When importing songs into iTunes, the software by default is set to copy the music files to the iTunes media folder and convert them to .m4a format. This, of course, results in having two copies of each song after the import is done. Before I disable this option I'd like to know what you think are the pros and cons of having this option enabled/disabled.
View 5 RepliesI am still pretty new to Mac and OSX and i had a question about itunes.
Ok, So if i add say 1 album and 1 Movie. Lets say the the album is in My Music folder and the Movie is in My Movies folder.
Now if i go to add to library in iTunes and add them then i am done. If i go and delete the 2 files from the folders i notice that the album and movie is still in itunes and still playable? How is that if i deleted them from the folders on my Mac?
Does iTunes actually COPY the movie and music i add to its own folder? so that way if i do delete it from my mac, its still in a iTunes folder somewhere?
Like with windows, WMP copies the location of that media, So if i add a album and later delete it from my PC and go and try to play it in WMP, it will say NOT FOUND or just no longer show it.
Reason i ask this is because i do not want to have double of everything on my HD and take up more space then i should...
I have music files in both media folder and on another drive, not copied to media folder. I know I can highlight and delete individual and multiple files in iTunes. Time consuming.What i'd really like to do is tell iTunes I want it to only see the files in my media folder.I want undo what I did when I told it to bring these other files into the library.
Info:Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8)
My internal hard drive is FULL so I am planning to relocate the entire iTunes media folder of music and movies to an external hard drive. I found this article which describes the exact process:Â
[URL]
But here is my problem... Step 11 starts me down the path of organizing the library and consolidating the library. Keep in mind, I have long used the option to keep my media organized by Apple's naming convention and suggested location. But when it comes to consolidating, I am very hesitant. The reason being, I have media files, which I do not want to incorporate into iTunes. Like stuff relating to old jobs, my own crappy mp3 files, home movies of the kids, etc. I fear that consolidation will seek out every possible media file which iTunes is capable of reading and suck it inside. I do not want that. All my media files for iTunes are already inside the iTunes Media folder. I just want to move that external.Â
Another important goal for me is to maintain my precious playlists and the "date added" of all existing media files in the iTunes library... I love sorting music by date of purchase (or date encoded) and would be VERY upset to lose my long history.Â
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imac, Mac OS X (10.6.7)
I had deleted my files from iTunes media folder, but as luckily I had the same files located in other place I just copied them to the iTunes Media but iTunes rejects to play them (in my iTunes Library). I'm only able to play them if I go through the procedure as followings: Play - "iTunes unable to open this file because the original file not found. Do you want to find it?" (or smith like that) - Find - Open and then it plays, but I have to perform these actions with every file separately and I have quite a lot of them. Oh, and after that first popping-up window the next one appears "Would you like iTunes to find other missing files from the same location as [the file's name]?" But when I click on "Find" it says "iTunes were unable to find other missing files". Why? How do I accomplish the same task but with all my albums at once without necessity to add them one by one? Does there some way exists to tie the tracks from my albums with original files without importing them to my iTunes library?Â
Info:
MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)
I had all of my iTunes music files stored on an external HD, which I used whenever I used iTunes. Maybe 200GB worth of tunes.I now have a new MacBook Pro, and I would like to import all of those music files to the internal HD of this laptop.So, without fishing around in the ancient old system for the Library file... I'd like to start fresh. I have no interest in keeping any ratings or play counts of the tunes. Do I simply go to the Add To Library command under the File menu, and select the iTunes Music folder on the external HD? Will this copy over my entire collection, and build a new Library file? Will my music library appear the same as it was before, in the iTunes application window? I imagine that this operation will take a bit of time. I seem to recall doing something like this, years ago, and noticing that the copying process missed entire albums etc.
