iTunes "keep files" help

brokeenthusiast · Dec 25, 2008

I have all of my iTunes music the way that I want it when I open iTunes but for some reason when I copied my music via external HD to a new computer I have all of the duplicates and stuff that I do not want anymore. This is most likely because I may have hit let iTunes organize my music and then "keep files" for when I delete things. So when I copied the iTunes folder from one computer it shows all of the music.

I was wondering if there was a way to take the iTunes that I SEE and have that be my complete library. In other words i want to undo the "keep files" from where I deleted things.

Anyone know lol Ive tinkered and I dont want to loose everything without a definitive answer. Thanks!

len0475 · Dec 27, 2008

brokeenthusiast said:
I have all of my iTunes music the way that I want it when I open iTunes but for some reason when I copied my music via external HD to a new computer I have all of the duplicates and stuff that I do not want anymore. This is most likely because I may have hit let iTunes organize my music and then "keep files" for when I delete things. So when I copied the iTunes folder from one computer it shows all of the music.

I was wondering if there was a way to take the iTunes that I SEE and have that be my complete library. In other words i want to undo the "keep files" from where I deleted things.

Anyone know lol Ive tinkered and I dont want to loose everything without a definitive answer. Thanks!

Do you mean like create a separate library? The latest version of iTunes allows you to have more than one library that you can select.

For instance, my laptop currently has about 30gigs of music and my external is tons more, but it isn't organized. So I created two separate libraries.

Try holding down the shift key while opening iTunes. A message should pop up that allows you to select or create a new library.

louishen · Dec 27, 2008

Did you manually copy your files over to the itunes folder, then subsequently add them in to the itunes application as well?

appleisgreat · Dec 27, 2008

You could create a completely new, seperate, temporary folder on your desktop then open itunes and go to edit>select all. Once all the songs are selected, "drag" them to the folder you just created. This will create a copy of everything that is in your iTunes view (nothing that is just in the itunes folder, only songs in your current library). Then delete the "iTunes Library" folder, delete all the songs from your library, and re-add the temporary folder you created. Hope this makes sense...

iTunes "keep files" help

brokeenthusiast

len0475

louishen

appleisgreat

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