Stop iTunes From Making "Music" Folder Inside My Default Location

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Stop iTunes From Making "Music" Folder Inside My Default Location

When I upgraded from 9.2 beta to 9.2 release, every time I drag and drop music from my hdd into my iTunes library, it is placed into a folder called music inside my iTunes default location.
the default location is set to
Macintosh HD/Users/Stewart/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media
on beta, the music would be placed into the artist folder inside this so, for instance if it was an "Album" by AC/DC, then when i dragged it into the library it would be copied to
Macintosh HD/Users/Stewart/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/AC/DC/"Album"
but now on 9.2 release, it is copied to
Macintosh HD/Users/Stewart/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/AC/DC/"Album"

I have updated to 9.2.1 but this is still here
It is set to keep my iTunes Media folder organised and to copy files to iTunes Media folder but it was set to this on beta as well, and there were no problems.

Please Can Someone Help Me!!!

Macbook White 13" 2.0Ghz, Mac OS X (10.6.4), 4GB DDR2 & 640GB 5400RPM HDD

Posted on Jul 22, 2010 5:08 AM

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Answer 1

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turingtest2

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Jul 22, 2010 5:58 AM in response to Stewpotz

Hi,

That / in AC/DC makes it an odd example since iTunes is probably going to rewrite that as AC_DC. Nit-picking aside, the "extra" music folder you talk about is intentional and part of the newer layout decribed as "iTunes Media Organisation". Introduced with iTunes 9 it acknowledges that iTunes in no longer solely a music player and is used to manage other types of media too. In the new layout each type of media, including music, has its own subfolder rather than having Movies, Podcasts, Audiobooks etc. jumbled up amongst artist folders.

Here are the new & old layouts side by side for comparison.

iTunes only supports "upgrading" to iTunes Media Organisation, but if you open the *(.)iTunes Preferences.xml* file in your iTunes Media folder you can change the 1 for a 0 or vice versa to switch layouts. Files will only be moved if you disable & then reenable the "Keep iTunes Media folder organised option". If you prefer to manage things manually, like I do, then editing the xml will still affect the layout for files that iTunes rips, downloads or consolidates.

tt2

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Answer 2

Stewpotz Author

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Jul 22, 2010 11:40 AM in response to turingtest2

please can you help me by telling me which file to change and which lines etc. so it is back to how it used to be

what i have in my itunes folder is

Album artwork
itunes library genius.itdb
mobile applications
itunes library.lib
itunes media
previous itunes libraries
itunes library extras
itunes music library.xml
temp file.tmp

which of these should be changed and what should be changed inside it

many thanks

stew

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Answer 3

turingtest2

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272,731 points

Jul 22, 2010 2:47 PM in response to Stewpotz

Inside *iTunes\iTunes Media* you should find a file called *iTunes Preferences.xml* or (and I think this a bug in 9.2, and might only affect Windows users) *.iTunes Preferences.xml*. Lines 7 & 8 of this file contains the following:

<key>Layout Version</key>
<integer>1</integer>

Simply close iTunes, edit this file changing the 1 to a 0 (zero) and save, then restart iTunes to switch from *iTunes Media Organisation* to the older layout. Personally I'd recommend you stick with the new layout, but it's up to you. Turning off the *Keep iTunes Media folder organised* preference and turning it on again should force iTunes to reorganise the files to your preferred layout. You may also find that iTunes fails to properly clean up all the folders that are emptied as a result of the restucture...

tt2

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Answer 4

Stewpotz Author

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Jul 23, 2010 12:17 AM in response to turingtest2

i have just been through my itunes media folder and all of the library folders and i cant seem to find itunes preference(s).xml.
the closest i got was if i exported my library and that gives me itunes library.xml

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Answer 5

turingtest2

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Jul 23, 2010 6:19 AM in response to Stewpotz

😟 I guess the Mac version of iTunes stores this option somewhere else then.

tt2

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Answer 6

Stewpotz Author

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Jul 23, 2010 8:35 AM in response to turingtest2

found the file, it was hidden, ."filename".extension on mac is automatically hidden...which is probably why windows has it as well...lazy apple 😀

what should i do, just change that 1 to a 0 and then close/reopen itunes then untick/retick the keep files organised??

many thanks

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Answer 7

turingtest2

Level 10

272,731 points

Jul 23, 2010 9:01 AM in response to Stewpotz

Yep.

- Close iTunes.
- Edit the file.
- Start iTunes.
- Turn off the *Keep iTunes Media folder organised* option and apply the change.
- Turn the option back on again.

tt2

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Answer 8

Stewpotz Author

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Jul 23, 2010 8:59 AM in response to turingtest2

done it now, works perfectly 😀

cheers for all the help

stew

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Answer 9

turingtest2

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Jul 23, 2010 9:02 AM in response to Stewpotz

You're welcome 🙂

tt2

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Answer 10

turingtest2

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Jul 24, 2010 6:40 PM in response to turingtest2

PS... No wonder you had trouble finding the file. Not only was it hidden but it is called *.iTunes Preferences.plist*

Oops.

tt2

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Answer 11

Jul 30, 2010 8:20 PM in response to turingtest2

Odd--only in the fact, that iTunes 9 on my Mac never reorganized my files in the fashion that you show. Mine still look like the picture that you show for 8 and before.

Doesn't really matter to me, iTunes finds things where it needs to. But it is curious that yours got restructured, but not everyone's.

I do have iTunes set to copy to the iTunes folder and to keep files organized.

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Answer 12

turingtest2

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272,731 points

Jul 31, 2010 1:54 AM in response to teacher24_70

teacher24_70 wrote:
Odd--only in the fact, that iTunes 9 on my Mac never reorganized my files in the fashion that you show. Mine still look like the picture that you show for 8 and before.

Doesn't really matter to me, iTunes finds things where it needs to. But it is curious that yours got restructured, but not everyone's.

I do have iTunes set to copy to the iTunes folder and to keep files organized.

As I recall it the first build of iTunes 9 offered to upgrade the layout immediately after installing. You don't have to switch it if you don't want to, although personally I think it's a much more sensible layout. As you say, as long as iTunes can find everything it doesn't really matter, but there are some of us who find it hard not to care about the physical layout of our media.

tt2

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