DuckSocks

Q: Problem with Organising Movies

I have a problem with organising my movies.

At present a series of iTunes moves over the years has left me with a whole mess of duplicate and triplicate movies that are difficult to reference.

So I popped the hood on iTunes and got to work.

 

So far I have:

*Renamed the movies to relavent titles.

*Sorted them all into folders and organised the folder structure the way music is stored.

*Deleted duplicates and triplicates (and even more copies in some cases).

*I did this first in an old back up.

*Then in live iTunes

*Found multiple folders with the movies.

*One located Music>iTunes>Media>Movies

*The other located Music>iTunes>Movies (found lower down in the file structure)

 

Doing this made no difference to the way the movies were being displayed in iTunes.

This means iTunes is getting the info on what to show on the screen from something or somewhere else?

 

How can I get iTunes to show the movies on screen as they are arranged in the folders or as iTunes organises the music?

Is it something to with the "iTunes Music Library.xml" or  "iTunes Library.itl" file?

 

(Apologies for a lack of technical terms)

Hope this makes enough sense

 

Also I have spent months of going down rabbit holes (including the Apple iTunes support guides) searching this topic and have resorted to asking.

Below is an screenshot example of what I still see in iTunes

 

Screen Shot 2014-09-03 at 1.08.04 pm.png

iPhone 4, iOS 7

Posted on Sep 2, 2014 10:14 PM

Close

Q: Problem with Organising Movies

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Limnos,Helpful

    Limnos Limnos Sep 3, 2014 7:05 AM in response to DuckSocks
    Level 9 (54,277 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 3, 2014 7:05 AM in response to DuckSocks

    iTunes stores media information in two places.  The primary one is in data "tags" stored in the media file itself.  When you add a media item to iTunes, iTunes gets this information and stores it in its own database too.  When you play a track iTunes quickly checks if its data still matches the item's information and if it does not it will update its information.  If you edit the track information through getting information on the track in iTunes both sets of data should be updated, including that in the files.

     

    The above should provide most of your answers.  Some quick notes:

     

    iTunes ignores any folder structure you make.  It ignores any changes to the file names.  Well I say ignore, because it does ignore it as far as labeling the tracks.  It does not ignore it in terms of being able to find the track.  When you add an item to iTunes, iTunes puts the file in a location and makes a note of that location in its database. When you try to play the item, iTunes looks for the file in the location in its database.  Often if you move files around in Finder, or rename them in Finder, this will cause iTunes to lose track of where the file is located and you end up with a broken link " ! ".  Hopefully your library isn't a mess right now.

     

    As for your last questions, this is a mixture of old and new storage convention.  Read links below.  Get summary info on a track in iTunes and see which copy iTunes is actually referencing.

     

    What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660

     

    More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management

     

    What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html

     

    Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391

     

    iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847 - plus supplemental information about organizing to new structure https://discussions.apple.com/message/26404702#26404702

     

    Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-7392 and making an iTunes library portable.


    Note: Use the camera icon in the forum editor window to attach images to posts.

  • by DuckSocks,Solvedanswer

    DuckSocks DuckSocks Sep 3, 2014 7:49 PM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (17 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 3, 2014 7:49 PM in response to Limnos

    Limnos, it says you are a level 8. If there are 10 levels, you should be an 11.

     

    I have been struggling with sorting this for 2 years now (determined efforts for months) and keep putting it off as each time it gets too confusing and I chuck it in.

    If Apple had more flexible ways to arrange iTunes, it's usability would greatly increase. That is something I say thinking of all the other iTunes users out there that scratch their heads in confusion and turn to other music sharing platforms.

    I am forced to use something that started as iTunes but is now iMess 8.3.4

     

    You just made more sense than in anything I have read in a very long time to do with this issue.

    I have previously read the links provided many times. However having you explain in plain english how it works means I can go over them again and understand them a little better.

     

    (I did upload using the camera icon)

    (Is my iTunes a mess? Yes, just like nearly *every normal person on the street)

     

     

     

    *Total people surveyed at the train station and pizza shop may not actually account for the term "everyone"

  • by Limnos,Helpful

    Limnos Limnos Sep 4, 2014 9:41 AM in response to DuckSocks
    Level 9 (54,277 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 4, 2014 9:41 AM in response to DuckSocks

    Your library is only a mess if you are finding lots of broken links.  My understanding of it is iTunes may be moderately tolerant if you move things around inside the iTunes media folder, but that's still risking breaking links.  There is one way you can arrange your media as you wish and that is to set iTunes' advanced preferences to not organize your media and to not copy media files to the media folder when adding to iTunes.  I have had my library set up this way for over 10 years now because I use multiple media drives (and this is also why I can't say exactly what iTunes is normally tolerant of you doing when it is set to manage media).  I can put files in whatever folders I like wherever I like, move them about and iTunes can generally follow what I am doing.  I almost never have broken links.  However, there are disadvantages to doing this.  You have to be organized because once you take on media organization iTunes will give up helping you with it even when you ask it too.  For example, iTunes can help repair broken links if it is in charge of media organization, but if you take on organization it will not help you repair broken links.  Managing your own media can also make it very tricky to move your library to a new drive.

    The last time I did that (5 years ago) I had to rebuild my library and playlists from scratch.

     

    Apple's design of the iTunes folder is such that most users shouldn't need to look at it ever.  They simply want to listen to their music and frankly have little interest in how things work.  It is still possible to tinker with things but you have to know how things work because it isn't really intended you do that.