Regarding Consolidation & Recreation of my library...

Frankly I'd go back to my advice of March 8th: Re: Regarding Consolidation & Recreation of my library...

This will leave your original library completely untouched while making sure that the new copy of it is in a suitable shape for backup and future moves. In essence you need to create one or two folders, copy four files, shift-start iTunes to switch libraries and then let iTunes do all the hard work. All of the playlists in iTunes will be preserved.

For more background see Make a split library portable.

tt2

If you insert a Phil Collins CD and rip it, iTunes will rip to <Media Folder>\Phil Collins\<Album>\## <Name>.<Ext>

If you drop a collection of Phil Collins' tracks (assuming they are properly tagged) into <Media Folder>Automatically Add to iTunes, then iTunes will add them to the library and move them to <Media Folder>\Phil Collins\<Album>\## <Name>.<Ext>

If you put the tracks anywhere else inside the media folder and use File > Add Folder to Library or drag and drop the folder onto the library or a playlist then iTunes will add them to the library and move them to <Media Folder>\Phil Collins\<Album>\## <Name>.<Ext> and, if applicable, add to that playlist.

If you put the tracks anywhere outside the media folder and use File > Add Folder to Library or drag and drop the folder onto the library or a playlist then iTunes will add them to the library and copy them to <Media Folder>\Phil Collins\<Album>\## <Name>.<Ext> and, if applicable, add to that playlist.

If you change details, such as the album title, then iTunes will move them to reflect that change.

As long as iTunes knows where they are they can be played in iTunes, added or removed from as many playlists as you like, and so on. The physical location isn't really important. iTunes already has methods to show you all tracks by an artists, all those from the same album, all those of the same genre, and so on. The logical organization in iTunes is based on the tag metadata, not the file paths.

tt2

I have found that the best approach is simply not to think how and where iTunes stores your music, except that it is in a well structured, common location that's easy to backup. To use your example, if I buy a Phil Collins album as an Amazon mp3 download:

• The mp3 files will be downloaded, by the Amazon Music app, to C:\Users\user_name\Music\Amazon MP3\Phil Collins\album_name
• Depending on settings in the Amazon Music app, the album may be automatically added to iTunes
• If not, I use File > Add Folder to Library ... to add the album to iTunes
• Now I have the as-downloaded copy in C:\Users\user_name\Music\Amazon MP3\Phil Collins\album_name and the iTunes copy which on my system happens to be in K:\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music\Phil Collins\album_name
• I move the original folder & files to a separate drive (that's later replicated to another server) as a backup (also as a source for the one device I have that won't run iTunes)
• Now I can can update the metadata in iTunes to match how I like it to be, for example:
  • Year is always the original release year
  • Make the Sort Artist "Collins, Phil"
  • Set the Sort Album to "Collins, Phil yyyymmdd" where yyyymmdd is the actual release date of the album (as far as it can be determined) - this allows everything in my library to be sorted in the way I like it (and for that order to be reflected on iDevices)
  • etc.

The key thing here is that I'm using iTunes as a metadata management tool without worrying about folder names, locations, etc. All I need to know is that I can replicate everything in the K:\iTunes folder as a backup against hardware failure/data loss and as a means of transferring the library to secondary and tertiary systems; I have this set up as a "portable" library so that it contains the iTunes Library.itl file and other database files, the Album Artwork folder, etc. as well as the iTunes Media folders. Obviously I do end up with two copies/versions of the album but to me that's an advantage - I have an unmodified copy of the music purchased, and a second copy modified as per my preferences.

Your original library files and media will remain untouched until you decide you want to do something about them. Consolidate copies files, never moving them. iTunes only ever moves files located within the designated media folder and then only if Keep organized is checked.

If you don't like the result use shift-start-iTunes to go back to the original library.

t2

Yes. 🙂

tt2

Yes, if you unset the Part of a Compilation flag the media will be moved to an artist-specific folder. You should also check that when you unset this flag that all tracks have the same Album Artist value so that they are grouped correctly. For "genuine" compilations you can either leave the Part of a Compilation flag set (media remains under Compilations) or set the Album Artist to "Various Artists" (or similar).

In general, yes. I've seen a few cases where an empty folder was not deleted - if that's an issue, there are several utilities (I use one called Remove Empty Directories) can be used to tidy folders up. If you adjust - using your example - the Artist Name for all the relevant albums to be "Dimitris Papaspyropoulos" then you should end up with one iTunes Media\Music\Dimitris Papaspyropoulos folder containing all the artist's albums.

See Grouping tracks into albums for some tips on logical organization of iTunes. With Keep organized enabled as you tidy things up in iTunes the underlying folders and files will get tidied up too.

See Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy for an on going backup strategy.

tt2