Organising iTunes library

Currently digitising my vinyl collection, very successfully so far but one album has been split into three in iTunes. Can I get the tracks together? Track numbers, album and artist name all correct. Any advice appreciated and many thanks in advance!

Thanks. I suppose I really ought to shell out for a security certificate and go to https. As for Norton it probably flags up anything with a link to .vbs files. Again I could wrap them up in .zip files but I can't see how that really helps. The scripts are plain text files. Anyone can inspect them for malicious intent before use, which is more than you get from a compiled exe file. I've other things to worry about at the moment but I'll see if I can find out how to get Norton to remove its suspect rating.
McAfee is happy, http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/samsoft.org.uk
Norton, not so... http://safeweb.norton.com/report/show?url=samsoft.org.uk
tt2

Similar Messages

Re-organising iTunes library.

hi.
ive been doing loads of deleting from my itunes library and i now notice i have 62GB. my iTunes folder in users>myname>music says 245GB.
is there a way to 're-save' or 're-organise' my library so i get rid of the extra 183GB that i dont need anymore?
thanks!

hi.
ive been doing loads of deleting from my itunes library and i now notice i have 62GB. my iTunes folder in users>myname>music says 245GB.
is there a way to 're-save' or 're-organise' my library so i get rid of the extra 183GB that i dont need anymore?
thanks!

HT1449 Organising Itunes Library

Is there anyway I can organise my itunes media folder so my movies are in one location (external hardrive) and my music is in another (my macbook hardrive)?
Thanks

I would like to do something similar, I have a lot of music on my computer in MP3 and AAC format, but would like a duplicate set in AIFF format (non compressed orignal CD) that I can play through my apple TV that is connected to my audio system. What is the best way to do this?
Thanks,
dk

How do i get my music on my ipod back into my itunes library,as i organised my library?

i recently organised my library,and all my music is gone from my library,but is still on my ipod.can i get my music on my ipod back in to my library?

Read this on how to do that https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3141

How to share itunes library with multiple users, and keep organised

Hi,
I'm using iTunes (v12) on Windows 7 and am trying to set myself up so that multiple users on this PC are sharing the same library. I've followed the guidance mentioned on a couple of other threads, and put the library in the Users\Public\Music location, and on each user account have pointed iTunes to this location. This has worked OK, as both users can see all the music.
However, problems arise when User A deletes a couple of files (duplicates for example) - User B logs in, and the song is still listed in the library, but with an alert stating the original file cannot be located. They then have to go through the library and also delete these entries. Equally, if User B adds some music files (as opposed to iTunes downloads), they are not visible to User A until they "Add file to library..."
Are there any further steps that I can take to keep both users views of the library identical, without manual intervention by the second user whenever the first makes a change?
Cheers,
Matt

The way you've set it up each user has a distinct library, but is accessing a common set of media files and folders. To accomplish what you want, you need to have a complete iTunes library (database + media) in a common location - typically this would be C:\Users\Public\Music\iTunes. See turingtest2's notes on Make a split library portable for the steps that may be needed to bring your library into a suitable structure. Based on your description, you'll need to select one user's library (C:\Users\username\Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl) to act as the shared "master" and move this to the Public folders.
Then, for each user, hold down SHIFT while starting iTunes - when you get this prompt:
click on Choose Library..., navigate to C:\Users\Public\Music\iTunes, select the iTunes Library.itl file you'll find there, and click Open (you'll only need to do this once for each user account).
Note, though, that iTunes is inherently a single-user application - any attempts to run iTunes at the same time will cause errors (and, in the worst case, possible corruption). For this reason, its a good idea to disable fast user switching in Windows so that only one user can be logged in, and running iTunes, at the same time.

Organising your iTunes library and iPod Classic

Morning all,
I recently bought an iPod Classic that I sync with the iTunes library on my PowerBook. My iTunes library is meticulously - some might say obsessively - maintained, but the synced version on my iPod has some irritating deviations.
For example, I have a DJ mix album; all the songs are credited (under 'Artist') to the performer, while the 'Album Artist' (and the sort field for both the Artist and Album Artist) are set as the DJ who mixed it. Yet on my iPod in Cover Flow view, I have a dozen versions of the album credited to the individual artists. The Compilation box is checked. Any suggestions as to how I set the track info to display this as a single album?
Also, I have another album that appears twice in Cover Flow on the iPod. This album information in iTunes is consistent - no rogue spaces, differences in capitalisation or punctuation. In fact, in iTunes Cover Flow, the album only appears once. Any guesses?
All the relevant software is up to date.
Any suggestions appreciated.

