Can i-tunes display fIle names in the columns

No, it's not possible. iTunes doesn't really deal with tracks by file names but rather by the information in the tags. It's designed so that you don't ever really have to do anything except through the iTunes interface. Not everyone likes this.

Submit your feedback to Apple here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html

You can workaround this by setting another field, like the "Description", to the file path. NOTE: if the track already has a description, it is overwritten!

The following script lets you select the playlist(s) for files you want to have the path in the Description field.
http://www.pobox.com/~teridon/itunesscripts/itunespathdescription.vbs
(right-click and save it somewhere)

Then in iTunes you just turn on the Description field.

Meg St._Clair wrote:
iTunes doesn't really deal with tracks by file names but rather by the information in the tags.

So how come when you move or rename a file, iTunes loses it? The tags did not change.

ed2345 wrote:

Meg St._Clair wrote:
iTunes doesn't really deal with tracks by file names but rather by the information in the tags.

So how come when you move or rename a file, iTunes loses it? The tags did not change.

Yes, ed, I was imprecise. Apologies.

Is it not developed keeping simple users in mind?

Absolutely it is.
Most "simple" users are not concerned with where the file is located.
iTunes is made to manage and play music and videos.
Files will be located in \iTunes\iTunes music (or \iTunes media| folder in Artist\Album folders and the file name will be the track title.
Sounds very, very simple to me.

I wonder if you're missing the obvious. If I want to know where a song is located I select the song (iTunes) and click on *File/Get Info.* On the Summary tab (of the song) is Where: which gives you the full filepath and name.

The reason it's not shown as a column is precisely because iTunes is designed for simple users, not IT engineers or software developers.

Phil

As far as I have seen, using i-tunes properly to its fullest to maintain a neat library is not possible by simple users.

Huh?
Add items to iTunes, name everything correctly in iTunes and let iTunes manage everything, including location and it is very, very easy.
Why use one application to play music and another application (Windows Explorer) to manage the file locatgions and filenames? That sounds more difficult.

Simple users will not understand that the album tag in a mp3 file is most of Why would they be wrong? Most RIPping software will add the info from the application.

If the user is lazy and does not want to add/verify the info, then that is their problem but why not use the tags, which were developed specifically to maintain information about that file?Simple users (and everyone else) should use the tags and put the correct info in those tags (using iTunes).

and not relative to the original file name

Who really cares what a filename (or even where a file is located) is if I can do what I want in iTunes? If I need to copy it somewhere, drag it directly from the iTunes window.

So, it is just an additional simple request from simple users

Send suggestions here -> iTunes feedbacl

Regardless, you are free to maintain your files as you wish and you can make it as simple or as difficult or anywhere in between, as you want.

have around 150 mp3s in a particular playlist with the following tags :
Artist :Ilayaraja
Album Artist : Ilayaraja-Class_3
Album : Class3-Tharakesh Selections
Title : Best of Ilayaraja

You have 150 songs with the exact same track name and album?
These songs do not have the correct track title or track numbers?

Now I want to renumber the tracks for best listening.

I would not renumber them in the playlist because this will mess them up on the album.
If they don't have correct tags, I would first correct the tags, then worry about the playlists.
Simply reorder the songs in the playlist./ Select the playlist, select the first column with numbers and drag songs up/down.

If your filenames have some meaningful information in them which has been left out/overwritten in the tags then it may be possible to update the tags with this information using 3rd party tools. iTunes certainly can't do it. MediaMonkey is one possiblity as this will let you play files and view the path & file names but it's a bit limited on filename parsing. It all depends on what information there is that you want to extract and which tag field it needs to go to. For straight tag editors I used to be quite fond of Magic File Renamer for complex tag manipulation and I've also had some joy with THE Rename. I've still yet to find the "perfect" tool with support for every file type and tag field. If you do find a tool that does what you want then after making changes outside of iTunes, select the affected tracks in iTunes, "Get Info" and then click OK without typing anything or ticking any boxes. iTunes will compare the database with the current data in the tag and update itself where necessary.

tt2

That MediaMonkey link should have been http://www.mediamonkey.com

tt2