WANTED: itunes Tutor

[Raz0rEdge]

You are making this harder than it is..

The Music entry is ALL of your music shown as one grouping. You don't want to mess to with that and if you delete anything from there, it will be gone from whatever playlist you may have added those songs.

If each of your folders contain music from a single artist, then just import them all and create a Smart Playlist..

You create a new Smart Playlist by clicking on the Playlist tab and then on the left bottom click on the + sign and in the drop down that will appear choose New Smart Playlist..you will now have a new dialog that allows you to create a playlist that can be based on criteria. You might want to start with Artist as your first criteria and set it to the name you just imported.

Rename the playlist to that artist and from that point onward if you import ANY songs in the future from the same artist, they will automagically show up in this smart playlist..

 

[mrplow]

This I am not understanding, sorry. If you are saying that the 22 tunes in the folder on my HDD is indeed imported into itunes then how I can view all of them?

Not sure a tagging app will work for me as I have way too many tunes to tag individually?

There is a pre defined smart playlist in the sidebar called Recently Added. If you right click on it and choose properties you can set how many days or hours etc it looks at. It's a great way of seeing what you've just added.

A playlist is just a way of grouping together a number of tracks. But all it is is pointers to the music held in the master library under 'Music'. All your tracks, regardless of whether they feature in a playlist or not need to be in the Music Library.

Mp3tag can handle tagging multiple tracks at once. I have an 80 gb + library. Most of which is, like you, music collected over years. As MP3 players, iPods etc came around I realised that tagging them correctly was going to be an investment of my time but something that would leave my collection in a better state.

This was pre-Mac and before adding them into iTunes. I just worked through them folder by folder in mp3tag adding album, artist, track number, genre etc. mp3tag, once it has an album name or artist can look up details. Some one offs etc needed manually tagging but many were able to pull data from the Internet.

It's time consuming but now it's a two minute job to just add to that collection.

Once all tagged I just dragged the lot into iTunes. I can now search by artist, album, genre, year. On my devices the album art is there.

 

[mikehende]

You are making this harder than it is..
If each of your folders contain music from a single artist, then just import them all and create a Smart Playlist..

My music is not grouped or categorized by Artist, only by genre and era, for example, when I need to listen to rock music from the 80s I simply load my 80s rock folder and that is how I listen to music so I don't think using Smart playlist will benefit me in any way?

 

[mikehende]

There is a pre defined smart playlist in the sidebar called Recently Added. If you right click on it and choose properties you can set how many days or hours etc it looks at. It's a great way of seeing what you've just added.

Thanks for all the info, I will work on this when creating playlists.

 

[bobtomay]

If you walk into a public library and go to the History section - take 20 books out of that section and carry them out of the library...

Then walk back into the library, go back to the History section and look for those 20 books - they will not be there...

because you took them out of the library.

Smart playlists will do exactly what you want them to do without the need for you to categorize every single individual song and moving them into folders.

Click the plus sign at the bottom of the side bar to add a new smart playlist and set it up to include whatever songs you want.

For iTunes to function, your songs need to have their metadata (tags).

Here is a screenshot of a 90s playlist set up to include all songs and music video that came out during that decade.
This playlist will go through all songs and automatically include all songs that came out during that decade.


..

 

[mrplow]

You 'can' use iTunes without tags. And, yes, it is a pain to add tags. But . . . in the long run, once done it will make day-to-day use much easier and will cut out an awful lot of iTunes frustration.

 

[bobtomay]

Once you create such a smart playlist, iTunes will automatically add every song that you add into iTunes that match the parameters you set into that playlist without you needing to worry about what folder the music is placed in on your drive.

The days of needing to organize all your music into folders on the drive is gone.

 

[mrplow]

Once you create such a smart playlist, iTunes will automatically add every song that you add into iTunes that match the parameters you set into that playlist without you needing to worry about what folder the music is placed in on your drive.

The days of needing to organize all your music into folders on the drive is gone.

So long as the tracks have meta data/mp3 tags

 

[bobtomay]

So long as the tracks have meta data/mp3 tags

Hence the single line above - but is good to reiterate..

...
For iTunes to function, your songs need to have their metadata (tags).
...

 

[mikehende]

Alright guys, I will try out the smart playlist next, for right now, I am not a "recently added" tab anywhere in the left sidebar? All I am seeing is "Recently played"?

 

[mrplow]

Sorry Bob..... missed that

mikehende:
You can add back yourself - it's a smart playlist. Look here for how it looks to start with but you can change the settings as you wish.

 

[mikehende]

oh, I see now, that option is only available when using the smart playlist.

 

[mrplow]

oh, I see now, that option is only available when using the smart playlist.

It 'is' a smart playlist. It appears in iTunes by default. It must have gotten deleted along the way.

 

[mikehende]

The instruction says "To rebuild any of the lists use File > New Smart Playlist... and then enter the rules as shown." This option is not showing on my end so I choose "New smart playlist" from the menu at the bottom left of the interface and it does not show all of the options as shown in your link above? Is there a way for me to upload a screenshot here from my pc?

 

[mrplow]

choose Go Advanced when replying then hit the paperclip icon to attach a screen shot.

More Windows specific smart playlist info here

 

[mikehende]

The image link's only option is for a URL link, no option to upload directly from my pc?

 

[mrplow]

The image link's only option is for a URL link, no option to upload directly from my pc?

No, sorry. Click 'Go Advanced' (rather than post quick reply) then click the 'paperclip' icon where you'll be given an option to attach a file on your computer

 

[mikehende]

ok, thanks. Please see attached screenshot to see what I am seeing?

 

[mrplow]

Ok, that's looks fine. Just change the settings as per the link above and click ok, it'll prompt you to give it a name. Call it anything you like but Recently Added seems sensible

 

[mikehende]

I think I am not understanding how the smart playlist feature should work, maybe becuase I am accustomed to dealing with high powered DJ softwares which work different from this? Anyway, I open a new smart playlist and type "Jackie Wilson" as a test into the empty field, click ok, the box closes, now I see a playlist in the left sidebar titled "Jackie Wilson" but when I click on it, there aren't any songs by JW in it? What am i doing wrong here please?