Q: New to Mac and iTunes and need help!
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Jun 17, 2012 8:04 AMby Limnos,HelpfulAre 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 -
Jun 17, 2012 9:38 AMby GameFederer,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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Jun 17, 2012 10:12 AMby turingtest2,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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Jun 17, 2012 12:17 PMby GameFederer,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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Jun 17, 2012 12:42 PMby turingtest2,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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Jun 21, 2012 2:14 PMby 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.
