My iTunes preferences/media folder location keeps going to default

So by adding a single quote in front of 210 for example, that means the script will skip checking that?

And you mean a " mark, right? And that's all I need do for those fields I don't need looked at?

When you mention the last section, you're referring to the last part of the lines relating to lines 202,203,204,205 and so forth right? No elsewhere in the script right?

Thanks so much!!

I removed ten lines and ran the same number of songs (187) as I did yesterday. It cut it down by about 3-4 minutes. If I remove lines that could further speed things up, it won't remove those will they? I'd like to remove these lines but want to make sure it won't remove them from the file in iTunes?

WriteLine "<DateAdded>" & .DateAdded

WriteLine "<Plays>" & .PlayedCount

WriteLine "<Played>" & .PlayedDate

WriteLine "<LongDescription>"

WriteLine "<BitRate>" & .BitRate

WriteLine "<KindAsString>" & .KindAsString

WriteLine "<Start>" & .Start

WriteLine "<Finish>" & .Finish

This should further speed things up. Can you let me know? I'd sure appreciate it!!

You're AMAZING!!!

Hi again!

So I have all the changes made in iTunes/Windows Explorer using the suggested Export/Import script modifications. I can't imagine if I would have had to do that manually. It took quite a while as it was.

So the last step pretty much is really just trying to clean up a couple of things and I wondered if you would have any insight.

1. On the playlists, I've not done the fine-tuning there. You advised earlier on this but I wanted to clarify it. Would refreshing the metadata have anything to do with it? If I make edits in iTunes such as, (e.g.) "Classic Rock, best of the 70's" and shorten to "CR-70s best" or something, it doesn't come through in Plex. I edit the XML in Notepad++, then replace the existing XML in the Music1 folder on NAS, refresh the NAS, then import the iTunes playlists in Plex, then scan the library, it won't show up. Am I supposed to also refresh the metadata at that point? I have confirmed that the older, originally named playlist is not in the newly updated XML. The weird thing is that this newer playlist isn't always coming in after importing it. And it's not just Beatles, there are a few other places I've noticed too. What concerns me is whether this is happening elsewhere but I've noticed yet. I have the scanner and agent set to my own metadata, though I could revisit if you have some thought there.
2. Speaking of metadata, every time I refresh Plex, it always seems to break things in some folders. A good example of this is that I have Beatles albums in Mono and Stereo. So it would have "Beatles - Revolver" and "Beatles - Revolver (mono)". After refreshing metadata, it puts the mono and stereo together. It does it on several of the albums, whereas some stereo/mono albums stay split as they should be. They're in their own folder. There's nothing I can see that would suggest that they merge into one. It's nuts.

Perhaps there's a flow that I'm not doing right or something. The biggest concern really is the metadata refresh. But more than that is the renaming of playlists. I'd like to do those in iTunes and then have them replace what the original one was. I tried sorting on a column for a specific playlist per our earlier exchanges but that didn't seem to make any difference.

I hope all is well with you. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Anyway, let me know if you can. THANKS!!

I've been away for the day and will try these suggestions tomorrow and re-review your previous input/post.

Beatles - Beatles 65

Beatles - Beatles 65 (mono)

That would be an example so when I refresh the metadata it's putting the mono and stereo in the same folder. So each folder is separated. And in Plex, they'll be separated (after I fix things). But once I refresh metadata, it throws them together again.

And what's weird is that some stereo vs mono don't all get merged.

Anyway, I'll check it out tomorrow.

THANKS!

I realized that if I put the stereo and mono together as disc 1 and disc 2, that - when viewing the album in Plex (as shown below), I won't know which one is which until I open it so testing on that doesn't look like it's the solution.

As you can see above, having them split makes it easier to play one or the other. I do quite like the Mono versions (as were their intended mixes back in the day versus stereo) so I like having these different versions.

I'll keep plugging away and hopefully it will work itself out. Hopefully there are only a handful of artists/albums affected.

I have another question, following up on an earlier post about it. There's a new article in my new Sound & Vision magazine (October/November 2021 issue) called "Lossless Leaders" about Apple Music upgrading its vast library to lossless audio. As you know, most all of my music is lossless already but it did also talk about some hi-res offerings (using an external hardware DAC, which I've not hooked up to my computer yet). Also that it will download all your past purchases in lossless when you sign up. (This would address the fact that all my purchases were in the AAC 128 back in the day - only about 100 titles out of the 15,000 or so titles).

Later in the same issue is another article on Apple and their Spatial Audio called "Spatial Audio Relations" which can utilize Atmos (which I have in my media room 9.1 setup) for those titles they have, or just the Spatial Audio on other tracks. I can't tell if this $10 service is on top of the $9.99 for Apple Music.

My question is this: Can I create yet another iTunes library, set it up as a copy of what I have now in Volume1/Music1, and then use that to set up Apple Music? Then use that library for Apple Music as I desire on the Apple TV using Apple Music? Or will iTunes want to force Apple Music with each individual library when I switch between libraries? Or to ask it another way, can I just create this other library and use Apple Music only with that one?

Any other input you have (links, thoughts) you have on setting up Apple Music for either/or services, please let me know. I don't want to muck up my library which I have finally nearly have completed. (only thing really remaining is figuring out why playlists don't update).

Thanks so much as always!!!

One other question; I'm not sure where this came from, but this is on my NAS in my music folders:

iTunes Preferences.plist

Do I need this file as part of XML and what I'm trying to accomplish?

In case I might have a playlist in my XML (even though I don't ever recall creating a playlist folder), is there a way I can check?

Thanks.

I meant to say: I never gave up! (not, I never gave you), haha.