Keeping large iTunes library organized, and automated

Two things: I like the "Automatically add to iTunes" folder, and the way iTunes organizes my media (by artist, album;movie title;tv show, season, etc.)


Downside: my media library is too big to be stored all on my internal drive (or on a single external, considering that I also want "breathing room"), so I've divided my library amongst three external drives: 1 for music, 1 for movies, 1 for tv shows.


Issue: iTunes only "defines", in preferences, one "iTunes media folder" location.


So, if I select one of the externals as the "main" media folder, the "Automatically add to iTunes" folder tries to add all media to that one drive only (regardless of media type). In other words, the external I called "music" would end up with music, movies, and shows.


The alternatives - which I've been doing so far - are:


- Unchecking "copy files to iTunes media folder when adding to library" and manually organizing my media before manually importing to iTunes; or

or

- Regularly changing the iTunes preferences to point to the desired drive (depending on the type of media I'm adding), letting iTunes update its library file, then using the "Automatically add..." folder that is present on the referenced drive. This method results in an "Automatically add..." folder to be present on each one of the external drives, but only the one that's on the drive being referenced to in iTunes' preferences works. In other words, if I want to add music automatically, I have to change the preferences to point to my "music" external; if I want to add a movie then I have to change the preferences to point to my "movies" external, etc.


Question: is there a way to make the "automatically add to itunes" folder figure out the type of media being imported and have it automatically file it to the correct external drive, and still have iTunes organize the files for me?


Or is there a workaround that will accomplish the same?


In short, I want iTunes to manage/organize my library, want a functioning "Automatically add to iTunes" folder, but want my media types to be separated on to different drives. Possible?

iMac (27-inch Mid 2010), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Oct 7, 2012 11:15 PM

Reply
17 replies

Jan 26, 2013 4:09 AM in response to Yeegs

This is exactly the same problem I am having for several months. I would like to notice if you have an iPhone/iPod/iPad, several libraries could not be synced to one device. So the only solution for me is to manually change iTunes Media folder and add new media w/dragging into iTunes window.


Thanks for the mentioning of 'Automatically Add' folders. It will make import to the library easier.

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Keeping large iTunes library organized, and automated

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