Hi,
Thanks for your suggestion. I do have Compilations checked in both the menus you suggest, however, as far as I am aware, that merely toggles the Compilation heading on and off in the Main or Music menu; it doesn't have a bearing on where it's listed in Cover Flow. Or am I wrong?
I can't find a logic to the sort order. As an example, I have Version by Mark Ronson (I know, I know - we all make impulsive buys we regret), with metadata as follows:
Artist - <various, usually Mark Ronson feat. such-and-such>
*Album Artist* - Mark Ronson
Album - Version
*Sort Album Artist* - Mark Ronson
*Sort Album* - <blank>
*Sort Artist* - <blank>
This album lists 'correctly' under Cover Flow, i.e. all tracks grouped under a single 'Mark Ronson' heading. Conversely, Overdrive by Aphrodite is all over the place with the following metatags
Artist - <various>
*Album Artist* - Aphrodite
Album - Overdrive
*Sort Album Artist* - Aphrodite
*Sort Album* - <blank>
*Sort Artist* - Aphrodite
I can't work out why one should list as I want and the other one as several versions of the album by different artists.
If it is just a software oversight, okay. But it'd be nice if they sorted it in an upcoming release.
Thanks for your responses!

PLEASE HELP! Itunes library gone but music still on iPod

I recently have started organising my 'my music' files and deleting folders with more than 3 copies of songs, I have a lot of music 2500 songs and opened up itunes and all music I have imported (not bought) has gone, my music is still on my ipod though but I'm too scared to sync it in case all my music has gone, I still have my original music in 'my music' file but it's not shown up on library as usual PLEASE HELP!

See Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
tt2

How do I import an iTunes library from an external drive if that drive has been simply removed from a dead computer, without prior measures being taken to ensure it is possible to transfer the library over?

Basically, my issue here is, I had a fully functioning iTunes on my previous Acer laptop which I used to store my music for my iPhone, I have over 2000 songs on this iTunes and as the laptop suddenly died due to motherboard failure, there was no way to follow out the instructions given by apple on how to properly transfer one iTunes library to another.
The only source of music I have comes from source files on the HDD, which, stupidly I chose to organise myself.
A large quantity of this music was deleted from the iTunes library but stayed on the HDD in the source folders (I do not know why)
By simply dragging my music folder from my HDD to a new iTunes, all the files do go over, however many of them are duplicated (due to 320>120 bit rate MP3 creations) and a number of them are simply not wanted.
Is there a way to transfer my old library straight into this new one? bearing in mind I have all the program files and everything that had iTunes running on my old computer stored onto this USB drive?
Thank you!

When I have done this, all I did was network the two machines and copy the contents of the iTunes folder to the other machine, and that's it.
My understanding (which may not be 100% correct) is that the one file that is absolutely necessary is iTunes Library, and that the XML file is actually a copy auto-generated from the iTunes Library, appearing in a different format only for non-iTunes apps that take advantage of the iTunes Library data.
As far as I know, if you simply have the Library (database) file and all your original music files, iTunes on that computer should operate as it did on your old computer. I believe that the Album Artwork, Genius Data, and XML files can be regenerated from the Library file. Not sure about the Extras file.

How do I back-up my itunes library in newest version of itunes?

How do I back-up my itunes library in newest version of itunes?

Fast backup for iTunes library (Windows)
Grab SyncToy 2.1, a free tool from MS. This can be used to copy your entire iTunes library (& other important data folders) onto another hard drive or network share. You can then use SyncToy periodically to synchronise or echo your library to the backup. A preview will show which files need to be updated giving you a chance to spot unexpected changes and during the run only the new or updated files will be copied saving lots of time.
If your media is all organised below the main iTunes folder then you should also be able to open the backup library on any system running the same version of iTunes, regardless of the drive letter or path it appears on.
Step-by-step guide to using SyncToy.
tt2

How do I move my iTunes Library from one PC to another when all my actual songs live on an external hard-drive?

