New to Mac and iTunes and need help!

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Level 1

8 points

New to Mac and iTunes and need help!

Hello all,

Just got my iMac over a month ago and have slowly been able to finally get a chance to use it.

One of the things I'm trying to do is figure out how to do this on a Mac what I used to do in Windows. Switching over has been tough, but I'm getting there slowly but surely.

I had a 3rd Party program for Windows called J River Media Center that pretty much did everything I wanted it to. One of the features I loved about it, was being able to take my music files and locate album art from the internet and add them to my files. I know iTunes does this but I haven't gotten a chance to use this feature yet.

I used to use dbPowerAmp to convert my FLAC files to HQ mp3 files (256-320) as well. Media Center would let me change the file name from the song info. I've been using XLD to convert my FLAC files to MP3 (if you guys have any suggestions on any better programs for Mac I'm always open). It's done its job so far. I haven't figured out how or if iTunes can change file names of my mp3 files from the song info [Artist - Song Name] format. This would be very useful for me.

My next question is, how and why does iTunes make new files everytime I try to make changes to files I play within it? I'm not sure how it works. Basically I copied some of my music from my external to a custom Music folder in Finder, and when I played them in iTunes, I tried to mass change a few of the songs to a custom genre. I found out the original files were not actually modified from iTunes and that iTunes made new files in the itunes folder? It still confuses the **** out of me. Wondering what some of you do to make this less of a headache?

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Just one more small thing, can anybody recommend to me a good program for Mac that allows me to modify the Date Modified/Date Created attributes within files? When I put mp3 songs on my MicroSDHC card, I like to add songs in the folder and organize it by Date Modified. Newer songs I always put to the top, but if its an old song but new addition to my memory card, I typically just change its modified date to somewhere older in the folder.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Jun 17, 2012 12:22 AM

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Answer 1

Jun 17, 2012 8:04 AM in response to GameFederer

Are you talking about renaming file names, or are you asking about using file names to assign tags to mp3s? Either way, check out the Dougscripts web site for scripts that greatly increase the versatility of iTunes.

If you use iTunes with default settings it wants to copy files you add to iTunes to folder in the iTunes Media folder, and it insists upon organizing them as it wants to do it. If you try to do otherwise it will either fight you or end up with you messing things up and getting "can't find" links. If you really want to do things as you want to then you need to change iTunes preference settings so you can organize music on your own, but this will slightly alter the behavior of other things in iTunes. I do not let iTunes organize my music and have adjusted to other changes (not drastic).

On your question about attributes, read: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2706729

These might interest you:

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

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

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Answer 2

GameFederer Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 17, 2012 9:38 AM in response to Limnos

I'm talking about renaming file names using the tags?

So when I rip a flac it's usually like for example:

And I Love Her.flac

08 - In the Waiting Line.flac

After I convert them to mp3 with dbpoweramp, it just changed the file extension obviously but file name remained similar.

After I modify the tags a little to make sure the artist, album, is the way I wanted it, I used J River Media Center to rename the mp3 files to:

[Artist - Song Title]

The Beatles - And I Love Her.mp3

Zero 7 - In The Waiting Line.mp3

It'd do that from the mp3 tags I believe.

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The reason I change the genre of my mp3's, because when I'm using these mp3 files on my phone/mp3 player, some days I just want to look up a song by genre that I'm feeling that day. Example:

I pretty much have anything pre 70's disco as "Oldies But Goodies". I have a "Pop & Rock" section that's pretty much generally rock 90's and 2000's. I have a "Rap & R&B" folder/genre, then I have an "Elevator Music" section which is pretty much a variety of 80's, slow jazz, mix of 90's slow songs, etc. I've eliminated all the proper genre listings like "Adult Alternative, Rock, Heavy Metal, 60's, Jazz" and simplified it for myself. All 4 of the genres I have, pretty much have their own folder in my memory card.

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Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

278,297 points

Jun 17, 2012 10:12 AM in response to GameFederer

When iTunes is set up "out of the box" it normally has two options set that affect what happens when you add content to the library or edit the tracks once they are in it. Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library does just what it says. If the option is enabled and you add a file that is outside the iTunes Media folder into iTunes, iTunes creates a copy of your file and starts working with that. It has no further connection to the original file. Keep iTunes Media folder organized lets iTunes rearrange files inside the iTunes Media folder if you edit the tags.

For general advice on organizing content in iTunes see my article on Grouping tracks into albums.

tt2

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Answer 4

GameFederer Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 17, 2012 12:17 PM in response to turingtest2

Thanks turing, although I kind of have been doing those shortcuts for years in my other music programs!

I think one of the main questions I'm asking is: How do I import my songs into iTunes, without it making a new duplicate, then be able to modify the tags and such and the changes don't result in a new file created but the original file being modified?

And I'm not familiar with adding these scripts and such to iTunes. Are they like hacks/add-ons/extensions basically? Using firefox all those years I added tons of extensions to help my browsing experience. I was looking for a way to rename my new mp3 files using the tags within the file.

And I Love Her.mp3

08 - In the Waiting Line.mp3

to

[Artist - Song Title]

The Beatles - And I Love Her.mp3

Zero 7 - In The Waiting Line.mp3

Don't know if iTunes can do this or not?

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Answer 5

turingtest2

Level 10

278,297 points

Jun 17, 2012 12:42 PM in response to GameFederer

Turn off Copy to iTunes Media folder when adding to library and iTunes will connect to the original file in the original location. Tag updates will be saved in that file and it won't be moved around.

iTunes doesn't have any customizable options for file layout. It will put them in <Artist>\<Album>\## <Name> layout if you let it. I write scripts to do what iTunes can't, but mine are for Windows. For Mac see Doug's Scripts.

In the context of iTunes a script is usually a small editable program designed to automate a repetive task, e.g. move/rename a file based on tag properties and then make sure iTunes remains connected to it.

tt2

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Answer 6

Jun 17, 2012 1:08 PM in response to GameFederer

Please browse the Dougscripts site as I suggested in my first post. When you do so you will see scripts you can download that will answer about half of the things you are asking.

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Answer 7

GameFederer Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 21, 2012 2:14 PM in response to GameFederer

Thanks all for help so far. The file renamer and album embed scripts were really really helpful.

What's best recommendation for changing the date modified/created attributes to a file?

I don't think dougscripts has anyhting for that unless I missed it. Wouldn't be opposed to buying a well-respected app out there for it, if there isn't already a decent free program out there somewhere.

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I wanted to point out that I will be doing a bunch of Date Modified adjusting in the masses of files. So a program with drag and drop functionality would be great. I was using FileDate Changer for Windows XP, freeware, and it worked excellently.

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Answer 8

turingtest2

Level 10

278,297 points

Jun 22, 2012 12:32 AM in response to GameFederer

Date added is held internally by iTunes and is read only. Date modified is read only too. I suspect iTunes caches the value of this internally, but updates it if it accesses the file and notices the difference.

tt2

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