clean-up iTunes music files on my new Windows 10 PC

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Level 1

8 points

clean-up iTunes music files on my new Windows 10 PC

hello, I've been an iTunes customer for many years and now have more than 1500 music files in a variety of iTunes folders on my Windows 10 PC. Actually, the number of unique music files is about 750. I've moved all my unique mp3 and m4a files into a single folder. I also removed the 01, 02, etc. in front of the file names. I'd now like to load only the music files in this folder to iTunes. I plan to do the following to accomplish this:

uninstall iTunes on my Windows 10 PC
delete all iTunes music folders
re-install iTunes
Use 'Add file to library' pointing to the single music folder

Please let me know if this will work.

Also, I own an IPod Touch and an IPod. I plan to delete all the music files on each, then re-synch both after the above and expect the number of music files on my PC, Touch and IPod will be exactly the same.

Thank you, if you have any advice or other information I'd need, it would be greatly appreciated.

Posted on Dec 13, 2015 11:23 AM

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Answer 1

hhgttg27

Level 5

5,597 points

Dec 13, 2015 8:01 PM in response to bobaloisi

You don't need to uninstall/reinstall iTunes. If you delete iTunes' library folder structure (default location C:\Users\username\Music\iTunes) and then start iTunes it'll create a new library and prompt you to scan your PC for media. I'd suggest responding "No" to this prompt. Make sure that the folder(s) containing the media you want to add are not in this folder structure.

Then check the settings in Edit > Preferences > Advanced and make sure that they are as follows:

This is the location that iTunes will use when adding new media
This enforces a canonical folder and file naming scheme, as follows:

where your media files are consistently named <disc number>-<track number> songname.<extension> (the <disc number>- prefix is included only for multi-disc albums.
This ensures that all media ends up in the folder structure as specified in (1).

Now use File > Add Folder to Library... to add your cleaned-up media to iTunes.

Since you've created a new iTunes library, existing media on each of your iDevices will be automatically erased and replaced by that it your new/updated library.

Once everything's done and you've verified the results, create a backup of your iTunes library - see Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy for a suitable/recommended method - and update in regularly. You can also delete the folder(s) containing the media files that you added to iTunes using File > Add Folder to Library...

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Answer 2

bobaloisi Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 13, 2015 8:02 PM in response to hhgttg27

worked perfectly, thank you

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Answer 3

hhgttg27

Level 5

5,597 points

Dec 13, 2015 8:03 PM in response to bobaloisi

You're welcome!

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Answer 4

May 30, 2016 4:53 PM in response to hhgttg27

Nice answer. When I do this, won't data like ratings and number of plays, etc be erased and reset? Will my old playlists still work or will I have to rebuild them? Also, where you said "Make sure that the folder(s) containing the media you want to add are not in this folder structure", what if most of the media is already in there, and there is some that is not in there? Do I have to copy everything out of the Itunes folder first and then consolidate it back in?

Thanks!!

Mike

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Answer 5

turingtest2

Level 10

278,395 points

May 30, 2016 5:18 PM in response to apple32470

apple32470 wrote:

... When I do this, won't data like ratings and number of plays, etc be erased and reset?

In this case the original poster wanted to reset everything. See Make a split library portable for more background on library layout.

tt2

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