How to Edit storage folders without deleting from library

What do you mean by "storage folders"? In general, you shouldn't modify the files/folders where iTunes media is stored on your computer - if you do, you're almost certain to end up with items in your library that iTunes cannot locate and so won't play or sync to iDevices.

You have some basic options with iTunes for 'file storage'…

Let iTunes organise media for you - the default and safest option (in my opinion).

Let iTunes use media from anywhere on your disks without organising it.

The iTunes preferences allow you to set the behaviour, iTunes > Advanced, 'Keep media folder organised' and'Copy media to iTunes media folder when importing' are the key settings.

As hhgttg27 already stated, the iTunes media folder really should be left alone - you do not need to use it to sync onto iPods & iTunes is capable of managing it correctly. Ignore how folders are managed - that is all due to how the metadata in iTunes is set. So if you have one song inside an album folder it is because that song is the only one in iTunes with that album name, fix it by editing the metadata in iTunes, not by editing the files directly.

If you use other applications that want to read from the media files & folders you should consult the manuals for those apps - they may break the iTunes library, or cause file duplicates etc.

If you explain what you are trying to do others may help you reorganise or fix issues.

If you have these options enabled in Edit > Preferences > Advanced:

then iTunes should take care of all your media files folders itself (which can include copying/moving files and folders from their original locations when you add them to the library). Also, some other applications (esp. Windows Media Player) can conflict with iTunes and result in files/folders being modified such that iTunes can't find them.

With respect to duplicates, see turingtest2's notes in this thread: How to delete all duplicate songs in Itunes in one step?

The "folder with just one song" may be the result of songs not being grouped into albums correctly. iTunes will recognize songs as being part of one album (and, when the options above are selected, store them in a common folder) if:

• All tracks have the same Artist value and the same Album value, or
• All tracks have the same Album Artist value and the same Album value
• All tracks have the same Album value and the Album is a compilation... flag is set.

When iTunes is configured to organize your media folders, the files will be stored as follows (in the same order):

• iTunes Media\Music\artist_name\album_title
• iTunes Media\Music\album_artist_name\album_title
• iTunes Media\Music\Compilations\album_title

You may also want to take a look at tt2's user tip on Make a split library portable for a description of the steps that may be needed to bring your library into a standardized layout.

Everything that iTunes knows about & is able to play (that means files that do not fail with the ⚠ icon) can be moved & managed by iTunes…

Back up your iTunes library by copying it to an external drive - Apple Support

The consolidate feature moves items into the media folder.

Be aware that it will copy files, so you need plenty of free space if there are files all over the disk. As the above article mentions you can remove the originals once they are moved into iTunes media folder. It may be a good first step to getting the media into one place.

Personally I would take a full backup first, to be sure you can recover any files if necessary, good luck.

Other than the advice and references provided previously, there do seem to be issues with incorrect metadata being provided by the iTunes Store / Apple Music servers. If you have any combination of configuration options enabled that result in interaction between your library and Apple, the structure and content of the latter may well be disrupted.

Walshdawg wrote:

Hey bro,

Just wondering here I am months later and my library is no better. For example, I have scattered tracks belonging to the one album in 15 different albums etc. Just doesnt seem to tidying them up at all??

I don't know what you expect from iTunes, it manages the media based on the tags set within it. If you have songs looking like they are in multiple albums you need to edit the tags within iTunes until they combine. It won't just get better on it's own.

It can be complex - such as album names with spaces or with characters in different languages, different artwork in the same album, Grouping fields that do not match. Fields like track numbers & disk numbers will also effect how they sort etc. There are also the sorting options to correct if they do not match. iTunes will not change your tags to fix whatever mess you have, you'll need to look at the files in groups & set the metadata to be the same for fields that should match.

As hhgttg27 mentioned Apple music & iTunes match can cause issues when files are redownloaded from the store, but since those have not been mentioned I assume they are not part of your issue.