Need to transfer my iTunes from one Win7 laptop to a new one. The trick is that all my music files live on an external hard drive, which I also use for Home Media Server use (iTunes only has a portion of my full collection under management for use on my iPhone).
I don't want to consolidate the music files to the My Music folder (which almost all tutorials say is the first step to transfer the library) - I want to keep them on the external drive. I want to retain my playlists mainly, as well as things like Podcasts which are unique to the iPhone.
How does one accomplish this?
Thanks in advance!!
-Matt
Columbus, Ohio

OK. So your current media library is at C:\Users\Matt\Music\iTunes.
Your current media folder is C:\Users\Matt\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music.
Your library is in the old style layout.
The bulk of your media is at F:\MP3 and you're happy with the layout of it.
Are you OK with the media files moving to F:\iTunes\iTunes Media but otherwise retaining the same file & folder names they have now. If so carry on, otherwise I'll give you the steps for migrating the library without making it portable first, or indeed at all.
With iTunes closed backup the iTunes Library.itl file somewhere.
Open iTunes.
Open Edit > Preferences > Advanced tab. Check the media folder location is given as C:\Users\Matt\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music.
Make sure Keep iTunes Music folder organised and Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library are turned off.
Close preferences.
Use File > Organise Library > Rearrange files in the folder iTunes Music. This will pull the files in the Mobile Applications folder into your current media folder and tell iTunes you want to use the new layout in future for anything that it is managing, e.g. podcasts, apps etc. Exisitng content on F: won't be touched.
Open Edit > Preferences > Advanced tab. Change the media folder location to F:\MP3. When you click OK you will be asked if you want to copy existing content to the new location. Click No.
Close iTunes. Reopen it. Check that media folder location is now correctly given as F:\MP3.
Use File > Organise Library > Consolidate files. This will pull any files that are outside F:\MP3 into it, but leave those that are already inside alone.
Close iTunes.
Copy the files iTunes Library.itl iTunes Library Extras.itdb iTunes Library Genius.itdb sentinel and the folder Album Artwork into F:\.
Click the icon to start iTunes and immediately press and hold down the shift key until asked to choose or create a library. Click choose and naviagate to the library file at F:\.
Test that the library works i.e. that your files play.
Close iTunes.
Create a folder called F:\iTunes.
Move the files iTunes Library.itl iTunes Library.xml iTunes Library Extras.itdb iTunes Library Genius.itdb sentinel and the folders Album Artwork & MP3 into F:\iTunes.
Click the icon to start iTunes and immediately press and hold down the shift key until asked to choose or create a library. Click choose and naviagate to the library file at F:\iTunes.
Test that the library works.
Close iTunes.
Rename F:\iTunes\MP3 as F:\iTunes\iTunes Media.
Open iTunes, test the library.
If at any stage the library won't play your media undo the preceeding step where this has involved moving or renaming files or use the shift-start-iTunes method to open the previous copy of the library.
If you've made it this far you can now connect this drive to your new computer and connect to the library with the shift-start-iTunes method without needing to worry which drive letter has been assigned. If your new machine has a big enough drive you can copy the entire iTunes folder to, say, C:\iTunes and it will just work, meaning that your external drive can function as a backup... You really should keep at least two copies of eveything.
Fast backup for iTunes library (Windows)
Grab SyncToy2.1, a free tool from MS. This can be used to copy your entire iTunes library (& other important data folders) onto another hard drive or network share. You can then use SyncToy periodically to synchronise or echo your library to the backup. A preview will show which files need to be updated giving you a chance to spot unexpected changes and during the run only the new or updated files will be copied saving lots of time. If your media is all organised below the main iTunes folder (which is the point of doing all the above) then you should also be able to open the backup library on any system running the same version of iTunes.
tt2

Moving an iTunes library from one computer to another that isn't consolidated

My iTunes library is made up of music from a variety of sources. This is due to the files being stored on a server and organised in folders in a particular way already.
I want to transfer my iTunes library to a brand new computer, but am aware it may have trouble remembering where the files are if they aren't consolidated. Any clues as the best way to do this?
The files are all stored on the server, but as said previously in various folders so the new computer will have access to all of them.
I have the 'copy files to itunes media folder when adding to library' setting switched OFF.
Thanks to anyone who can help.

Actually I would rather use my iPod, because this shouldn't be that hard. We'll just say, I have everything on my iPod from my former itunes library on my other computer...but every time it tells me to drag out the itunes folder from this computer and put it on the desktop, it just goes right back into the My Music folder before I can put the itunes folder from my ipod into the music folder. And even when I do, it asks if i would like to merge the folders...so what does that entail if i do?
This is between my new computer with vista and my old computer which has xp...so yeah.

How to move my iTunes library from Windows PC to new Mac

I have been using a PC running Microsoft Windows 7 64 bit for the last 12 months or so. I have now purchased a Mac. I want to move my iTunes library from the PC to the Mac.
The PC setup is running the latest version of iTunes for Windows, however, the music etc. is not stored in the default location, instead it is stored on an external HDD (it's approximately 700GB, so too large to have on the internal HDD).
Anyone know the best/easiest way to make the switch and in doing so maintain all my playlists etc.?

