[juice]

So I am still in the process of transferring files from my old PC to my new MacBook Pro. I already have some semblance of an iTunes library that I've already started rating and sorting into playlists.

I've designated my iTunes library to a specific "My Music" folder on an external HD.

Now suppose I add more music (I have a couple thousand to add from my old PC still) to that folder. If I go to iTunes and add music (I forget the technical term, but I think it is apple+O) and add the entire "My Music" folder, what will happen?

Will I get duplicates of songs I've already imported?
Will it overwrite the old songs with new songs and erase playcounts?

Any help is appreciated.

[fiveightandten]

Originally Posted by juice

So I am still in the process of transferring files from my old PC to my new MacBook Pro. I already have some semblance of an iTunes library that I've already started rating and sorting into playlists.

I've designated my iTunes library to a specific "My Music" folder on an external HD.

Now suppose I add more music (I have a couple thousand to add from my old PC still) to that folder. If I go to iTunes and add music (I forget the technical term, but I think it is apple+O) and add the entire "My Music" folder, what will happen?

Will I get duplicates of songs I've already imported?
Will it overwrite the old songs with new songs and erase playcounts?

Any help is appreciated.

If you go to Preferences>Advanced>General you can choose whether iTunes will make a copy of each imported file into the folder for the library it's 'running off', or if it will just 'point' to an existing file.

iTunes will never overwrite files, persay. You'll just wind up with 2 of the same thing.

In addition, it may be helpful to you to know that you can create new libraries or choose which library you want it to 'run off' by holding down the option button when you open iTunes. I've used this feature to merge/organize libraries before.

Hope that helps.

-Nick

[juice]

Originally Posted by fiveightandten

If you go to Preferences>Advanced>General you can choose whether iTunes will make a copy of each imported file into the folder for the library it's 'running off', or if it will just 'point' to an existing file.

iTunes will never overwrite files, persay. You'll just wind up with 2 of the same thing.

In addition, it may be helpful to you to know that you can create new libraries or choose which library you want it to 'run off' by holding down the option button when you open iTunes. I've used this feature to merge/organize libraries before.

Hope that helps.

-Nick

Thanks for the reply. Is there a way to not wind up with 2 of the same thing, as you say? I don't want to go through and delete a ton of duplicates.

Here's a different way of phrasing it:

I already have iTunes set to not copy to the library. There is only one file for each song. If I import a song twice, will I get two records of it in iTunes, even though it is only on my HD once?

[The Vindicat3d]

Originally Posted by juice

Thanks for the reply. Is there a way to not wind up with 2 of the same thing, as you say? I don't want to go through and delete a ton of duplicates.

Here's a different way of phrasing it:

I already have iTunes set to not copy to the library. There is only one file for each song. If I import a song twice, will I get two records of it in iTunes, even though it is only on my HD once?

I'm not positive, but I think the answer is yes :/, you could try deleting your current library and than importing the entire library again, with the new songs and what not.

[louishen]

I have lost track of the amount of time I have answered this question, good that I now have a folder on my drive called common answers

To copy your itunes library to the external drive choose consolidate library from the Advanced Menu. This will copy all your itunes media to the external and link the itunes library file to it

Now if you you keep the Keep Itunes organised and copy to music folder checked in the advanced preferences, new songs will be copies to the external

The music will now be on the external while the library file (the index as it were) will still be in the Users > Music folder of your mac

If you want this library file on the external as well, copy it to the external drive, start itunes with the alt key pressed and you see this screen:



Select the library file you just copied to the external and now both your music and the library are on the external

You can now delete the stuff off your mac

You can also use the choose library dialogue to switch between your large music collection on the external and a smaller music folder on the mac if you wish

[juice]

Originally Posted by louishen

I have lost track of the amount of time I have answered this question, good that I now have a folder on my drive called common answers

To copy your itunes library to the external drive choose consolidate library from the Advanced Menu. This will copy all your itunes media to the external and link the itunes library file to it

Now if you you keep the Keep Itunes organised and copy to music folder checked in the advanced preferences, new songs will be copies to the external

The music will now be on the external while the library file (the index as it were) will still be in the Users > Music folder of your mac

If you want this library file on the external as well, copy it to the external drive, start itunes with the alt key pressed and you see this screen:



Select the library file you just copied to the external and now both your music and the library are on the external

You can now delete the stuff off your mac

You can also use the choose library dialogue to switch between your large music collection on the external and a smaller music folder on the mac if you wish

Thanks for responding, but I think I may not have been clear enough about what I want, or maybe I am misunderstanding your solution.

I already have my library set up how I want it to be set up. I want to add a ton of music to this library folder. So I've simply copied the files to that library folder. However, if I go to reimport that entire library folder to iTunes, I'm going to lose my playcounts & playlists, is that correct?

I would like a way around that. The file count is too large for me to hunt and peck and manually add only the new ones.

Other music managers have a function that basically monitors your music library folder. Each time it boots up, it checks its library against your hard drive. If songs are in your library, but not your HD, then they will be removed. If new songs appear on your HD, they will be added to the library. However, duplicates will never be added.

Maybe I am just being thick-headed and not understanding how the Mac works?

[louishen]

Well you can just set the location of your folder to an external in the preferences and disable the manage my itunes folder option

But the consolidate option will not destroy playlists and counts, but you will end up with 2 music collections, one of which you can delete when you think things are running well.

Try the consolidate option and see how it goes, but back-up your library XML file first so that you can switch back if things do not work out

[juice]

After some searching, I came across this:

http://lifehacker.com/software/itune...ers-175161.php

That seems to describe my problem perfectly, but the solution is for Windows...

[MacFanBoy]

Just import them all.
iTunes has an option to show and delete duplicates.