How do I import multiple playlists into iTunes?

Thanks so much for your prompt response. and your patience.

1. i do not understand paragraph 1.

2. Yes, to re-clarify: the main library is on Silver; and the subset tiny library is meant to go on the Mac

On Silver, I can see all the files you list except for sentinel; I did a spotlight search and I could not find it.

The list of items to copy gets placed where on the Mac? Should i have previously deleted from the Mac the iTunes folder, ie the one which envelopes all the other folders w iTunes in their names? User/Music/iTunes ? Will copying your list of files copy just the databases [ie will not copy content? reminder: Main library is 120 GB of content and I do not have 120 GB of space on Mac}

3. Assume that i DO want ALL the playlists [w their associated content] but i do not have space on Mac for the non-intended content.

I understand 'option-start', but i am confused as to what means '....remove all of the playlists & content that you don't want .. without deleting content"

I think i understand the distinction 'remove' vs 'delete'. And i think i understand 'consolidate the library' , but not sure about '..to a new media folder ...'

At which stage of process is 'a new media folder' made? Do i pre-make that folder on the Mac before the copying step 2? Or does the program generate the requisite folder?

4. Yikes. I studied Silver; good thing i only did three playlists worth: sure enough, there are now duplicate folders on Silver, about 15 for the paltry few mp3s I 'imported' with just three playlists. Clearly I do not understand how this program works and do not understand its sense of directionality. [so, am to understand that whilst 'consolidating' on the Mac, new folders were created on Silver? very distressing, this behind the scenes activity] So, I am very grateful that you responded so promptly to prevent me from making even greater mess. Will deleting these duplicate folders from Silver cause some untoward effect? Also, seems it might be essential to delete them BEFORE step 2?

5. will the ipod shuttle idea not work?

Thanks again.

I shall do nothing til I hear from you.

No rush.

At all.

Also, is there a way to estimate how many GB the desired playlists' content comprise? Or, if there are about 100 playlists, with an average of 30 to 60 tunes and a fair amount of overlap of content? as the iPod holds 5GB and seems to only hold about one fifth of my playlists. thanks.

Moisee wrote:

Also, is there a way to estimate how many GB the desired playlists' content comprise? Or, if there are about 100 playlists, with an average of 30 to 60 tunes and a fair amount of overlap of content? thanks.

Easy question first.

Gather all of the playlists (and/or playlist folders) of interest into a single playlist folder. The size of this folder is what you want for your mini library.

A smart playlist with the rule Playlist is not <Mini Library Playlist> will contain all content that you want to leave out of the mini-library.

tt2

Thanks so much for your detailed responses.

I will study this all again later, when I am calmer.

My lack of calm interferes with really comprehending

precisely what gets copied to where.

and when.

and with what settings.

In my current state, I could easily make things worse than I already have.

I should just quit while things are still fairly intact.

But now i understand why others have responded to this seemingly simply query with 'why do you want to do this crazy thing?' ...

and those who come after will see from your detailed instructions that it can be done,

but it is beyond 'plug and play' or 'drag and drop'

and i suppose there are good reasons for why this is so complex.

thanks again. maybe tomorrow.

thanks very much , i really appreciate your time and patience.

You're welcome. 🙂

Computers do exactly what we tell them to do, usually very quickly and precisely. This might not always be what we wanted, meant, expected, or should have asked for. A solid backup regime is always a good idea and should protect against the worst misunderstanding. Where possible try to safely test out the behaviour of any feature you're not certain you understand.

tt2

Thanks again for your help. You are so right about computers. And my lack of comprehension!

Despite having backups of Silver,

i spent hours manually methodically restoring to pre-duplicates condition [did it manually, as i still do not have depth of understanding to avoid more disasters].

I attempted small tests to create the subset library, but it's more complex than i can precisely manage right now.

[a la '.... i would have written you a short letter, but didn't have the time....']

When the next four foot snow storm hits and roads closed for days,

I may again try to make subset library on laptop.

In meantime, many thanks for showing me how to create workable EHD library;

it works great and it's very nice to have access to all my stored music again.

really appreciate your patience. thanks.

