iTunes Music Folder questions

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iTunes Music Folder questions

1- In the Music Folder, Itunes creates a folder called Compilations which contains several albums, songs,etc. Why doesn't iTunes put thoses albums or songs directly in the Music Folder.
Can I move thoses specific albums in the Music Folder instead of under the Compilation folder?

2- In the same Music Folder, there is a folder called Unknown Artists. When I imported that album from a CD, I added information tru Get Info, such as song title, composer. Why doesn't that info reflects into the contents of the "Unknown artist"folder. When I look into that folder, it shows "track No 1, track No2..... instead of the info that I added when importing that CD?

3- When importing that CD, as mentioned above, I added info into iTunes, such as song names, composer. That Cd contains 10 tracks. When I look in the iTunes Music Library in the iTunes window, 5 tracks reflect the added info, the other 5 tracks show track No. only. What gives?

4 and last.. The My Music\iTunes Music folder creates folders under Artists names. Can it be modified to show Albums titles instead? Can I re-arrange the contents of the iTunes Music folder? Will that affect iTunes in any way? The way it is now makes it akward to find specific imported music when I want to back up new imported music into my back-up drive.

DEll pentium, Windows XP

Posted on May 26, 2009 6:10 AM

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Answer 1

PT

Level 7

20,888 points

May 26, 2009 6:58 AM in response to raydeon

1- In the Music Folder, Itunes creates a folder called Compilations which contains several albums, songs,etc. Why doesn't iTunes put thoses albums or songs directly in the Music Folder.

Normally you should have a file structure of...
C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\compilations So do you have that or are you saying that instead the compilations folder is directly in the My Music folder... \My Documents\My Music\compilations or... \My Documents\My Music\iTunes\compilations ???

Can I move thoses specific albums in the Music Folder instead of under the Compilation folder?

No, not while you have the iTunes preferences set up to organize your library. As you rename things, change album titles, fix artist names, etc. iTunes will (behind the scenes) also change the structures of the files and folder in the iTunes Music folder. If you manually try to move them, iTunes won't be able to find them files anymore and if it could it would simply move them back to where it is programmed to put them.

2- In the same Music Folder, there is a folder called Unknown Artists. When I imported that album from a CD, I added information tru Get Info, such as song title, composer. Why doesn't that info reflects into the contents of the "Unknown artist"folder. When I look into that folder, it shows "track No 1, track No2..... instead of the info that I added when importing that CD?

Do you have iTunes preferences set up to keep your library organized? Which format do you import your CDs (e.g. MP3, WAV, etc.)? Are you sure that the stuff in the Unknown Album folder are the same files you think you modified with Get Info? Could those files be from another album, perhaps one you deleted from the library but left on the drive?

3- When importing that CD, as mentioned above, I added info into iTunes, such as song names, composer. That Cd contains 10 tracks. When I look in the iTunes Music Library in the iTunes window, 5 tracks reflect the added info, the other 5 tracks show track No. only. What gives?

All ten show up correctly in the library itself?

4 and last.. The My Music\iTunes Music folder creates folders under Artists names. Can it be modified to show Albums titles instead?

No, not when you have iTunes auto organize your files. You can turn the function off and then you can add stuff to your library and they will stay in the folder structure you added them, but you would have to do that organization before adding them to iTunes. Why does having them go into Artist name, then in that by album name now work for you? It just seems non-intuitive to me to search for albums by title first when normally, like in a record store, you first go to the artist section, then find the album.

Can I re-arrange the contents of the iTunes Music folder? Will that affect iTunes in any way?

It will screw up everything and iTunes won't be able to find your music. You will then have to repoint iTunes back manually to each and every track by double clicking each track and then pointing iTunes to where ever you moved it.

The way it is now makes it akward to find specific imported music when I want to back up new imported music into my back-up drive.

How so? In what way would you arrange your folders so that you could readily identify new additions? For backups, if your external drive is large enough, you could drag & drop the entire iTunes folder to the external and back everything up. Ya, you end up rebacking up a lot of stuff so it will take longer, but it is a one step process that way. Alternatively you could looks for backup software that can do automatic incremental backups for you. Regards, Patrick

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Answer 2

raydeon Author

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May 26, 2009 9:22 AM in response to PT

Thanks Patrick for taking the time to answer my questions.

