itunes media folder keeps resetting back to default

Hi,

for question 1:

What is the full path to your media folder?

H:\Files\Music\ALAC

for question 2:

What is the current location of the iTunes Library.itl file?

H:\Files\Music\iTunes

Path for question 2 (iTunes Library) I can change to just about anything, other drives or not, path for media folder (question 1) is set to H:\Files\Music\ALAC (and should not be changed. At all.)

Best wishes

Nick

Is there a reason that you're wedded to keeping the media folder as H:Files\Music\ALAC, other than it being the current location for your music? If you want to stop having to reset the media folder each time you run iTunes then this should do it:

With iTunes closed open your iTunes folder H:\Files\Music\iTunes. Copy the iTunes Library.itl file along with the the two .itdb files and the Album Artwork folder into H:\Files\Music, then press and hold down shift as you launch iTunes, click choose library when the option comes up, then browse to and open the file H:\Files\Music\iTunes Library.itl. Reset your media folder to H:\Files\Music\ALAC once more and check that your music plays. Now close iTunes, rename the folder ALAC as iTunes Media then restart iTunes. You should find the media folder is now shown as H:\Files\Music\iTunes Media and that your media still plays. Personally I'd close iTunes and rename H:\Files\Music as H:\Files\iTunes to complete the transition to a standard shape for the library, but that is optional.

tt2

Yes, I know it's not a problem to have the library working when the media folder is called "iTunes Media", but as I said all along, the problem is when the media folder is NOT named "iTunes Media", but something else (in my case "ALAC"). That is the issue I am having.

My media folder has been called "ALAC" since the beginning of time (no, actually since 2013) and yes, it is not supposed to be called anything else, there is a reason I have it mapped to ALAC. Lots of reasons, actually. Just one of them is that I have various media folders (in the path blablabla\music named according to their content (as in AAC, FLAC, ALAC) etc... which are not supposed to mix and mingle, some other reasons as well (mapping to various music players, backup programs, etc.). Even IF the ALAC folder were called "iTunes Media", it would still not work for the "AAC" folder, which iTunes would then also want to call "iTunes Media" and so on... there are other issues as well, but even if they could all be addressed (some only with tricky workarounds), it should not be too much to ask from iTunes to simply remember its own settings again, a function that is clearly there but is now broken! If nothing else, it goes to show that there are some fairly incompetent programmers at work, as this is not even an exotic function. Setting a "working folder" is standard procedure for just about any program, not just music players, but word processors, graphic programs, whatever.

That is why I know your solution has helped quite a few people, but it does not work in my case. I have more than one (iTunes) media folder and they cannot all be called "iTunes Media". That's just ONE reason why that won't work for me. :-)

Thanks and best to you!

You can easily have multiple iTunes libraries, each in their own parent folders, each containing an iTunes Media folder, and switch between them on demand. My primary library is at D:\iTunes, my Apple Music library is in D:\iTunes Match (upgraded, haven't found a need to change the name of the parent folder), and then I have probably a dozen variations on iTunes Test, iTunes New Test, iTunes Dupe Test, iTunes Empty, iTunes Blank, iTunes Store Test, etc. each created while trying to test some particular aspect of iTunes or one of my scripts. In other words, a potential scheme for you might be to convert your various libraries into iTunes ALAC, iTunes AAC, etc. Or you can hold out for Apple to fix it and carry on as you are until then. Best of luck either way.

tt2

allanwg wrote:

I let them log in to two different PCs and demonstrated the issue. I learnt something new. In 'upgrading' iTunes to 12.10.6.150 (the latest) I found that it sticks on the last folder you gave it in 12.9.3.3.

That is an interesting detail.

tt2

What I want und what I have and what every backup program, every music player, every music server, every remote listening app, every streamer can handle (and iTunes could handle before it became broken) is a SINGLE media folder, in which different sub media folders are set, according to a certain system, part of it is that the name reflects its contents. So I want music/ALAC and music/FLAC and music/AAC and music/MP3 and so on. And I do NOT want these folders ALL spread out into DIFFERENT subfolders, and I sure as **** do NOT want them ALL (or most of them) called "iTunes Media". (And it's not just that I'm finicky about that, though I might too, but this has far reaching consequences, including navigating within all these folders from a NAS with various playing devices. When it comes down to it, I do explicitly really not want ANY folder called iTunes Media (I prefer to know what a folder contains by its name without re-checking where it is in its hierarchy) , but certainly not more than ONE. Any run of the mill music app can do this (and iTunes could and still at least pretends that it can), it is iTunes that is broken there, not question about it.

Got it. And yes iTunes is broken in this respect given it purports to let you choose where to store your media and then doesn't save that preference. Unfortunately there is nothing I can do to fix that.

tt2

That is excellent, allanwg. Thanks! I did escalate this to Apple as well via a contact form, but so far did not get anything in return. Your call seems to get a much better response. Here's hoping you will get a good answer. Thanks also for the version hint!

Best to you

Nick

Apple Update:

I was promised a call back last Thursday but it never came.

I called in and was promised a call back later on Thursday.

No call received.

I called again Friday and again was promised a call back – nobody called.

Monday 27th April I went online and booked

a callback at 16:15

Somebody called me then had me on hold to find out more, came back and put me on hold again and eventually cut me

off.

I will keep trying folks !

Hi. So I've been thru (most of) this thread - sorry if this is a repeat. My library is located at C:/BillTunes. My library.itl file is also in that folder. Every time I open iTunes, the default folder is identifed as C:/BillTunes/iTunes Media/. For the last few months, I have been changing the media folder location through Edit > Preferences > Advanced, which always takes between 10 and 20 minutes (I have a large library). I ran across the potential fix of holding the shift key down at iTunes start up to choose the library. However, it looks like the library is (and always has been) selected correctly. Yet the default folder is still identified as the /iTunes Media/ folder below where I want it to be. Is this the same problem or does it include a slight wrinkle? How do I get rid of the iTunes Media subfolder in library location path? Thanks.

I'm afraid that is correct, bigpor2gee, it is precisely the issue. There is no way around it: start iTunes, re-consolidate the library, wait for 20 minutes or so until paths are fixed again, and you are all set to go. That is pretty much -- unfortunately -- the only way I have found around the problem and the one I am currently using. I am considering leaving ALACs completely behind in favor of FLAC but so far still shy away from converting (will all my sorting tags etc. be converted?).

If you are fine with your iTunes media files be in the standard "iTunes Media" folder structure, the problem does not exist, but if you are among those who have clear ideas about what folders should be doing what, iTunes is currently deeply, deeply broken.

this does not work for me.

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tt2

Hi.

1. What is the full path to your media folder?
2. What is the current location of the iTunes Library.itl file?

tt2

If your iTunes Media folder is set to an external (F: in your case), and you start iTunes without the external being accessible, iTunes will automatically revert to the local (C:).