Q: How to move or rename music folder?
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Aug 4, 2016 6:17 PMby augurae,This is unbearable ********. So if I just want to rename my folder, you're telling me it's uncapable of doing what winamp an even windows media player were able to do 15 years ago.
I refuse to this all **** just to be able to simply rename a folder, in fact with tens of thousands of sound it's simply impossible because it says it would take days, I'am going to have my last Mac refund, tired of these unusable ****.
Thanks for you help anyway.
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Aug 5, 2016 6:50 AMby turingtest2,HelpfuliTunes is principally a database. If you start moving content around manually it gets confused. OS X will generally cope if you move or rename things on the same volume which would completely break things if you did it in iTunes for Windows. iTunes works perfectly well if you leave it to its own devices. Problems arise if you try to take manual control without taking into account how iTunes actually works. The user tip I've linked to shows the standard library layout. One possible approach would be to copy the existing library files to an iTunes folder in the root of a new external drive, access the new copy of the .itl, and then over time selectively consolidate content to the new media folder at /Volume/iTunes/iTunes Media. E.g. consolidate all artists that begin with A, then do B, then do C. Any scheme where you can easily keep track will do. You don't have to consolidate all 50,000 tracks in one session. Once everything that can be consolidated has been you can look to repair or reimport any media that had broken links, deduplicate, etc.
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Aug 5, 2016 6:53 AMby augurae,The problem is I've always have had my Music folder containing both my artists files and the iTunes Media folder. It's incredible that you can't ******* move or rename a file, even within iTunes preferences, without losing your whole library, or playlists, or covers or apps.
Isn't there a way to directly edit the .itl file so that it point to the right folder and reindexes files accordingly since it's the same modified path?
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Aug 5, 2016 7:44 AMby turingtest2,No. Using iTunes you can choose a new media folder. You can then either selectively or globally consolidate media to that new path. This method ensures that all links to the media, playlists etc. remain functional. Cleaning up the originals is left to the user. I've written Windows scripts for moving rather than copying media to either the standard layout or something more personal. Doug's Scripts for iTunes has similar scripts for Macs. If you start with the library in the portable shape, which is how iTunes will build it if you don't change anything, then the entire iTunes folder can be moved to a new path and accessed if you hold down option (Mac) or shift (Win) as you launch iTunes.
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Aug 5, 2016 8:06 AMby augurae,Okay, so I will somehow have to redo all my playlist but I think the easiest way to rename and move my folder (which I don't want organised in iTunes Media but in a Music folder which directly contains all the artist folders and the iTunes Media folder) is to create a new library.
here's the path /drive/Music/Big Music folder/artist_name+iTunes_HD folders that I want to transform into /drive/Music/artist_name+iTunes_HD folders
But I get an unknown error 13008 when I do so (creating a new library in that new Music folder I create, and I now know that If I subsequently rename it after giving it a temporary name it'll break the library again anyway).
Also I didn't find that specific Doug script.
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Aug 5, 2016 8:28 AMby turingtest2,I would strongly recommend you create a new library in the form /Volume/iTunes with the media folder as /Volume/iTunes/iTunes Media for the least amount of friction going forward. Music would go in /Volume/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music, in your own layout if you prefer.
The names of the library folder and media folder are optional, but using the standard name for the media folder at least makes it much easier to switch between libraries or move the library between systems. The relationship of library files in a parent folder that contains the nominated media folder as a direct child folder is required for portability.
The script in question is Re-locate Selected. I think File Renamer might be closer to my approach if it also lets you define the folder structure.
The error may indicate a permissions problem in the folder. Permissions on OS X aren't my forte, but in Windows your account and the system need full access to the library folder and everything inside it.
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Aug 5, 2016 8:49 AMby turingtest2,If you want to avoid problems further down the line use /<Volume>/iTunes/iTunes Media/<Any layout you want>, and use scripts to move content within the media folder once it has been attached to iTunes.
Perhaps check the drive with Disk Utility. It may repair any odd permissions.
tt2