I don't know how to refer to your answers here, so I just refer to para. numbers.

1-My file structure is as follows:

C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\compilations

2- iTunes preference is set to keep music folder organized.
I import CD’s in the default format for iPod nano which is AAC. (M4A)
Yes, I verified that the unmarked tracks I modified with Get info are the ones in that unknown folder

3- +All ten show up correctly in the library itself+?
I am not sure I understand your question.

4- I find the present organization difficult to locate specific albums.
I give you one of many examples in my case:
I imported an album called ”Goldene Wiener Operette”. 17 tracks, all with the same composer Johan Strauß Sohn.

I looked in the folder C:\Documents and Settings\user name\My Documents\My Music\iTunes Music
Although there is a folder called Goldene Wiener Operette which contains 2 tracks from a previously imported CD, the new album is not there.

Under the folder C:\Documents and Settings\user name\My Documents\My Music\iTunes Music\Compilations, there is a folder called Goldene Wiener Operette which contains ONLY tracks 13 to 17 of the new imported album. Tracks 1 to 12 are not to be found in that folder or anywhere in the iTunes Music folder.
When I open iTunes, all 17 tracks are present in the Music library. They are all under the same Album name, the same Composer. My question again is why are they not ALL showing in the iTunes Music folder?
That example is repeated many times in various albums collections.

I understand your backing method, but as you say that takes a lot of time. Whai I usually do is when I import a new CD, I look for it the iTunes Music folder and drag the new file/folder into my backup drive. It is fast and convenient (for me), but the problem is when I can’t find the file or folder as in the example above. If the folders in the iTunes Music folder were sorted by albums, that would solve my problems, but you said I can’t do that.
Regards
Velocio

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Answer 3

PT

Level 7

20,888 points

May 26, 2009 10:47 AM in response to raydeon

Hi again Velocio,
OK the place where the compilations folder is located is normal. So that is good. It sounds like part of the issue is understanding how iTunes stores things and that may help you understand where things are put and also to help you find your "lost" tracks.
First and foremost, iTunes stores stuff by artist. So if you import a U2 album it goes into the "U2" folder. In each artist folder it creates an "album" folder. If no album name is given, then the tracks are stored in folder "Unknown Album" (likewise for artist).
Compilations are a special case. If a track (or whole album) is marked as Part of a Compilation then the album is stored in the "compilation" folder rather than a specific artist folder. The main purpose of this is avoid creating TONS of folder for each artist as a few Movie Soundtrack CDs and a handful of "Hits from the 70s" or whatever type CDs can end up generating dozens, if not hundreds, of artists folders which will mostly have ONE track in them from whatever compilation it came from.
It also makes sense organizationally if you think of a record store. When you go to the store, you look for a compilation in the compilations section, not by each artist that appears on the CD. Likewise, if you needed to get to the "Hits of the 70s" CD you ripped to your iTunes because you want to move that album to another computer, you will find all the tracks in Compilations -> Hits of the 70s and can simply copy that whole folder.
Here are were some problems crop up with this sort of thing. While normally a whole album is marked as being a compilation or not, it is very possible to mark each track differently. So if for whatever reason tracks 1-5 are marked as NOT part of a compilation and tracks 6-10 ARE part of a compilation, then iTunes will store tracks 6-10 in a folder in the compilations folder while 1-5 will be written to each artist's folder which might be five different artists. So now your 10 track compilation album is spread out over 6 locations. You may have a little of that going on.
So... first you can always find the location of any track in iTunes by selecting the track, Get Info on the track and in the Summary info tab at the bottom it will list the path iTunes is using to find the track, the "Where" line. Here you can see exactly which file iTunes is using and where it is located.
The other thing you can do is check if the track is "Part of a Compilation". In the Info tab you will see a check box to mark it as part of a compilation (unchecked means it will be stored under the artist name). You may find if you leave that tab showing and use the NEXT button to go to each track on the album that some may be checked and others are not.
You can change individual tracks to check or uncheck that. However if you know you want the entire album to be the same way, then instead of one track, select ALL the tracks for that album in iTunes and do a Get Info on the whole bunch. Now in the Options tab (it no longer shows in the info tab) you will see a checkbox as well as a pull down saying YES/NO for being part of a compilation. At this point pick which the whole album should be then check the box (if it doesn't autocheck) to force iTunes to apply the setting to all those tracks when you hit OK. You may find setting this tag to YES on the albums you are having trouble with will "round up" all the ones you can not find into the compilations folder.
Also, you can set tracks to Part of or Not part of a compilation differently on purpose. For example, you import a movie soundtrack. 9 of ten tracks are various artists you like but want to just leave as part of the compilation. But track 10 is your all time favorite artists. You can set just that track to being NOT part of a compilation so that one track gets stored together with the other tracks from that artists in that artist's folder.
Hope that gives you a place to start,
Patrick