Hi tt2,

I'm writing about the post you made over a year ago:

How to import 5,372 playlists without doing it one at a time? Asked and answered over three years ago now.

(And if anyone still really, really, wants a script to do it I will oblige.)

I would be really interested in such a script! Also I could find the answer from 4 years ago; could you possibly point me to it?

Thanks,

sshieh

File > Add Folder to Library adds media files and any playlists (m3u format anyway, I'd have to check if it also pulls in xml playlists). These will work provided the files are where the playlist says they should be. It becomes more complicated if the files have been moved from one computer to another, or are/were rearranged when added to iTunes.

it shouldn't need a script unless there needs to be some additional work, such as converting WMA files, or fixing broken paths.

What format are the lists in?

WIll they import one at time as they are, or do they need some editing before they will add the correct files into the created playlists?

I'd also echo earlier sentiments that you don't need playlists to represent albums, genres, artists, composers, etc. iTunes can give you these directly.

tt2

I opened this thread in the hope that someone could actually tell me a way to import multiple songs at once. I am still waiting for the answer!

Instead we got the “you must use software in a certain way” brigade!

I still use playlists for each album, it makes writing them to cd and playing them easier for the way I choose to use itunes. One of the most annoying things about the multiple updates of itunes is the interface changes that try to force you to use the software in certain ways as if there is a recommended way. Apple have moved from being an enabling company to adopting the philosophy of Microsoft and restricting users actions (partly to try to force the itunes store down our throats).

The two most annoying changes to the interface have been hiding the repeat action in a menu and not allowing multiple selection of songs to import. Whatever your recipe for using itunes, interface changes are annoying as they force cognitive load to learn new procedures.

The caveat to this is you have to have all the music already, otherwise iTunes imports the playlists, and only lists what music you already have in your library that matches. The simplest case for me:

All music on file server.

Itunes xx and yy points to file server

Wife makes playlist on her iTunes xx

Wife exports playlist on her iTunes xx

I import to my iTunes yy

Result: Missing tracks ---even though the playlist is pointing to the correct music, since it all is listed on the file server. But since the music wasn't imported to itunes first. It fails.

Even better. I've had some data corruption so my file server is missing some music. I have all 100 playlists of music that I WANT in iTunes, but if i import them, iTunes doesn't have the music, file server doesn't have the music.

Result: all playlists imported, no list of what tracks are missing from iTunes, playlists are incomplete with no log of what was attempted by iTunes

Even worse, what if the file location of certain music has changed for whatever reason. I import a playlist , it's missing tracks. Ok, let me write a script to figure out what tracks it's missing. Ok cool now I know what's missing from the file server. However, if iTunes had duplicates, playlist doesn't import correctly, but iTunes does have some of the tracks that are missing. Now I still have to go through each playlist, verify the tracks that are missing from the playlist, are truely not in itunes as a duplicate somewhere else.

I could use a nifty script to wipe duplicates and just ignore the check in itunes since that won't help with a playlist import, but now, what happens to the playlists? Do scripts that wipe dupes from itunes break playlists.

I really really hate itunes. I tried match. I tried match when my library actually worked. Match is probably why all my play lists are trasked and my libary is a mess. Match only matched part of my music. Result: Playlist that wouldn't play correctly

I don't use iTunes Match, and I doubt I will be using iCloud Music Library either. Apple don't seem to be able to leave tags alone, and I have invested time in setting out my tags the way that I want them for best results in iTunes and on Apple hardware.

Importing a playlist should import any tracks that are not already in the library, provided they exist at the listed paths so I'm not quite sure why that bit hasn't worked for you. That said I haven't double-checked the behaviour with the current build, and I suppose it might depend on which format of playlist you create.

I wrote a script called ImportM3U a while back which is really intended for use with non-iTunes generated playlists as these may not include the full path.

My own DeDuper script merges ratings, play counts and playlist membership, but these are clearly things that can be overlooked.

tt2

iTunes is useless, and I'm deleting it.

If you import a playlist and songs in that playlist are not already in iTunes, the songs wil be removed from that playlist.

LOL. Just keep on hating on itunes. It won't do what you want with one click.