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MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.4), 2.6GHz, 8GB RAM
Yesterday I made a copy of my itunes folder to store on my HD. I have until now stored all iphoto, music, vids folders on external drives in case something went wrong with my imac. Lesson learnt it happened to me as my external drive crashed and I lost it all. To solve the prob, I want copies on both external and the imac HD. Â
Now when I open itunes...everythign has gone. Its as if I have a brand new itunes oporating.( I did have the most up to date version before this all happned) I have redirected the path(in preferences) to the new location and checked it both ways with the old and new copies but now none work.Â
I also went to a randon song in the folder and tried to play it but it would not even play. It as if the path has gone Â
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iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
I recently changed the iTunes Media Folder default location to a different area on my drive. I waited a couple minutes and the files did not move. I was unaware you had to go into your settings and also select to consolodate files. Since the files didn't move I reselected my default location and kept trying to go back and forth a couple times. After letting it sit for a couple more minutes I noticed over 200 GB's of files were missing. I looked in each folder I tried to change the default Media Folder location to but they were not in either of them. I have also ran multiple system file recover programs and been unable to find them.Â
Info:
MacBook
Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
I have a number of iTunes libraries, and for the "supplementary" ones, I set the preferences so that iTunes does not copy the media to the Library, instead it just references it.Usually the original media is on a disk other than the one the Library is located on.However I have noticed that when I do this, and add media to the Library, it changes the modification date of all the original media files. This is very impolite and improper behaviour. Why does iTunes change the modification date? For a start, all my backups are made out of sync, because they now think these files have been changed when they haven't.Is there any way to stop this and make iTunes play nice?I haven't tried making the files "read only" but frankly one should not need to do that to avoid the problem (and maybe iTunes would spit the dummy with read only files?).
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Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 2 x 2.66 Dual Core
I have a MacBook Pro that I had four multi-user accounts on. One of them got corrupted, so that one was deleted and another account was opened. I want to get all the old iTunes songs out of the corrupted user folder and put them in the new account iTunes folder.Do I just drag the whole old iTunes folder into the Music folder of new user?letting it overwrite the existing iTunes folder? If I overwrite the new iTunes folder with the old iTunes folder, will it delete whatever I downloaded in the new iTunes since, or meld the old and new together? How do I keep from deleting newer songs and still keep the iTunes library or directories, or whatever, intact?Â
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Mac Pro 2 x 2.26 Quad-Core Intel Xeon, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 16Gb Ram
Is it possible to copy/export/burn a TV show from iTunes to an external media (DVD disk, memory stick, etc) such that it can be played on a different computer? I'm starting to think the answer is 'no', based on other discussions here, but thought I'd ask in case I'd missed something.
View 1 Replies View RelatedI have a new iMac with an SSD and a 1TB second drive. I backup the iMac 2nd hard drive to an portable external drive so I can carry my entire iMac file storage on an extended trip...5 months. What is the easy way of connecting my MBP iTunes app to the iTunes on the portable exernal hard drive so I can access stored movies, music etc.
Info:Mac OS X (10.7.3), Nikon Cameras, 2MacBook Pro, ApTV
My computer was full so I moved my iTunes media folder to a 3T time capsule following the 15 steps from the article ïTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media Folder", everything went smoothly, no problems when I reopened iTunes, tested on a song, a tv episode and a movie to make sure I could watch them and no ! symbol or warning appeard. Afterwards, I downloaded an episode from the iTunes store and when I tried to watch it appears a warning "THIS MOVIE REQUIRES QUICKTIME WICH IS NOT SUPPORTED BY THIS VERSION OF ITUNES", I checked iTunes version (10.6.1) and Quicktime (no updates available).
View 4 Replies View RelatedI have 100% of my songs for iTunes stored on a USB Hard Drive.
I dont let iTunes organise my library, nor copy to iTunes library when adding
The default iTunes Media Folder is located on this drive where about 70% of the songs are (songs that have been ripped from CD or downloaded.
My USB HD was plugged in correctly, but a song couldnt be found...so I tried another and it found it straight away...odd
I then hit 'Get Info' on the bad songs, and the location that Itunes was looking in, was changed to a new Default iTunes Music Folder on my Macs drive
Very strange as I have never known iTunes to change the location of a file before within the library?
