itunes rant/question (longish)
- Thread starter tentoze
- Start date
2DualsNotEnough
Addicted Member
What I do is hit the tab on top,file,then click on new playlist,then click and drag every song from that album or artist into the playlist.I also go through and make sure I have the name of every artist and every song listed correctly,then you should get a pretty good listing when you open up your ipod.
Jimmy
Jimmy
reyneman
Requiescat in pace
So Toze- is all right with your IPod world now?
I just picked up a SanDisk Sansa e280R, thanks in part to this thread of yours.
Haven't DL'd anything yet, don't know what I'll find for ease or conversion.
Of course, I also don't have the music loaded on my computer that you do.
I just picked up a SanDisk Sansa e280R, thanks in part to this thread of yours.
Haven't DL'd anything yet, don't know what I'll find for ease or conversion.
Of course, I also don't have the music loaded on my computer that you do.
tentoze
Twangophile
It's more what I would describe as barely tolerable. I've never had the patience to go back and reorganize everything that itunes scrambled when it cataloged the hard drive, and that is kind of a pain, but manageable.
onepixel
.
What the hell are you guys doing?!
For CD track names and cover art you can go under "Advanced" and let iTunes grab all that info of the web for you. It may not get all of them but will find most of them.
With "List View" selected under "View/View Options" you can view, Name (of song), Artist, Album, Genre, Year, My Rating (your favorites), Play Count (how many times you listened to it), Last Played and 20 other list categories.
Set it up right and it will work wonders.
For CD track names and cover art you can go under "Advanced" and let iTunes grab all that info of the web for you. It may not get all of them but will find most of them.
With "List View" selected under "View/View Options" you can view, Name (of song), Artist, Album, Genre, Year, My Rating (your favorites), Play Count (how many times you listened to it), Last Played and 20 other list categories.
Set it up right and it will work wonders.
ponderbear
waltzing with sin
Sorry if this is mentioned subsequently in this thread... but I read to this message and felt compelled to emphasize, you do NOT have to let itunes "manage" your files in order to use it to fill your ipod. If you deselect this in prefs BEFORE leading itunes to your files, it will leave your folders intact.
If you use the itunes store, though, it's best to let itunes take over your folders, as it has (as you've discovered, Tentoze) a certain way it likes to organize things, so if you buy Tommy in the store it will make a Who folder if you don't have one EXACTLY named what IT thinks the band is called. Things can get weird.
Even though Apple is forcing its scheme onto you, at least you'll be using that one scheme instead of multiple schemes. Yes... it's best if you just relax and let Apple assume control...
tentoze
Twangophile
I think we're still talking apples and brussels sprouts. I didn't START fresh with itunes, a blank hard drive, and a bunch of music I wanted on an ipod. I had an 80 gig HD already filled and cataloged with music BEFORE I got an ipod, and thus, itunes in order to populate said ipod. I did not allow itunes to move all that 80 gig of files to some duplicated place on another hd. I only let it re-catalog the existing information in order to be able to put music on the ipod.
In so doing, itunes erroneously splintered a LOT of tracks out of their rightful places and tossed them into an unorganized "Various" heading. Among other brain-dead, absolutely moronic things. Alphabetizing artists by first name first is an insult to even marginally educated humans.
Maybe if one starts fresh with a blank hd, a stack of 1,000 cd's to rip, and itunes to do everything from the outset, it's some sort of magical, mystical experience. If not, at least in my case, it makes a ****ing mess of things.
I've acclimated to the point that I use it grudgingly when I want some new tunes on the ipod (which isn't very often these days), but generally, speaking, I still say **** itunes.
onepixel
.
Ok...didn't know you didn't start fresh. I could see the resulting mess now.
Sorry man.
ozmoid
Lunatic Member
Sorry Gentlemen, I had no idea this thread was resurrected, I would have checked in sooner!
Tentoze, you can force iTunes to organize things YOUR way, and still let it have control. It does mean editing the info in your files, but you can do it to large groups of tracks at once by simply selecting them and changing the pertinent info ONCE - it will change that particular piece of info for each song selected. You can form "various artist" tracks into albums, group tracks together, identify them as parts of compilations... lots and lots of options. Select a track and "Get Info" on it, there are a ton of things you can edit to make iTunes do what YOU want as far how the music is organized.
tentoze
Twangophile
Yeh, and I could polish silverware until God-Come-Thursday, if I had the desire to. My music is organized the way I want it ALREADY, but itunes is too stupid to recognize that fact, and I'm damned if I'm going to slog through Jobs' sorry software so that it will.
