AlexanderC187
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: How to delete songs off my macbook without effecting iTunes?

I have about 35 GB of music on my Itunes currently. i have been going through my itunes because most of them i dont even listen to. I had looked in the folder where all my music is kept and there is about 90 GB. All my music on my itunes and all music tha is not on my itunes is within that 90 GB of music. All i want to do is delete the unnessasary 55 GB out of that file. Is there any possible way of doing this without spending hours and hours going through every song and file in that folder? as well i belive there is a mystary 10 GB of movies or video files within that folder aswell. All this is taking up space that i dont want used. If there is a quick and easy (or if not so easy thats okay) way to do this and not effect all the current music on my i tunes i wish to keep, please let me know. I really ant to avoid a couple full days of individual file deletion. THANK YOU EVERYONE AND ANYONE WILLING TO HELP. It is much appreciated.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Mar 1, 2012 12:41 PM

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AlexanderC187

Q: How to delete songs off my macbook without effecting iTunes?

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  • by AJ.A,

    AJ.A AJ.A Mar 1, 2012 2:39 PM in response to AlexanderC187
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Mar 1, 2012 2:39 PM in response to AlexanderC187

    When you delete a song from the iTunes library you should be given an opition to "Keep File" or "Move to Trash"

     

    1. What you could try is to re-add that entire folder of music back into iTunes
    2. Then go to your Library and sort it by date added
    3. Highlight all the song just added
    4. Then delete and choose opition to "move to trash "

     

     

    It should move all the songs you just added (that 55gb of music) to the trash

  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Mar 1, 2012 3:00 PM in response to AJ.A
    Level 9 (54,649 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 1, 2012 3:00 PM in response to AJ.A

    This kind of things is a can of worms but I would hesitate to start by adding everything again.  Sometimes people have a lot of music in their iTunes folder but outside of their Media folder that is music that has already been added and a copy placed in their Media folder.  If you add it again you end up with tons of duplicates which turns into another mess.

     

    Alexanderc187,  get info on a track or two in your iTunes and note the location that it says in summary.  Are your tracks in folders in the main iTunes Media folder?  If you are confident that all your music in in the media folder you may just be able to drag anything that is outside it to the trash because it is still there from some earlier time and you don't have to worry about it now.  It has likely all been added as a copy placed in the media folder -- that's how iTunes does it.

     

    To do this all properly you need to learn how iTunes organizes music now and in the past (or else I need you to answer about 50 questions).   You also need to make sure your computer is totally backed up so if you do trash somethign and you should not have, you can get it back.

     

    Here's a start:

     

    What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660

     

    More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management

     

    iTunes 9: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847

     

    Image of iTunes folder structure Dec. 2011 - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3547807

    see also:

    Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/message/13025536