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Answer 4

Katrina S.

Level 7

24,131 points

May 26, 2009 11:52 AM in response to raydeon

Just jumping in, I hate that Compilations folder. Before I import anything, I do a Get Info on all tracks , go to the Options tab, and make sure "Part of a Compilation" is set to No.

Then I fill in the Album Artist field (not just Artist, but the Album Artist) to something I want. A lot of people just use 'Various Artist' but I like to put the soundtrack name, or something like 'Lilith Fair'

here's an example
such as the soundtrack to Garden State has
Album=Garden State
Album Artist = Various Artists
Track 1 Artist = Coldplay
Track 2 Artist = The Shins
and so on.
Make sure the "track 1 of 13" fields are also filled in.
That should get them grouped together.

Message was edited by: Katrina S.

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Answer 5

PT

Level 7

20,888 points

May 26, 2009 12:27 PM in response to Katrina S.

Katrina S. wrote:
Just jumping in, I hate that Compilations folder.

So why do you hate the compilations folder when the way you are doing it is exactly the same thing other than instead of the folder being called "compilation" on your computer is it now called "Various Artists".
Perhaps you just hate the word "compilation" ??? 🙂
Cheers,
Patrick

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Answer 6

raydeon Author

Level 1

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May 26, 2009 12:29 PM in response to PT

Thanks Patrick, your explanations clarify a few facts that I was not aware of. I guess I have to dig into it a little bit more to understand all.

I did check for that particular album, Goldene Wiener Operette, and I found that the tracks I was missing are stored under Compilation\Leichte Classics, not in the Compilations\Goldene Wiener Operette. Why, I still do not understand as the same info is listed for all tracks, and the "part of Compilation"box is checked on all tracks. There must be something else.
But it all makes better sense now. Thanks again. Let me digest that and I will get back to you if I have more questions.

Velocio

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Answer 7

raydeon Author

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May 26, 2009 12:31 PM in response to Katrina S.

Thanks Katrina for the helpfull info.

Velocio.

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Answer 8

Katrina S.

Level 7

24,131 points

May 26, 2009 1:13 PM in response to PT

No I don't hate the word, thank you very much ; ) I hate how iTunes/Gracenotes stupidly puts albums in it.

I rarely think 'Oh, look in Compilations' when I'm looking for The Monkee's Greatest hits. The Monkees should go in a Monkees folder, not Compilations.
As I posted, I don't always put it under Various Artists. Several other DL music stores I use file things under Various Artists, such as eMusic & Amazon.

Plus, I ran into a bug with itunes while trying to consolidate my library last year, and it had to do with tracks in the Compilations folder. When I took them out, the consolidate ran just fine.

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Answer 9

PT

Level 7

20,888 points

May 26, 2009 1:19 PM in response to Katrina S.

