Controlling File Path when Ripping a CD in iTunes

[timclark]

Hi all. I'm having a fairly frustrating moment, hope you all can help me out.

I have all my music stored on an Network Drive in a particular file/folder structure. I can't figure out how to setup iTunes to respect that structure when importing. Here's a simple description of how I store my music.

In the case that it's a standard album, I store the mp3s as :
Music\[first letter of artist]\[artist]\[year] [album]\[Track w/ Leading 0] [Track Name]

In the case that it's a compilation, I store each track as :
Music\[first letter of artist]\[artist]\[year] [Track Name]

It actually gets more complicated, but that's the basic idea.

When I used a Windows machine, I could do this fairly easily in Winamp by just changing the path settings to strings like above when I ripped a CD. But I'm stumped about how to do something similar in iTunes.

Is there a feature in iTunes that does this that I'm simply overlooking? Do I need to write an AppleScript? I haven't written one yet, but should be able to pick it up quick if you could point me to a good starter's guide. Should I use some other software to import into iTunes?

I apologize if this has been covered, but my searches on the forum didn't come up with quite what I needed. Thanks in advance!

 

[timclark]

Anyone? ... Anyone? .... Bueller?

 

[BlindingLights]

In iTunes, iTunes>Preferences>Advanced>General>iTunes Music Folder Location. Hit "Change" and choose the folder you want your music going to.

 

[timclark]

In iTunes, iTunes>Preferences>Advanced>General>iTunes Music Folder Location. Hit "Change" and choose the folder you want your music going to.

But won't that just set the root Music folder, not the specific folder for the CD I'm ripping (the [Year] [Album] folder)?

 

[trpnmonkey41]

You can't control the folder naming conventions in iTunes. I don't really see why you want to when iTunes has all of the data for the albums in it. You really should never have to go to the folders to find your music, just browse through iTunes

 

[timclark]

You can't control the folder naming conventions in iTunes. I don't really see why you want to when iTunes has all of the data for the albums in it. You really should never have to go to the folders to find your music, just browse through iTunes

I want to maintain the folder structure I've put together for various reasons, most of which is that the music server is on a network drive and is accessed from a few different computers. I'd like to not have to reorganize it just because iTunes is being stubborn, and I don't want iTunes to make a mess of it because of that stubbornness either.

I mean - come on, there has to be a way to do this, right? There's no way I'm the first person to try to do something like this.

 

[macdillon]

Try using MacAmp maybe?

 

[timclark]

Try using MacAmp maybe?

I don't know if MacAmp is what I'm looking for, but I think you're on the right track in recommending that I look into other CD ripping software. Max looks promising. I'll try it when I get home tonight and post my results...

Thanks!