Problem with Windows Media Player stealing the files from iTunes

Getting iTunes & Windows Media Player to play nicely

(the short version)

If you want WMP & iTunes to live in harmony then disable WMP's options for updating or reorganising media, then tell it that its Rip Folder is the same as your iTunes Media\Music folder. Move anything you want to add into iTunes either into the Automatically add to iTunes folder, assuming you are happy letting iTunes organise things, otherwise place them where you want, but inside the iTunes Media folder. If you are letting iTunes Keep the iTunes Media folder organised then WMP will work out when iTunes has moved something, but the reverse is not the case. WMP will also detect and add compatible (non-AAC) files that have been ripped or downloaded using iTunes, unless you tell it not to of course. If you want to add compatible (non-WMA) files created by WMP into iTunes use iTunes Folder Watch. You should probably settle on .mp3 as your default media format so that the same audio files can be used in either player without unnecessary duplication of files. Choose a bit rate that gives you good enough quality, probably 256k or above. N.b. Most video formats will only work in one of the two media players.

More on letting iTunes & Windows Media Player live happily together

(longer version, with pics.)

Using Edit > Preferences > Advanced take a note of the location of your iTunes Media folder, here for example I have my library living at the root of my H: drive. I choose to organise my files manually but generally recommend setting the Keep iTunes Media folder organised option to others as it requires less housekeeping. Having Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library set often encourages unnecessary duplication but the choice is yours. If letting iTunes manage files then move your imports into the Automatically add to iTunes folder, otherwise arrange them to your taste within the iTunes Media folder before manually adding them to the library.

On the Preferences > General tab set your import settings to mp3 with a sample rate to suit your taste and the capacity of your devices.

In Windows Media Player use Library > More Options > Rip Music to set WMP's rip folder to <iTunes Media Folder>\Music. Set the format to mp3 and choose your quality settings. Disable the Rip when CD inserted option so you can choose whether to rip with WMP or iTunes.

On the Library tab make sure the highlighted check boxes are not ticked. This prevents WMP from automatically updating files and moving them about which can confuse iTunes. With both programs sharing the same media folders you should also take care when deleting tracks from one library that you don't accidentally delete the files if they should be left for the alternate library.

WMP is able to detect when media has been moved from one location to another (providing it is monitoring the target folder) so you can move any music that is currently organised in your main <User's Music> folder into your iTunes\iTunes Media\Music folder and WMP will reconnect to it. You can then add those folders that you want to into iTunes without creating duplicates. Of course you may have already duplicated some material so you'll need to consider this before deciding what to move around and what to delete. See also my DeDuper script for removing duplicates and this thread for more background on it, including tips on how to dedupe manually.

Existing WMA or AAC files in each library can be set out in the same folder structure accessible only to the WMP or iTunes libraries respectively or you can opt to convert them to a common format when the need arises.

Now you've taken all that effort to make your library perfect don't forget to back it up. See this user tip for suggestions.

tt2

See Getting iTunes & Windows Media Player to play nicely for a user tip with an updated version of the advice above.

tt2

WMP and iTunes can fully share MP3, AAC and Apple Lossless files. While WMP in Windows 7 can natively and fully handle MP3 and AAC files including all the meta-tags and even embedded album artwork, WMP does need some help to handle Apple Lossless files. However once you install the necessary addons WMP will then be equally happy with Apple Lossless.

For more details on getting WMP to play fair with Apple Lossless see Using Apple Lossless (aka. ALAC) in Windows

I have all my music in Apple Lossless and shared between iTunes and WMP in Windows 7 64bit with no problems. I have as per your reply set WMP not to move or manage the music in the iTunes folder, but to monitor the iTunes folder so newly added tracks do automatically show up in WMP.

Note: Apple Lossless also works in Windows Media Center thanks to the same solution.

Thanks John, I'm still back on Windows XP at home, but I'll update the user tip to reflect this.

tt2

turingtest2 wrote:

Thanks John, I'm still back on Windows XP at home, but I'll update the user tip to reflect this.

tt2

It is also possible to get Windows XP and its older WMP to accept Apple Lossless files, in fact I started off with this setup and with it was the first person in the world to get WMP to play Apple Lossless files.

You do know XP support is no more? 😉

John Lockwood wrote:

It is also possible to get Windows XP and its older WMP to accept Apple Lossless files, in fact I started off with this setup and with it was the first person in the world to get WMP to play Apple Lossless files.

I seem to recall running across some of your posts on that at some point. 🙂

You do know XP support is no more? 😉

But of course, not that I've relied on MS for support. 😉

tt2