iTunes: how to play a song without adding to library?

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I hope I haven't missed something simple in searching the forum, but here goes. When I play eMusic song clips in iTunes they are added to my music library. Is there a way to play a song without having iTunes remember it, list it among my artists, etc.?

I am playing it in Firefox by choosing "Play in iTunes" in the download dialog.

Thanks.
 
S

sursuciofla

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I don't believe so, as I have run into that problem too. So I just use quicktime now. It is annoying. I know in itunes preferences -->advanced, there is an option so it doesn't copy to hdd folder when added to library but have never seen an option for disabling it adding to library.
 
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You could always right click and Open With... Quicktime.
 
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I, too, use quicktime to play songs I don't want in my itunes library for whatever reason. I discovered that if you highlight all of them then drag them onto the quicktime icon in the dock, it will open them in quicktime. Sure saves a lot of time compared to right-clicking and selecting Open with.
 
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Right click on the audio file, then select 'get info'. Click on the 'open with' drop menu and select 'Quicktime player'. Do this with all audio file types(mp3, wav, aiff, etc) and they'll all open with Quicktime from there on.
 
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michaelstumpf said:
I, too, use quicktime to play songs I don't want in my itunes library for whatever reason. I discovered that if you highlight all of them then drag them onto the quicktime icon in the dock, it will open them in quicktime. Sure saves a lot of time compared to right-clicking and selecting Open with.

another way is to view the files in column view - selecting one will bring up the quicktime controls. You can just hit play without having to launch anything - especially useful if you don't want to import to iTunes or have quicktime windows all over the place.
 
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dtownley1 said:
another way is to view the files in column view - selecting one will bring up the quicktime controls. You can just hit play without having to launch anything - especially useful if you don't want to import to iTunes or have quicktime windows all over the place.

I love the Column View Quicktime Player thingamajig! You can preview any compatible media right there and then with so much ease.

~
 
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I jsut let it enter the library. Once it's played, how long does it take to press Command-Backspace and Enter twice :) ?
 
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Unfortunately,

Well, you could just deselect the auto filename control (can't remember exact name right now) and the copying when you import music in the library. That way at least you will have the songs copies or the source folder touched by iTunes. The first one about filename etc control changes the names of the mp3's quite annoyingly and the second one copies the music to the iTunes Music folder in an annoying way as well. No matter what the settings are (unfortunately NO MATTER what the setting are) it will copy music in a very sloppy way according to its grouping routines. Well, I wish they will fix this because when copying music from external hdd it get on ones' nerves. At least they should put in some extra settings because now there aren't any that can help with the sloppy copying to the hdd and the sloppy changing of the filenames and folder structure.
 

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VLC is a nice option too, you can keep clicking on different songs and it will add them to a sort of adhoc playlist, but it seems easier to manage to me.

Audion will also just play a song of your choice without adding to a library or playlist.

i have started to use itunes more and more, now that i figured out to stay off the library view and use a playlist to reorder songs to my liking. i just make sure to select all and delete all the playlist items and library items before closing.
 

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