To Let or Not to Let: ITunes Music Management

Through painful shortcommings in v.1 of I-Tunes when it was first released, I learned just to click on the "no" box when telling each new upgrade (for years now) NOT to "Automatically let Itunes management my music".
Given that we are all very PRO-Mac here and the tendency is to love most all Mac apps, i would really appreciate some critical/balanced praise for or reasons finally give this a try or continue to shy away.
I promised i've searched archives here and on the web to the best of my ability, but i would love someone to forward me to any PRO's -vs- CON's review or article that covers letting ITunes mananage one's music library.
Thanks for input gang!
-david

David
I found the way it was splitting up all my music into so many subfolders, etc. was bothersome.
Why bothersome? Like I say you NEVER need to go into the iTunes Music Folder. Everything you need to do, you do via the iTunes window.
There is NO conversion of file in any way when it imports? ...my file is 100% as it was, just a duplicate has been made?
That depends: Are you ripping CD's? then set your preferences to import as AIFF (unchanged) or mp3, aac or Lossless or whatever. Depending on which you choose there is or isn't conversion.
However, If you're bringing in already existing files then there is no conversion if you use the File -> Add to Library Command
So you move all your tunes onto back up media and just add to ITunes by IMPORTING, yes?
Again, I don't move any files. For instance, if I purchase music using this laptop, I can then put the music on a flash drive and pop it into the iMac across the room.
At iTunes I use the Add to Library command: iTunes copies the files to the iTunes Music Folder, adds the listing to the Library, and I make a playlist. When I'm sure it's all working, I trash the files on the flash drive. Later, I run my back up programme and it backs up the the lot.
If you have more questions... ask away.
Regards
TD

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Hello RumDog,
I think this article will help you find the media in your library.
Where are my iTunes files located?
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
Discovering and changing the iTunes Media folder location
Note: You would usually only change the iTunes Media folder location to share music between accounts on the same computer. See this article for specific steps on how to accomplish this. Also, see this article if you want to know how to move your music to a new computer.
Mac OS X: Click the iTunes menu and choose Preferences.
Windows: Click the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Click the Advanced pane. iTunes displays the location of your iTunes Media folder.
You can then:
Note where your media folder is, such as for backing up your media.
Use the Reset button to reset it's location to the default (which is the iTunes folder).
Click the Change button to select a folder for a new location. Once you change this location:
If you make a new or alternate iTunes library, the new location will be used by that library.
Existing files will not be moved unless you choose File > Library > Organize library and choose the option to "Consolidate files."
From: Where are my iTunes files located?
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
Cheers,
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Finding Files in iTunes Music folder that are not Listed in iTunes
Make 2 Smart Play Lists and 1 Static Playlist as follows:
1. Make a smart playlist called “All Files” with this rule: “Artist” is not “123456789″ (or any nonsense name that won’t be in your library).
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<Edited by Host>

From the top of the page where the scripts live...
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tt2

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To Let or Not to Let: ITunes Music Management

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