![JimJ[VT]](/forums/data/avatars/m/20/20031.jpg?1443894878){kind=avatar}
MaloCS
Member
The problem is not iTunes but the methodology Apple employs in the software. Apple wants the user to manage their music library from within iTunes and not the "explorer" environment. This is a 180 degree turn in how "Windows" users have managed their data since the operating system's inception. For years, us Windows users have used the "explorer" concept to move, copy, edit, delete and sort our data. This methodology is what iTunes and Apple is trying to get away from. In their eyes, there should be no reason why the user would ever access the actual location of the files when all of the "managing" capabilities are available from within the iTunes environment.
The information that Apple employs for managing files is the meta tag data. When managing your files in iTunes all that matters is that the meta tag data is accurate and present. With the meta tag information, and by clicking on the column header within the iTunes library pane one can sort by any number of variables.
Do you want to sort by genre? Then click the genre column header and all of your separate genres are sorted alphabetically. The same goes for Artist, Album, Bit Rate, Composer or any other item that is included in the meta tag. If a category is not displayed in the library pane then just access the view > view options menu item and select from any number of available categories. Once selected, this category will display in the library pane and offer the same exact sorting capabilities of the categories already present.
What if the meta tag information is not complete or inaccurate? Well, iTunes offers the user the ability to edit the meta tag data at any time. Just "right" click on the song and select the "Get Info" menu item. From here you can alter the meta tag information until your heart's content. You can even add personal comments to the track that can also be used to sort and manage the file.
What's that? You say you've spent uncountable hours manually managing your data in the "explorer" environment and you'll be damned if you let iTunes rename and resort all of your physical files on your hard drive. Well, you're just going to have to get over it. Believe me, your life will be much easier if you let iTunes rename and resort the physical files. Just focus on the meta tag information within the iTunes library for all of your file management and let iTunes take care of the physical files.
I just think of the iTunes library pane as a "window" in the "explorer" environment instead of a piece of software that accesses my music directory. This helped me get over the concept that I won't be utilizing the "explorer" methodology to manage my music collection. Once I got past this mental roadblock the whole "iTunes" management system became more convenient and easier to use.
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Here's a really cool example of the iTunes methodology in action:
Let's say that "musician X" is your favorite artist and you have every song he's ever released. Your collection not only includes the CDs he's released but the movie soundtracks and compilations he makes appearances on.
Since you're an audio purist you don't believe in breaking up your soundtrack and compilation directories which results in "musician X" having tracks scattered throughout your music library. I.E. - They're not all contained within a "musician X" directory. Although this is the accepted method to manage your music library it will invariably result in confusion when trying to access that one song by "musician X" since that particular song may be buried several levels deep within the "explorer" environment.
iTunes solves this problem by allowing the user to manage their music library from the meta tag data. If the user wants to find that one song from "musician X" then they just sort by Artist Name. Voila! There's ALL of "musician X's" songs, regardless of where they're stored or what album they're on.
In this scenario, does it really matter what the actual name of the file is? Does it really matter where that file is located on your hard drive? I don't think it does. To me, all that matters is that I can access the file and manage it appropriately.
The information that Apple employs for managing files is the meta tag data. When managing your files in iTunes all that matters is that the meta tag data is accurate and present. With the meta tag information, and by clicking on the column header within the iTunes library pane one can sort by any number of variables.
Do you want to sort by genre? Then click the genre column header and all of your separate genres are sorted alphabetically. The same goes for Artist, Album, Bit Rate, Composer or any other item that is included in the meta tag. If a category is not displayed in the library pane then just access the view > view options menu item and select from any number of available categories. Once selected, this category will display in the library pane and offer the same exact sorting capabilities of the categories already present.
What if the meta tag information is not complete or inaccurate? Well, iTunes offers the user the ability to edit the meta tag data at any time. Just "right" click on the song and select the "Get Info" menu item. From here you can alter the meta tag information until your heart's content. You can even add personal comments to the track that can also be used to sort and manage the file.
What's that? You say you've spent uncountable hours manually managing your data in the "explorer" environment and you'll be damned if you let iTunes rename and resort all of your physical files on your hard drive. Well, you're just going to have to get over it. Believe me, your life will be much easier if you let iTunes rename and resort the physical files. Just focus on the meta tag information within the iTunes library for all of your file management and let iTunes take care of the physical files.
I just think of the iTunes library pane as a "window" in the "explorer" environment instead of a piece of software that accesses my music directory. This helped me get over the concept that I won't be utilizing the "explorer" methodology to manage my music collection. Once I got past this mental roadblock the whole "iTunes" management system became more convenient and easier to use.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's a really cool example of the iTunes methodology in action:
Let's say that "musician X" is your favorite artist and you have every song he's ever released. Your collection not only includes the CDs he's released but the movie soundtracks and compilations he makes appearances on.
