Please help me fix my iTunes directory.

Question

Please help me fix my iTunes directory.

In iTunes advance options, I have always left unchecked the boxes for keeping the iTunes Media folder organized, and the same for the copy files to the iTunes Media folder.

For the last couple of weeks, song files have been showing up in the wrong directory.

I want the song files to be in the Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music directory. It appears that the iTunes Library files are in the Music/iTunes directory, but they used to be in the directory I wanted.

Do I just cut and paste these files into the correct directory, and reset iTunes?

1) how do I fix this?

2) how do I move the misplaced files, without copying over existing files that may have other songs by the same artists?

3) how would this happen?

Thanks very much for any help.

MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2013), OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Jan 13, 2015 8:10 AM

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Answer 1

Chris CA

Level 10

82,434 points

Jan 13, 2015 8:29 AM in response to Chris Milligan

Chris Milligan wrote:

In iTunes advance options, I have always left unchecked the boxes for keeping the iTunes Media folder organized, and the same for the copy files to the iTunes Media folder.

For the last couple of weeks, song files have been showing up in the wrong directory.

I want the song files to be in the Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music directory.

Why are you unchecking the boxes if you want music in those directories?

That is where they will be stored.

I want the song files to be in the Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music directory.

iTunes prefs > Advanced.

Tick Keep iTunes media folder organized

Tick Copy files to iTunes medai folder when adding to library.

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Answer 2

Jan 13, 2015 9:23 AM in response to Chris CA

I have never checked those boxes, and my music was where I wanted it. This is something new that is happening.

I definitely don't want the 2nd box checked because I don't want iTunes copying files to a location on its own.

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Answer 3

Chris CA

Level 10

82,434 points

Jan 13, 2015 10:07 AM in response to Chris Milligan

Chris Milligan wrote:

I definitely don't want the 2nd box checked because I don't want iTunes copying files to a location on its own.

You don't want iTUnes to put them in the same place you want them???

Put the files into the /Music/iTunes/iTunes media/Automatically add to iTunes/ folder and iTunes will move them not copy them.

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Answer 4

Jan 13, 2015 1:22 PM in response to Chris CA

I didnt move the iTunes library files anywhere in the first place. But they are in two places and I am trying to fix this. I now have music files in two different areas, as seen on the attached screen shots.

in this screen shot, which is the Music/iTunes directory, there is an iTunes Media folder, with song files....the song files shouldn't be here!

this is a shot of the iTunes Media folder contents

here is the Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music contents

I also have a lot of music files that are now gibberish, just capital letters.

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Answer 5

Jan 16, 2015 7:28 AM in response to Chris Milligan

now, when i open iTunes, i get all these pop-up messages asking me if i want to replace this apps with older versions

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Answer 6

Limnos

Level 10

411,157 points

Jan 16, 2015 8:48 AM in response to Chris Milligan

It seems that what you are observing is exactly why Apple has default settings for people not to manage their own media organization. 🙂 Now I manage my media, but I have been doing so for the past 10 years and you have to stay on top of it. This is made more complicated by the fact that when you download new items from the iTunes Store there is no way to prevent it from going to iTunes' default media structure.

Oh, those boxes are checked by default. Somebody must have unchecked them at some stage.

Now you can take two routes. You can manually re-arrange your media to your liking, making sure you really, really understand how iTunes works (I suggest reading all the posts here for the past 10 years as I have done 😉 ), remembering to do this periodically so your media doesn't get out of hand, or you check those preferences settings and do the steps outlined by ChrisCA. You may still have to deal with duplicates but that's part of the learning experience. Unless you're a really, really organized person you're probably better off letting iTunes arrange media as it likes.

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

Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391

iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847 - plus supplemental information about organizing to new structure https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6477809?answerId=26404702022#26404702022

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