So, what I have done so far to try to achieve this is:
I have my Windows PC with it's NTFS formatted external HDD containing the music etc.
I have my Mac with a new external HDD formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
On the Windows PC:
* I opened up iTunes.
* Went into Preferences, and then under the Advanced tab I checked both 'Keep iTunes Media Folder Organised' and 'Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library', so that all the files would be in the main iTunes Media folder when I copy it over.
* Then File, Library, Organise Library and ticked the 'Consolidate Files' so that it moves any files that aren't in the right folder.
Next I copied the files over. So I copied the updated media folder from the NTFS (Windows) external HDD onto the Mac external HDD.
And I copied the files from in My Documents/Music/iTunes on the Windows PC to User/Music on the Mac.
But this doesn't seem to have done it.

How do I backup my iTunes library to an external drive?

Hi there,
Is there any way of backing up my itunes library direct to a backup device such as an external hard drive or online back up software? The only option I can see is to back up to disc but that will take 50 discs!

*Fast backup for iTunes library (Windows Only)*
Grab SyncToy 2.1, a free tool from MS. This can be used to copy your entire iTunes library (& other important data folders) onto another hard drive or network share. You can then use SyncToy periodically to synchronise or echo your library to the backup. A preview will show which files need to be updated giving you a chance to spot unexpected changes and during the run only the new or updated files will be copied saving lots of time. And if your media is all organised below the main iTunes folder then you should also be able to open the backup library on any system running the same version of iTunes.
tt2

Sharing an iTunes Library on one Mac?

I've one Mac on which Bob would like to use the
iTunes Library of Alice with Alice agreement.
Alice has already enabled the sharing on her account.
But Bob doesn't see anything when looking for shared
Libraries.
How is this possible?
dan

Josef Kowalewski wrote:
hI,
Tell Bob and Alice to follow Apple's advice - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93195
Thank you for this great piece of documentation
which help to find a path to stop stupid duplication
of huge libraries. A search within the Apple Support
with the string "Sharing iTunes Library same computer"
gave no useful information.
Now I have a mostly similar problem I don't find a
word about in the Apple web support.
Bob is able to add to his Library any number of
piece of musique from Alice. But when he wants to add some
albums, the albums aren't imported. The pieces
of musique included in all the albums are included
in the "Library" but the albums contents definitions
are lost.
How is it possible to access to a large set of
well organised albums from another user's account?
dan

How can I keep a backup copy of my iTunes library with tracks not coded and scrambled

I have about 80GB in my iTunes library and would like to keep a backup copy of all the music in folders under composers, without them being scrambled or any the numbers which are automatically placed in front of each track, which is what happens if I drag and drop them from iTunes. How can I achieve this?

Thaks for trying but this isn't relevant. I'm not refering to CDs or importing material. I have an iTunes library with nearly 20,000 tracks in it. It is also backed up with a straight copy of the entire works.
What I want to do is back up the whole lot in a package containing only the music under it's name and it's original track numbers. I can show best what I mean by dragging and dropping just two piano concertos out into an external folder.
e.g.
if this how they apper in my itunes play list
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2 - 1. (Allegro con brio)
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2 - 2. (Adagio)
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2 - 3. (Rondo_ Molto allegro)
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 - 1. Allegro Con Brio
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 - 2. Largo
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 - 3. Rondo_ Allegro
What I get when I drag these out into a folder on an expernal drive (or even on the desk top of my iMac) is this
01 Beethoven_ Piano Concerto No. 2 - 1. (Allegro con brio).m4a
01 Beethoven_ Piano Concerto No. 3 - 1. Allegro Con Brio.m4a
02 Beethoven_ Piano Concerto No. 2 - 2. (Adagio).m4a
02 Beethoven_ Piano Concerto No. 3 - 2. Largo.m4a
03 Beethoven_ Piano Concerto No. 2 - 3. (Rondo_ Molto allegro).m4a
03 Beethoven_ Piano Concerto No. 3 - 3. Rondo_ Allegro.m4a
You can imagine what a mess this is when I drag 20,000 tracks into an external backup folder. All the track ones (several thousand of them) of every piece in the entire collection will be listed first. And then all the track 2s.
I can't sort that out.
If there is a solution I think it possibly lies in the iTunes preference options. There is one, but I daren't try it for fear of unscrabbling the whole iTunes library and completely throwing all the play lists, folders and everything into a total unsorted mess. I refer to the tick box in the iTunes preference folder 'Keep iTunes media folder organised (places files into album and artist folders and names the files based on disk number, track number and song title)'
If I untick this would I unscramble years of carefully sorting disks as I imported them?

Organising iTunes library

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