music files all over the place; in Organizing don't want to lose database

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music files all over the place; in Organizing don't want to lose database

So this is a topic I feel has been beaten to death but I still can not find an answer to my issue. It concerns organizing music and eliminating duplicates, but has recently become much more complicated.

So I have been trying to get all my music into one folder for the last couple weeks. I had a the bulk of it in my itunes music folder, but the music I have obtained in the last couple months has been saved (I did not notice this till recently) to a different folder. When I have deleted music in itunes I have been under the assumption that the actual file is going to my trash (i know this only works if the file is in the folder being used in itunes) but because a lot of my new music is not in this folder I have ended up downloading multiple copies of it. Also, through some strange sequence of events all of my music files have managed to duplicate themselves. This means I have multiple duplicates on my computer. I tried movign everything to my external drive then deleting duplicates by organizing them by either their ...(1) tag or the date they were created. While doing all of this my computer crashed. So now after loading my recovered files I have a database that does not know where any of the music is, while the music is being contained in like six different folders. One of these folders is in the new itunes organizing format where it separates every artist into their own folder. So my question is how do I best go about getting all of the ACTUAL music files I have on my comp together into the itunes folder while MOST IMPORTANTLY not losing all of my music ratings and play counts?

(I know this question is probably confusing so please ask me questions about what I mean)

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Mar 22, 2010 8:53 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Rob Ryan

Level 2

489 points

Mar 22, 2010 9:53 PM in response to TheTennisDude0451

Assuming your duplicates are on your hard disk, but not your iTunes library (i.e. what you see in iTunes), you could designate a new area on your disk for the media listed in your iTunes Library, and then copy just that music in your iTunes library to that new media location. Having done that, you can then get rid of the old music stuff (including all the duplicates and stuff scattered about on your disk via Finder).

To designate an area for your new collection of ACTUAL music files, go to "Advanced" section of the "Preferences", and designate where you want the files copied (not moved, but copied). Then perform "File" - "Library" - "Organize" and click on the "Consolidate" button. You'll end up with a new directory with the music represented in your iTunes Library. After you do this and clean up your old music folders in Finder (as well as music scattered about your disk). If, after you do all of this clean up of your old iTunes Media folder, you want to move the stuff back, just repeat this process.

Needless to say, this consolidate feature should preserve all the features of your library, as requested, just tweaking where stuff is located.

Does this make sense?

By the way, I'd suggest you make a backup of your disk before you do this, just in case.

Message was edited by: Rob Ryan

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Answer 2

Limnos

Level 10

411,091 points

Mar 22, 2010 10:12 PM in response to TheTennisDude0451

I think the only way to keep the counts and ratings will be to re-form the links of the individual tracks (very tedious if you have many broken links). That data is not stored in the music file but in the library database and if you add the same track again it will give it a new listing alongside the old broken link ⚠. I suspect this will have no rating and have a zero playcount.

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Answer 3

Rob Ryan

Level 2

489 points

Mar 23, 2010 5:39 AM in response to Limnos

I agree with Limnos, if you have broken links (entries flagged with

), then you either have to relink each of them, or simply delete these entries from your library and re-add the actual media files to your iTunes library but losing meta data like play counts and ratings in the process. In my original response, I was assuming that your iTunes library was ok but that you just had your media files scattered about on your hard disk with lots of duplicates. If the iTunes library itself is messed up, then that's a separate issue.

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Answer 4

Mar 25, 2010 9:13 AM in response to Rob Ryan

Thanks for all the help, but the broken links thing is the main issue I am battling. I have like 10,000 songs, and because my computer crashed while I was attempting to clean up the music folders I now have probably 3000+ broken links. I do no remember where songs used to be or which duplicate file(s) they may have been linked to. Is there no way I can just put all of my songs into one folder create a new library then simply apply all the info setting from the old library but exclude the file location? I feel like Mac in all it's infinite wisdom would be able to figure something like this out.

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Answer 5

Mar 25, 2010 9:15 AM in response to TheTennisDude0451

Thanks for all the help, but the broken links thing is the main issue I am battling. I have like 10,000 songs, and because my computer crashed while I was attempting to clean up the music folders I now have probably 3000+ broken links. I do no remember where songs used to be or which duplicate file(s) they may have been linked to. Is there no way I can just put all of my songs into one folder create a new library then simply apply all the info setting from the old library but exclude the file location? I feel like Mac in all it's infinite wisdom would be able to figure something like this out.

