importing to iTunes

Hello,

Why is it that I can't properly import albums already on the hard drive into iTumes?

How are you trying to do it?

try dragging a folder directly into the itunes window

I can drag it in or I can add to library, but it still doesn't show up under the artist's name, nor have I found an easy to search way to find loose music files within iTunes, but I can't find what I dragged and dropped except in the finder, where it appears under >Music, >iTunes, >iTunes Music, >artist.

Did you have that metadata included when you originally ripped it? If not, it won't be there for iTunes to see and you'd simply have to add it. Simply right click on it and click on Get Info.. and add it

nope. all the metadata is intact. I can see the albums in the iTunes Music folder, but they're still not showing up in iTunes itself.

http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/

iTunes Library
"This file is a database of the songs in your library and the playlists you've created. Some song-specific data is saved in this file. If you delete the file, iTunes creates a new, empty copy when you open the application, but any playlists, song ratings, comments, or other information you created is lost. The iTunes Library file is only used by iTunes".

You could try deleting it and launch iTunes. If it remains empty, use the "add to library" and select the iTunes music folder.

Thanks for the link. I dragged the folder with the music in it over the Music icon under Library in iTunes. A little green plus sign let me know I was on the right track, and I dropped it in. I saw iTunes bring the music in, but it's still not showing up under the artist's name (remember, I did confirm the metadata is there), and now the original music files are gone from the album folder, leaving only the album art behind! So I can't find the music in iTunes, and now I can't access it through Finder, either!

I found the songs by choosing list view and scrolling through the entire library. They were at the bottom of the list, loose. Somehow they've lost all their metadata - I checked it before importing. The only data that was imported intact was the song number and song name. How strange is that?