Ya I agree that Greatest Hits type collections shouldn't be marked as "compilations" since you do want them to store and list in iTunes along with the other releases by that artist. But that usually happens do to incorrect tagging on Gracenotes. When ever I put a CD in my computer to rip to iTunes, I always give the data a once over that was downloaded from Gracenotes. Looking for errors (the Year released is a biggie) but also to change stuff I feel should be different, in particular the choice of Genre tagged in Gracenotes doesn't agree with my choice of Genre.
Regards,
Patrick

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Answer 10

Katrina S.

Level 7

24,131 points

May 26, 2009 1:33 PM in response to PT

Yes, Gracenotes will have a 70s disco album that was released in 2006 filed under Year = 2006. I understand why (the CD release date was 2006), but that does nothing for my smart playlists when I want to hear some 70s disco.

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Answer 11

PT

Level 7

20,888 points

May 26, 2009 1:38 PM in response to Katrina S.

The date problems I also run across a lot are when albums are reissued, so the reissue date is in Gracenotes rather than the original release date.
Oh well, guess we can not have EVERYTHING (but we'll keep asking for it).
Sorry about your deeply seeded hatred for the word "compilation".
😉 Patrick

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Answer 12

raydeon Author

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May 27, 2009 2:30 PM in response to PT

I am back again Patrick.

I am not sure I am doing the reply to posts correctly. Why do some replies are with blue background and mine are in plain black on white?

Now for the important stuff.

Although I have a better understandind of how iTunes stores and classify music, thanks to you, I am still a little confused.

As mentioned in an earlier post my iTunes directory is as follows:
C:\Documents and Settings\my name\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music...

Under the iTunes Music folder I have a list of folders of Artists.
In that list I also have a folder called Compilations which in turn contains folders of various artists or albums....so far so good.

Then somewhere in the list, still under the folder iTunes Music I have a folder called Unknown Artists. I am still ok with that.

In that same list I also have a folder called iTunes Music (yes that is C:\....iTunes Music\iTunes Music) which in turn contains a folder called Artists, and also a folder called Unknown Artists...That's where I am confused.

To recap here is what I have:

....\iTunes Music\list of artists
....\iTunes Music\Compilations\list of artists and albums
....\iTunes Music\iTunes Music\list of artists folders\various track songs
....\iTunes Music\iTunes Music\Unknown Artists\Unknown Album\track songs
....\iTunes Music\Unknown Artist\name of an Album\list of track songs
....\iTunes Music\Unknown Artist\Unknown Album\list of track songs

Why are there so many duplication in folder names, i.e. iTunes Music and Unknown Album? Can I not consolidate that in a more logical way to eliminate names of subfolders having the same name as the parent folder?

Thanks in advance,
Velocio

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Answer 13

raydeon Author

Level 1

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May 27, 2009 4:14 PM in response to raydeon

am back again Patrick.

I am not sure I am doing the reply to posts correctly. Why do some replies are with blue background and mine are in plain black on white?

Now for the important stuff.

Although I have a better understandind of how iTunes stores and classify music, thanks to you, I am still a little confused.

As mentioned in an earlier post my iTunes directory is as follows:
C:\Documents and Settings\my name\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music...

Under the iTunes Music folder I have a list of folders of Artists.
In that list I also have a folder called Compilations which in turn contains folders of various artists or albums....so far so good.

Then somewhere in the list, still under the folder iTunes Music I have a folder called Unknown Artists. I am still ok with that.

In that same list I also have a folder called iTunes Music (yes that is C:\....iTunes Music\iTunes Music) which in turn contains a folder called Artists, and also a folder called Unknown Artists...That's where I am confused.

To recap here is what I have:

....\iTunes Music\list of artists
....\iTunes Music\Compilations\list of artists and albums
....\iTunes Music\iTunes Music\list of artists folders\various track songs
....\iTunes Music\iTunes Music\Unknown Artists\Unknown Album\track songs
....\iTunes Music\Unknown Artist\name of an Album\list of track songs
....\iTunes Music\Unknown Artist\Unknown Album\list of track songs

Why are there so many duplication in folder names, i.e. iTunes Music and Unknown Album? Can I not consolidate that in a more logical way to eliminate names of subfolders having the same name as the parent folder?

Thanks in advance,
Velocio

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