Mysteriously Shortening Tracks Names for new music

The operating system has a limit of (I think) 255 characters for file names.

So since the default folder place for iTunes music files is

C:\Documents and Settings\{username}\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music

there are many of those 255 characters already used up.

I have my songs on an external hard drive named K:iTunes, so my song names fit, even really long Sufjan Stevens ones.

Make sense?

The operating system has a limit of (I think) 255
characters for file names.

255 characters for "file names" yes.

But if iTunes used proper UNC paths internally (like all good Windows apps are supposed to do), then the max path name is actually 32767 characters, with any given file name or folder name being limited to 255 characters. This is on NTFS volumes, of course.

On FAT32 volumes, you are more correct, the max path name is 260 characters.

So in short, it's possible for them to bypass this "limitation" in iTunes, they just haven't done so.

Hmmm, does this happen to anyone else?

Yes, it happens to everybody else. iTunes has a built in 40 character filename limit. Sorry, but them's just the breaks.

Mine are OK, my ex HD is formatted as FAT32.

The song titles are definitely longer than 32 characters.

For example
K:\eMusic\Sufjan Stevens\Illinoise\11_To The Workers of The Rock River Valley Region, I Have An Idea Concerning Your Predicament, And It Involves An Inner Tube, Bath Mats.mp3

Mine are OK, my ex HD is formatted as FAT32.

The song titles are definitely longer than 32
characters.

For example
K:\eMusic\Sufjan Stevens\Illinoise\11_To The Workers
of The Rock River Valley Region, I Have An Idea
Concerning Your Predicament, And It Involves An Inner
Tube, Bath Mats.mp3

Katrina: If you don't have iTunes actually organizing your music for you, then it won't truncate the filenames. In your case, you don't seem to. Look at the filename: 11_To... iTunes doesn't use underscores in filenames, it's (track)(space)(title).

I do have iTunes set to organize my music for me, it just wasn't imported from a CD like the origianl poster.

It's not copying the files to the iTunes folder, though, maybe that is the difference.

I do have iTunes set to organize my music for me, it
just wasn't imported from a CD like the origianl
poster.

It's not copying the files to the iTunes folder,
though, maybe that is the difference.

Definitely. iTunes only organizes music in the iTunes Library Location folder.

Hmm, never used the consolidate command and even if you go back to the iTunes preferences, advanced tab, your preferences are still set to not copy or organize the song files?