iTunes Folder Structure

[skiba]

Hi all, just getting used to using iTunes but have noticed that the folder structure it uses is horrible. I spent a long time organising mine into subfolders that I liked and would like to keep, is there any way to force it to use this?

Also, even better can I add folders to this structure and get it to re-scan it every now and again for what I place in there?

Cheers!

 

[baggss]

iTunes doesn't use a file/folder structure to display music to you. iTunes used the ID3 tag info embedded within the music files, which you can edit as you see fit.

As for how iTunes organizes the music files on the hard drive itself, you can turn that off and keep them as you like, but it won't impact how it display the music to you within iTunes.

 

[skiba]

Thanks, am aware of the ID3 tags but would still like to keep the underlying structure. Which option is it to retain this? I unticked "keep iTunes music folder organised" but it did the same thing when I imported....Any ideas?

 

[baggss]

Unchecking that box will tell iTunes to leave your files on the Hard Drive as they are. There is no way to change how iTunes manages your music with iTunes except to edit the ID3 tags to match your folder structure. You more or less have to do this manually within iTunes, but you can use bulk tagging Apps like Media Rage to help make it easier.

 

[trpnmonkey41]

I don't see why people care about their folder structures so much. If you let iTunes manager your music you never even have to look at the folders. Just put your music into iTunes and make sure its tagged properly

 

[generatedname]

Here are a couple examples of why I want to maintain my own folder structure and use Apple's attempt at sorting a mess of ID3 tags how it sees fit:

Example One:
I have an album called Keasbey Nights by Catch 22. I have an album called Keasbey Nights by Streetlight Manifesto (its a redo of the entire album).

When I go to either of these on my ipod, it lists all the songs twice (not enough in the right order since the Streetlight Manifesto version is first)

So I get all the songs from Keasbey Nights from Streetlight and all the songs from Keasbey Nights by Catch 22 on the list of songs.

Example Two:
My trance collection consists of several artists and usually only one song per artist, so I keep all of these in the same folder called "Trance".

On my computer I know I want to load the "Trance" folder in winamp and shuffle it. This is simply impossible on the ipod without making a huge playlist.

But I avoid putting any of my trance collection on the ipod since it would flood my artist list nearly quadrupling it in size. That would make it a hassle to find any music at all on the ipod.

Because I cannot keep folder structure, I will not be buying another iPod. I found the best MP3 players are the portable hard drives with MP3 playing software on them (like the jetaudio mp3 players) where you just copy-paste the folders of MP3s and browse your collection in the same exact way that you would on your computer.

Anyway, thought I'd chime in since someone said they didn't understand why anyone needs to keep their own folder structure since iPod already sorts the songs.

 

[baggss]

Interesting reading, thanks for the input. If an iPod isn't for you, then you shouldn't buy one. You're paying good money you should get what you want.

I personally keep my own file structure manually, even though it more or less mirrors what iTunes would do AND how the music is sorted in iTunes itself. I've taken the time to organize my ID3 tags so the music is how I want it. I keep the file structure manually simply because the music (and video) is spread across no less that 8 drives at this time. Eventually that number will decrease as I upgrade my drives to 1Tb drives. In the end I expect to have my music on 2 1Tb drives and my Video on 2 1Tb drives. Even then though, I'll always maintain the manual file structure since I can't fit all of my content onto one large drive (nor do I want to).