Ive come to the conclusion that it was only the files that were stored in the Default iTunes Media Folder that coudnt be found.
So I then checked in preferences, to see where the Default iTunes Music Folder was, and it was on my Macs Drive, instead of the USB drive (possibly due to starting iTunes up, without my HD plugged in)
Changed this back to location on my USB Hard Drive, and all of a sudden iTunes re-writes my library to show all the files in the correct position again! Ive never known it do this before on my PC, is it a new feature?
I just noticed that instead of the normal iTunes folder structure in my home dir of Music/iTunes/iTunes Music now the iTunes Music folder as well as the Mobile Applications folder have been copied into a new folder called iTunes Media. Is this something to do with iTunes 9 or Snow Leopard. Also what folders are safe for me to delete? Because everything has been duplicated I am wasting about 30gb of my hard drive and I'd like the space back.
View 1 Replies View RelatedI want to duplicate my iTunes media folder onto my new MacBook from my desktop Mac. Can I hook computers together and move it or is there more to it than that?
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iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.2)
My iTunes media folder location is set to my iTunes media folder, which is stored on my external hard drive connected to my network via aiport extreme router. The problem is everytime I turn my mac off and back on my iTunes reverts the location back to my itunes media folder on my mac and I have to manually set it back to my itunes media folder on my external hard drive. Why does it keep changing?
Info:
MacBook Pro (13-inch Late 2011)
I have about 250GB of music in my iTunes Music folder, too much for any of my player devices with the exception of the computer itself. The "iTunes Music" folder is located on an external drive. I want to create multiple libraries to simplify syncing with individual devices, named something like "Nano silver 16", "classic 160", "iPhone", "iPad", etc. I know how to create the new libraries from info at: [URL] Questions:3) Is there a way to switch the "iTunes Music" folder to sort by album, (instead of by artist, then album, which lists each individual song of a compilation (Greatest Hits of...". "soundtrack", "duets..., etc. in separate folders with one song each). Royal pain! 2) How do I populate the individual libraries from my media folder once I have created them? I can't find any info to do this. Am I right that these just reference the real files, and don't duplicate them in a new location/folder? I don't want to increase the space taken up by new library files. 3) Where should all of the library files live to make it easy to find and switch from one to another? At present, I have to check/uncheck individual files to sync onto separate devices, and this becomes impossible with so much to begin with. --WWmac mini, OS 10.7.4, iTunes 10.6.1Â
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Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.7.4)
Generally you have itunes/itunes media/music and all your stuff is in there but on this iMac with lion, there is not a 'music' folder in itunes media. i cannot find my music anywhere.
Info:iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
I renamed certain tracks in iTunes 11 with macbook pro retina,I then tried and lookup the same song in finder,it shows the same old file name before the change.
How can I make the iTunes media version of the song change the same name I have in iTunes.
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MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013), OS X Mavericks (10.9.4), late 2013 mac book pro retina
I tried to consolidate iTunes to the default media folder but when I click ok nothing happens. It worked once before but doesn't now. I have the latest iTunes...
Info:
iPod classic, Windows 7
I use an Apple T.V. and I keep all my media for it on an External Hard Drive. Is there any way to add files to iTunes from the External without actually transferring them into the iTunes media folder - and without having to change the "copy to iTunes Folder" setting in preferences back and forth as I do want certain media such as songs to be moved into my iTunes media folder? In previous versions of Mac OS X there used to be a keyboard shortcut that would accomplish this. If you held down (either control or option) can't remember which it would import the media into iTunes but not transfer it to iTunes media folder. It would sort of import a "shortcut" to the desired media into your iTunes library.
Info:
MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)
I have recently started using a Time Capsule with an external hard drive attached. I have moved my music and video to the external hard drive to free up space on my MacBook Pro hard drive. I have set up iTunes to play from the external hard drive (which works fine), however, although I have changed the location of the iTune media folder in Preferences it keeps reverting to the iTunes media folder on my Mac's hard drive.