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Answer 6

Jolly Giant

Level 7

25,464 points

Mar 25, 2010 9:37 AM in response to TheTennisDude0451

TheTennisDude0451 wrote:
Thanks for all the help, but the broken links thing is the main issue I am battling. I have like 10,000 songs, and because my computer crashed while I was attempting to clean up the music folders I now have probably 3000+ broken links. I do no remember where songs used to be or which duplicate file(s) they may have been linked to. Is there no way I can just put all of my songs into one folder create a new library then simply apply all the info setting from the old library but exclude the file location? I feel like Mac in all it's infinite wisdom would be able to figure something like this out.

the following script was sugested by *Chris CA* in another thread. it may be useful in your situation.

iTunes Track CPR v1.3
This script attempts to locate the files of so-called "dead tracks"--iTunes tracks designated with (!)--that you assume are not actually missing but are still located in the iTunes Music folder in their "iTunes File Order" (Music -> Artist -> Album -> file.xxx)."

you should browse Doug's site - there is plenty of useful stuff.

good luck !

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Answer 7

Limnos

Level 10

411,091 points

Mar 25, 2010 9:39 AM in response to TheTennisDude0451

I think the simple answer is no, you can't. Apple has figured it out and they call it a backup (sorry if this sounds facetious). You can peruse [Dougscripts|http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/scriptcount.php?sortBy=Name& op=y] and see if something there will help but given the hundreds if not thousands of posts like yours there is no magic solution.

It's hard to see the details from here but it sounds like a jumble. I never use playcount, and only have about 0.1% of my songs rated so for me it is no loss. All the valuable information with the exception of playlists is stored in tags in the files themselves. If it came down to it I could just rebuild my library by dragging all my files to an open window. I might have to manually rebuild a few playlists but many of mine are smart playlists and would rebuild automatically based upon tag content.

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Answer 8

Rob Ryan

Level 2

489 points

Mar 25, 2010 9:46 AM in response to TheTennisDude0451

I do no remember where songs used to be ...

You don't have to remember. Just ask iTunes. Click on a song, press command-i, and look at the "where" field in the "Get info" dialog box. That tells you where it was expecting to find it. Then find the music on your disk and move it back to that location.

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Answer 9

Limnos

Level 10

411,091 points

Mar 25, 2010 10:21 AM in response to Rob Ryan

Is this a new feature in iTunes? When I get information for a broken link in iTunes 7.5 it just takes me to the desktop. I check for the file in the itunes music library.xml file and it has the full path listing there (but I have removed the file from my computer) but it isn't going there.

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Answer 10

Jolly Giant

Level 7

25,464 points

Mar 25, 2010 10:32 AM in response to Rob Ryan

Rob Ryan wrote:

I do no remember where songs used to be ...

You don't have to remember. Just ask iTunes. Click on a song, press command-i, and look at the "where" field in the "Get info" dialog box. That tells you where it was expecting to find it. Then find the music on your disk and move it back to that location.

how about the +*show in finder*+ option when you right-click on a file in iTunes ? 😉

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Answer 11

Limnos

Level 10

411,091 points

Mar 25, 2010 10:39 AM in response to Jolly Giant

how about the +*show in finder*+ option when you right-click on a file in iTunes ? 😉

Then nothing happens at all. It does work for files that still have a valid link. In this case I tried it for a file for which I had removed the file and the containing folder (but the reference to it is still present in the .xml backup files).

Maybe it's my older version.

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Answer 12

Rob Ryan

Level 2

489 points

Mar 25, 2010 10:42 AM in response to Limnos

My bad: It doesn't show you. I just assumed it would. Sorry!

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Answer 13

Jolly Giant

Level 7

25,464 points

Mar 25, 2010 10:52 AM in response to Limnos

Limnos wrote:
Maybe it's my older version.

must be. works for me every time.

maybe it's time to upgrade after all ? 😉

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Answer 14

Rob Ryan

Level 2

489 points

Mar 25, 2010 11:16 AM in response to Jolly Giant

Hmm. Show in Finder doesn't work for me, either, even with latest iTunes and OS. I even tried accessing "get location of selection" in AppleScript, which generally works, but not for broken links.

Interestingly, in my diagnostics, I found it hard to break a link in iTunes. It looks like iTunes is doing something pretty sophisticated in terms of syncing the Library with the OS file system. When I moved a file in the OS, my Library figured it out. Thus, when I deleted a song via the Finder, when I went to iTunes, the library correctly reported that it was in the trash. Only after I emptied the trash, that's when I got the

and that's when the location of the file was undetermined.

Message was edited by: Rob Ryan

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Answer 15

Jolly Giant

Level 7

25,464 points

Mar 25, 2010 11:25 AM in response to Rob Ryan

Rob Ryan wrote:
When I moved a file in the OS, my Library figured it out.

now THAT is interesting. usually, if you move library files in finder, that's when iTunes cannot find them and gives the dreaded exclamation mark ...

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