Need help in creating Playlist Folders off of the folder/sub folder structure in my PC

Yes it could probably be done with a script. You'll find I've written a few here. The first thing to do before you add any more media is turn off the options to Keep.. & Copy... under Edit > Preferences > Advanced...

2am here so I'll sleep on it.

tt2

Sorry, I didn't mean to impy there was already a solution. I'm proposing to build one specifically for you, unless you want to tackle the problem yourself. 😉

Which reminds me... Questions I was too tired to put into words last night. I'll probably make it work either way, but would I be right in thinking that each folder in your structure either contains media files or subfolders? A folder with media translates into a playlist. A folder containing subfolders translates into a playlist folder. For a mixture I'll need to create a playlist folder and then an additional playlist with the same name as the folder (I guess).

tt2

Great. In which case I envisage something like:

Hindi (Folder)

- Ghazaals (Folder)

- - Singer1 (Playlist)

- - Singer2 (Playlist)

MyFavs (Folder)

- English Classic (Playlist)

- English Pop (Playlist)

- MyFavs (Playlist)

Probably best to let you add all of MyMusic in one go, but avoid searching down into the iTunes folder if it happens to be there. Do you want everything to be added into a top level folder with the name of the source folder, e.g. a MyMusic folder enclosing Hindi & MyFavs (and whatever else is in there) or do you think the top level folder name should be ignored? (I can probably make that an option either way.)

tt2

Hi, took a little longer than I thought it would but I've now created a script called ImportFolderStructure which should do what you want. Download the script to your desktop or downloads folder, then drag & drop the folder you want to import onto the script. It will create folders and playlists to match the structure on the drive. Empty folders will be ignored and where a folder has both files and subfolders there will be a playlist folder and a playlist. The same set of folders can be reimported as required when new content has been added without generating duplicates, although files that have been moved won't be removed from existing playlists.

tt2

Ah, I've just seen my idea from earlier to avoid recursing into the iTunes folder. I'll have to add that tomorrow. Probably best to confirm that Keep... & Copy... are turned off for this type of script.

tt2

Updated the script so that it ignores iTunes, iTunes Media or iTunes Music folders, and reminds that Keep... & Copy... are best turned off if using this script as you don't want iTunes destroying the folder strcuture or needlessly making copies in a different location.

tt2

turingtest2 wrote:

... The same set of folders can be reimported as required when new content has been added without generating duplicates, although files that have been moved won't be removed from existing playlists.

tt2

Hmm, now there's a thought for the next modification. 😉

tt2

You're welcome. I hope it does what you want of it. 🙂

tt2

Hi, I don't have access to Windows 8 for testing. Line 978 is part of a routine that sets up a local web browser window in which the script creates a progress bar. That line attempts to hide the menu bar which may no longer exist in IE9 or IE10. I've moved that bit of code into an error trapped region so it should no longer crash the program. Download a fresh copy and see if it works now.

tt2