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2)
I never really used the iTunes media folder system. All my music is on extrenal drive and I was only importing it into iTunes manually to keep my own folder system, for example once a week Ive created a folder with a date of creating and there I had all the releases from that week (some in their own folder or separately but all in this one folder named by a dat eof creation). So on my ext. drive I have lots of these folders by date. And the names of folder always correspond with the date added to iTunes as well..My ext. drive is full now. so Ive decided to take a next step and put out the dvd-rom and put another internal drive (1TB) into my macbook pro which will be used for music and movie data only (the system stays on the old one).What I want to do now is somehow move all these music folder to my new internal drive, so they can be accessed from iTunes without reseting all its features.
Ive read that one solution can be creating the new iTunes Media folder on that new drive and Consolidate all music from iTunes to this location. Problem is I cant even try it, because when go to iTunes Preferences to change the location of Media folder a hit Create after selectin the new location (new internal drive) after fee seconds the progress freezes and Activity Monitor says that iTunes are not responding. Ive tried to leave it for about half an hour and no changes, even tho theres not much to copy/move cause the Media folder has no music in it, only playlists etc. So question number one is - why its freezing? any other way to trasfer all my collection and keep its organiation as it is without loosing the iTunes list and be able to use it after transfer?
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MacBookPro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
I have imported my DVD collection into my hard drive so I can have the entire TV series on my Mac without swapping DVDs all the time (I want to access them via Front Row). Currently the format is AVI and cannot be imported into iTunes. I can however open the movie in quicktime, save as a reference file, then import into iTunes. However, this would take me hours and hours with my video library. If I convert them to *.mov format, it would also take hours and hours. I know there's a program called videodrive that will import them all, but I'd like to buy it only as a last resort. Surely there must be a way to do it via Automator or something?
View 8 Replies View RelatedI was working with my brother import his cds into Itunes on his new Mac. I told him to import them as AAC files, but unfortunately he thought I said AIFF. He has imported his whole collection at CD quality, but now his computer is nearly full with his Itunes library. Is there a way to move the files to another hard drive, then create a new Itunes library, and have Itunes convert the AIFF files to AAC files when you drag and drop them into a new library? Or does he need to re-import his whole cd collection? The other option I thought of is to export as AAC from Itunes?
Info:
Mac OS, Mac OS X (10.6.7)
Ive just installed Windows 7 via Bootcamp on a MacBook. When I go into 'Computer' in Windows, I can see my Macintosh HD drive and most of its contents, some pics and other folders etc are all viewable and draggable into Windows. What im thinking now is, can I setup iTunes or even Media Player to see my iTunes library on the Mac side without actually copying it to Windows?
Ive been searching for the Library whilst in Windows but cant find it.
I am adding audio files to make a audiobook. I can get the files to the audiobook, but I have like 11 sections to a book. How can all I make the 11 chapter go under 1 icon or folder like other audiobooks?
View 5 Replies View RelatedI'm wondering if anyone else has this problem? Whenever I import a cd into iTunes, or convert a track to a different bit rate, it literally uses all my computer's memory/CPU. I cannot use the computer for anything else during this time as it's far far too slow, to the point where programs won't even open. This wasn't always the case, but it seems with each new version of iTunes it becomes worse and worse. I import at a pretty low bitrate 128 mp3. I am only trying to surf the net when I'm importing, I'm not doing anything else or using/running any other programs. If I do try to use another program (like my email program - outlook) it will barely open, takes forever to do anything, and wants to freeze. I can't use Microsoft Word because typing anything is impossible. Massive lag before the typed words show up.
View 6 Replies View RelatedI have an iTunes playlist with 20GB of music inside, which I'd like to copy to a memory stick of mine. With small playlists (100 songs or so), I just select all songs in the playlist (CMD+A) and drag them into a folder, and that's that. But with a playlist with about 20GB of music, this doesn't seem to work. It seems like it's starting to copy all the files, but about a minute later, it just aborts the action without an error message of any kind. Does anybody know how I can accomplish this?
View 1 Replies View Related