How to play/manage mp3's from external hard drive without importing files?

I have an enormous external hard drive filled with mp3's, which can attach to my Macbook via usb or firewire. I can play the tracks individually which is fine, but when I do that via iTunes, the track/data is imported to my internal hard drive (by being copied automatically to my iTunes library). My internal hard drive doesn't have nearly the storage capacity to do that with every song on the external.

So, is there any means (via iTunes or another program) by which I can play and manage the songs on my external hard drive without importing the mp3's onto my computer? Ideally, I would like to be able to play the songs AND create playlists from the songs stored on the external, and be able to use/access those playlists after I disconnect and then reconnect the external hard drive.

I was told that Media Monkey can do all of this, but it's only available for download on a PC. Any ideas?

Basically, how can I make my external hard drive into my personal juke box? Thanks!

You should find all the answers you search for here :

Transferring your iTunes Library | iLounge Article

Clay

Greetings, I'm a switcher also, so I'm learning some things as well. In addition to extensive knowledge in the topic mentioned above, there is an option to not to import everything that used.

In iTunes, for example, using the toolbar at top, go to iTunes>Preferences. Get to the "Advanced" tab. Uncheck the box near "Copy played files to music folder."

As most of the OSX software is designed in the same way, you can prevent applications to copy files to your disc seeking for a similar option, in iPhoto, for example.

Have a good day!

I was actually wondering the same thing. I want to play a ton of my music from just plugging in my external hard drive without actually having the music copy to my Macbook Pro and taking up space.


I read the article but it doesn't really state what to do... If anyone could maybe help elaborate, I'd appreciate it!

Your question has already been answered.

Hockey13Playa said:

I want to play a ton of my music from just plugging in my external hard drive without actually having the music copy to my Macbook Pro and taking up space.

Click to expand...

Heruamarth said:

In iTunes using the toolbar at top, go to iTunes>Preferences. Get to the "Advanced" tab. Uncheck the box near "Copy played files to music folder."

Click to expand...

This is a far fetched question, but the way my music on my external is set up is just like how iTunes sets it up. I plug in my external and I have folders with stuff that I'd like to keep backed up along with an Alex's music folder. Within that folders for each artist and within the artist folder is each cd, then each song in that folder. (Just like its done in iTunes) Is it possible in anyway to browse and play all this music in iTunes on my MacBook Pro but not copy?

Basically so I can see all my songs and search in order like I would within iTunes. I hope I am making some sense here... lol.

I swore off iTunes a long time ago. Despite unchecking the "copy files" thing in advanced preferences, iTunes still manages to arrange things the way IT wants to, and not how I ultimately wanted it to.

So I switched to Songbird and haven't looked back since. Great media player that covers every single format you throw at it. Native FLAC and Ogg playback is a big plus for me. You can also download an extension (this is a Mozilla product so works the same as FireFox extensions) which enables the keyboard for media controls, the same as you'd use for iTunes (*forward, back, play/pause etc.. ).

The only thing it won't do is sync your music with your iPod or iPhone, but that's Apple's fault, since they refuse to have anybody dare use anything but iTunes. I mean really.. how dare we not like iTunes and want other choices ! ****ed be a human !

Doug

Doug b said:

I swore off iTunes a long time ago. Despite unchecking the "copy files" thing in advanced preferences, iTunes still manages to arrange things the way IT wants to, and not how I ultimately wanted it to.

So I switched to Songbird and haven't looked back since. Great media player that covers every single format you throw at it. Native FLAC and Ogg playback is a big plus for me. You can also download an extension (this is a Mozilla product so works the same as FireFox extensions) which enables the keyboard for media controls, the same as you'd use for iTunes (*forward, back, play/pause etc.. ).

The only thing it won't do is sync your music with your iPod or iPhone, but that's Apple's fault, since they refuse to have anybody dare use anything but iTunes. I mean really.. how dare we not like iTunes and want other choices ! ****ed be a human !

Doug

Click to expand...

I wondered when Doug b would give a shout out for songbird , well that and a jab at iTunes/Apple;D But to be fair I downloaded it after his telling us about it some months ago and have started to play with it some and he is right it is a great app !

Clay

Thanks for the responses guys! Hey Dougie B, if I may call you that, does it do what I am looking for? Not sure if my previous post was entirely clear or not. In simplistic terms, like a virtual music player where I can sort thru all my songs and what not without having to go into folders and clicking each song to play. But once removed (the hard drive from my MacBook pro) none of that space will be taken up.

Hi Everyone,

I have a similar need so am glad for this post and look forward to all of the help as I am a real newbie!