Since you're an audio purist you don't believe in breaking up your soundtrack and compilation directories which results in "musician X" having tracks scattered throughout your music library. I.E. - They're not all contained within a "musician X" directory. Although this is the accepted method to manage your music library it will invariably result in confusion when trying to access that one song by "musician X" since that particular song may be buried several levels deep within the "explorer" environment.
iTunes solves this problem by allowing the user to manage their music library from the meta tag data. If the user wants to find that one song from "musician X" then they just sort by Artist Name. Voila! There's ALL of "musician X's" songs, regardless of where they're stored or what album they're on.
In this scenario, does it really matter what the actual name of the file is? Does it really matter where that file is located on your hard drive? I don't think it does. To me, all that matters is that I can access the file and manage it appropriately.
mswer
Needs some space to think
I'm not sure I'm quite grasping the organizational problem, but it sounds to me like your files are improperly tagged. In that case, what you want is something like MusicBrainz or Tag&Rename. Personally I use the latter so if you decide to use that and need a few tips to get started (it has too many buttons but it's a great piece of software), let me know.
Basically, what tagging software let's you do is select a folder of audio tracks (ideally that represent one album, which is I believe how you say your library is organized), pull track info down from Amazon or other CD info databases, and then tag the files. Once you have re-/tagged your files, all you need to do is go to the File menu in iTunes and select "Add Directory to iTunes..." and select the main folder where all your sub-folders reside. Then close and re-open iTunes. It will rescan all the tracks and have the tag info that you added with T&R/MusicBrainz and you will be be able to organize by artist, album, etc.
iTunes 7 has new sorting options (right click on track(s) and select the Sorting tab [it's called something like that]) and you have even more sorting options.
I think it's misguided to say that iTunes does everything for you and doesn't give you any organizational choice. I know where every track in my iTunes library is on my HD because I have it set up to manage files in a way that makes sense to me. I have my music organized by artist most of the time, but I have smart playlists for things like "Added in the last 30 days" organized by date added, "My Top Rated" organized first by rating, then artist, lists with genre, track length, and track rating limitations...the possibilities are myriad. MaloCS is spot on.
Once your audio files are properly tagged, they're totally portable to any media software that supports id3 tags (basically everything). Want to switch to WinAmp? It supports id3. WMP? ::shudder:: Supports id3.
For the record, I have over 10,000 tracks in my iTunes library, the vast majority of which I did not rip myself.
Hope this helps.
Basically, what tagging software let's you do is select a folder of audio tracks (ideally that represent one album, which is I believe how you say your library is organized), pull track info down from Amazon or other CD info databases, and then tag the files. Once you have re-/tagged your files, all you need to do is go to the File menu in iTunes and select "Add Directory to iTunes..." and select the main folder where all your sub-folders reside. Then close and re-open iTunes. It will rescan all the tracks and have the tag info that you added with T&R/MusicBrainz and you will be be able to organize by artist, album, etc.
iTunes 7 has new sorting options (right click on track(s) and select the Sorting tab [it's called something like that]) and you have even more sorting options.
I think it's misguided to say that iTunes does everything for you and doesn't give you any organizational choice. I know where every track in my iTunes library is on my HD because I have it set up to manage files in a way that makes sense to me. I have my music organized by artist most of the time, but I have smart playlists for things like "Added in the last 30 days" organized by date added, "My Top Rated" organized first by rating, then artist, lists with genre, track length, and track rating limitations...the possibilities are myriad. MaloCS is spot on.
Once your audio files are properly tagged, they're totally portable to any media software that supports id3 tags (basically everything). Want to switch to WinAmp? It supports id3. WMP? ::shudder:: Supports id3.
For the record, I have over 10,000 tracks in my iTunes library, the vast majority of which I did not rip myself.
Hope this helps.
ozmoid
Lunatic Member
Not "improperly" so much as "incompletely". When the track/album info is manually entered, it's really easy to scrimp on the data to save time. Also, the CDDB will occasionally have entries where the data is incomplete or organized in an improper fashion, so that it does not work well in iTunes.
RawDeal
Active Member
I went through Itunes frustration myself. I could not get Itune/QT to DL correctly. After after 3 install/uninstalls finally my daughter can use the damn thing. I have a Creative Zen Sleek. Works like a champ. You don't even need their software sync with WMP 9,10 11 perfectly. I suppose if you are a Mac user the Ipod would be the thing though. For Windows I will be sticking with a "Play for Sure" player. BTW my refurb 20GB Zen was $80 shipped. And has better sound than a Ipod Nano (IMO). I hope you get it working for you.
Brad
Brad
