itunes 12 music folder proper location.

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Level 1

18 points

itunes 12 music folder proper location.

Can someone confirm for me the iTunes "offIcial" folder for its music files? I am on MacBook Pro and have last iTunes 12. Currently (I have ported all files in from a Windows 7 laptop running iTunes) the folder currently is in "Documents/Music/iTunes/iTunes music/Music" The .xml file (iTunes Music Library) is in "Documents/Music/iTunes/". The "Imported" folder is right up under /Music so everything is in a muddle.

I want to go through the process of removing duplicate iTunes references to actual files. The File tab in "Get Info" shows two titles pointing to the same files. I have mistakenly removed what I thought was duplicate files so now I have lost some as the duplicates I removed are now showing as "missing" (blast!). So I'd like to reset iTunes to the proper default state. Hopefully this will remove or allow me somehow to get rid of the duplications. Thanks.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10), null

Posted on Oct 19, 2015 10:10 AM

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Answer 1

Limnos

Level 10

411,217 points

Oct 19, 2015 10:28 AM in response to omits

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

If you remove a duplicate pointing to the same file you need to make sure you do not let it remove the file itself or the other link will break.

How extreme do you want to be in doing this? You can create a new library from scratch.

Be careful in what you do. Many people do not understand how iTunes really works. iTunes does not inventory what is in a folder. iTunes only "knows" about something if it has been added to iTunes or removed from it. You can add and delete files from folders and iTunes will have no idea something is different until it tries to play the file. The exception is items put in the Automatically Add To iTunes folder.

About iTunes library files - https://support.apple.com/HT201610 - Does not mention that a complete working library also includes other files and folders also in the iTunes folder.

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

iTunes 9: Understanding the "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder. - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3832 - Files put into this folder are actually moved from this folder onto the correct location in the iTunes Media folder.

http://www.justanswer.com/mac-computers/4nnla-automatically-add-itunes-folder-ba ck-working.html

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