I know iTunes library comes from a folder I have set up on my hard drive but I want to be able to edit my music in my hard drive and my iTunes library. Any help?

Sorry, I am still not understanding what you mean by edit. The iTunes library file (library.itl) contains a list of pointers to the actual media files which are stored in the iTunes media folders on your hard drive. When you open iTunes it loads this listing. When you click on a track it plays the file pointed to in the listing. Now where this file is located depends upon how you have iTunes configured. It's going to be on a drive somewhere. for most this is on the internal hard drive, though some have it on an external drive or a fileserver.

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

What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html

Your iTunes Library is on your hard drive. Specifically your library consists of two major components, the media and a database. When you update a file in iTunes the database is updated with the new information which is also written out to the tag of the file. There is no "both" to edit, unless you have inadvertently duplicated your media from another source folder.

tt2

Message was edited by: turingtest2

I suspect we still haven't achieved understanding...

The standard installation of iTunes places an iTunes folder inside ./Music in the user's profile. Media is normally placed in a folder called ../Music/iTunes/iTunes Media. The location of the media folder can be modified from preferences, and the location of the main iTunes library folder can be chosen using the option start iTunes method.

Once the location of the library and the media folders are established there are two preferences that determine how iTunes behaves when you add new media. Keep iTunes Media folder organised allow iTunes to rearrange files inside the iTunes Media folder when you update tags. Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library, if set, means that if you add a folder of media to the library that is outside of the iTunes Media folder, iTunes will create a new copy of each file inside the iTunes media file and link to that copy. iTunes then has no further interest in the original files.

I suspect the issue here is that you have a folder of "originals" which you have added to iTunes and your edits are only affecting the copies, as intended by the design of iTunes, but this is not what you want.

I'm not sure quite how to get from where you are now, to where you want to be. It depends a bit on how many corrections you have inside iTunes and whether or not you ware wedded to the structure or precise location of this other folder of media.

For myself I keep full control of the ultimate arrangement of files and folders, but do so within the general scheme that iTunes uses. Specifically I have both Keep... & Copy... turned off, but always move new content inside my iTunes Media folder before adding it to the library. Further my iTunes Media folder is inside the iTunes library folder to ensure that the library is portable. Finally I clone the entire library to a second drive as a backup.

tt2

If it were me I'd create a new library at the root of your drive using the option-start-iTunes-method, so the library files are at <Device>/iTunes and the media folder is located at <Device>/iTunes/iTunes Media. I'd then turn off the preferences Keep... and Copy..., next I'd arrange my media by moving it inside the iTune Media folder, using the general scheme given on the right in the image below, before adding content to the library.

In my case Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts etc. follow the iTunes scheme (albeit with longer filenames which the Windows version of iTunes would normally trim to 40 characters) but I have, for example, separate folders for Comedy, Classical, Soundtracks & Various Artists as well as the standard Music folder.

tt2

If I edit this, the actual file that my iTunes has copied the music from stays the same. This becomes a problem if I had to uninstall iTunes and reinstall it or if my computer goes down for some reason. I want my actual files on my iTunes to be able to be edited.

So you have two copies of the files? The original and the one you added to iTunes?

You are editing the file in iTunes but it is not changing the original file? It's not supposed to.

After you add a file to iTunes, the original file is irrelevant to iTunes and it will never be refereneced by iTunes again.

And now, I am trying to edit the music in iTunes but it doesn't change the file in my drive!! It's driving crazy!!!

Again, it's not supposed to do anything if you edit the original file.

Back to your earlier post...

This becomes a problem if I had to uninstall iTunes and reinstall it or if my computer goes down for some reason. I want my actual files on my iTunes to be able to be edited.

You don't need to keep the original file after you add it to iTunes.You can simply use the file that iTunes copies into Users/myname/music/iTunes/iTunesMedia/Music/Artist/Song/mp3.

Better yet, when adding to iTunes, drag the files into /Users/myname/music/iTunes/iTunesMedia/Automatically add to iTunes/ folder.

This will add to iTunes library and move (not copy) the file into the iTunes media folder.

No need to keep a copy of the original. Just make sure to backup the entire iTunes folder.

What Chris said, and I thought I'd managed to say earlier. iTunes is only concerned with the files it is actively connected to. Now if those files are not getting your edits then that would point to a permissions issue. I'm not quite sure how it is on a Mac, but on a PC your own account and SYSTEM need full access rights, and the files mustn't be marked as read-only.

tt2