afraid the USB speed will cause trouble ripping CDs.
So, I was thinking I could rip the music to my desktop and then just copy it to the external drive. Is there any way to do this in iTunes? Rip here and play from there? Of course, I know I could just change the setting for the music folder in iTunes each time, but that seems a little more tedious than merely copying.

This all hinges on the precise sequence and nature of CD rips in iTunes. If you rip a whole CD, then my assumption is (I don't know 100% about all these steps) :
1. the read is local, from the CD drive
2. the conversion of a particular track is done in RAM
3. once a track is processed (and while the next one is being read and converted) it is written out to your Library.
This means that even with slow USB, iTunes can still read and convert a track, while writing the previous track to disk. But I don't know what happens if iTunes finishes the second track while the first is still being written. I'm guessing that all converted tracks "back up" into a queue waiting to be written (hypothesis only - I have never been faced with this particular problem).

Moved iTunes music folder to HDD, Now iTunes Can't Find it--Help :-)

I finally was able to get an HDD that actually mounted and now I have moved my iTunes music folder based on the instructions here: iTunes: Moving your iTunes Music folder. I printed them out and followed them step-by-step.
Before moving the folder iTunes Music from my internal HD (~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music) to the trash, I played random tracks with no problem. So I moved the folder to the trashcan, then emptied the trash as instructed. Went back to iTunes to play some music, and now all of my tracks have the dreaded exclamation point in the first column. When I click on a track to play it, I get the message "The song 'blah blah blah' could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?"
Of course, I can select 'Yes' and go through the steps and locate the files on my HDD. This, however, is not an optimal process with over 2400 songs. Does anyone know what went wrong with my relocation?
Melissa
PowerBook G4 PowerPC Mac OS X (10.4.8) iPod 30G, MyBook 250GB HDD, iTunes 7.1.1

I've used that method to transfer music from one drive to another literally dozens of times and never seen it fail in the way you experienced. I'm at a loss to explain how you could have followed the instructions, successfully transfer the music to the new drive, and yet have the iTunes database still think the music should be on the original drive.
What I can suggest are two solutions: One for it you don't care about keeping your playlists, rankings, and playcounts intact. The other for if you do care.
Fast fix but loses the meta data: Quit iTunes. Open your home directory, find the music folder and open it. Trash everything you see in your music folder and restart iTunes. All your music and playlists will be gone. Open your new drive on the desktop, find the folder with your music, and drag it into your iTunes window. Your music will be imported into a new iTunes catalog and then you can create your playlists.
Keeping the metadata: After quitting iTunes, move the music back to its original location by dragging the music folder(s). Unmount the new drive and play some music. Remember the songs you clicked on and showed iTunes how to find? Do those songs all over again and once you've verified the iTunes library now points to all the songs properly, delete the songs from the new drive and repeat the steps to move them again.

ITunes Music Folder organization

Hey. I have all my albums stored in a My Music folder, some are labelled fully (Artist - Album) as the folder name, while others are simply the artist, the album or what have you. As I load new albums onto my computer, I just do a manual "add folder to iTunes" each time. I checked both Keep ITunes Music Folder Organized and Copy Files to iTunes Music Folder when Adding, and it prompts me to copy all the files over. I've tried this a few times, using My Music as the folder, and other locations, but it only ever copies like, ten of my three-hundred odd albums.. I want it to copy ALL my music and organize it accordingly, but it won't.. What gives?

Hi Jen, welcome to discussions
iTunes always manages the music folder in that way (\[artistname]\[albumname]\[title]).
To keep it from splitting up your albums with several different artist, check "part of a compilation" in the info tab (right-click->get info). Now those albums will appear in one folder (\compilations\[albumname]\[title])

ITunes Music Folder Organization Inproperly

After I imported music of the album "Wings Of Song", by James Galway, from my removable hard disk to "iTunes Music Folder" and had iTunes organized it, I discovered something that's a little bit wierd. All the music I just imported is put under the folder Compilation\Wings of Song. This means that when iTunes organizing the music folder, it unexpectedly "thought" all these music are by the artist Compilation. What is the reason? Could anyone tell me why? Thank you!

The Compilation directory is how iTunes organizes albums that Gracenote (CDDB) considers works of various artists or collections of songs from the same artist, but differing albums (like "Best Of's" or "Greatest Hits").
The CDDB is not always consistent, as some Greatest Hits are marked as compilations and others are not. This really irked me in the beginning as I was wondering why some of my albums went missing. At first I tried to manually reorganize and move the files, but it was cumbersome. I stumbled on the "Compilations" function and it made things much easier.
For instance, if you have a Greatest Hits album of U2 sitting in the Compilations directory and would rather have it under the U2 directory (where I feel it better belongs), you would perform the process outlined below and the album and songs would move to its "improved" location.
That's why you have folders in your Compilations directory. Some you may wish to keep there, some you may want to move to a more appropriate place. This is how. Try moving some of them to their Artist's folder (if you have any that would qualify).
First check your Preferences:
-- Advanced/General: Keep iTunes Music folder organized (on)
-- Advanced/General: Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library (off) - change it back to 'on' after the song switch, if you want
To move an Album from the Compilations folder after it was imported from a CD (or otherwheres):
-- Highlight the collection of songs on that CD within the main Library
-- Right-click, 'Get Info'
-- Remove the 'Part of Compilation' check-mark - turn it to 'no'
-- Click 'OK'
iTunes will reorganize your PC folder structure, moving the songs from the Compilation folder to their Artist folder.
To defeat a Compilation designation prior to ripping the tracks from a CD, go to 'Get Info' on the CD and make sure that the 'Part of Compilation' box is not checked. This will keep the album under its designated Artist folder.
This is how I keep my music organized. I only want 'true' compilations under the Compilations folder, not some of the Artist's 'Greatest Hits'. You may have other desires.

"iTunes music" folder inside "iTunes"

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for