File structure for iTunes

I‘ve re-worded my search question several times and still get “no results for my question” results. So, my apologies in advance for asking what I’m sure is about as basic as never eating a laundry soap pod....wait. Anyhoo...


i dilligently and painstakingly organized my digital music files in what I thought was the best folder structure.


New iTunes/artistname/albumname/songfile


for those troublesome multi artist, revolving tuba player, other hand in the artists cookie jar scenarios, I did:


New iTunes/Original Television Cast/Television Show/music file

New iTunes/Original Broadway Cast/Broadway Show/music file

New iTunes/Original Motion Picture/Motion Picture Show/music file


(And yes, it’s a big deal. As a gay guy, my Show Tunes gene shines brightly!)


But, upon starting a fresh, new iTunes folder and importing the music files, it seemed like a two-year-old intercepted things and threw the files everywhere. (I may be sleep-deprived and needing to bandaid areas where I pulled out clumps of hair, but a I swear that brat giggled at me as one point.)


What am I missing? Thanks!

Macbook Pro

Posted on Feb 11, 2018 2:48 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 11, 2018 9:06 AM

iTunes by default will automatically organize the iTunes Media folder by Artist/Album/Song as it is listed in the id tags in the files. To prevent iTunes from doing this uncheck "iTunes/Preferences/Advanced/Keep iTunes Media folder organized" before you add your music to iTunes.

Similar questions

2 replies

Feb 11, 2018 4:56 AM in response to Mason5280

See Make a split library portable for details of the default iTunes layout. It would seem that having decided to set up your own layout you failed to turn off the Keep iTunes Media folder organised option before adding your media. Is Time Machine or some other backup mechanism set up so you can restore the previous layout?


FWIW working with the basic iTunes/iTunes Media/<Media Kind>/<Further Folders> layout makes moving the library from one drive or computer to another a much more straightforward process, so even if you you want fine grained control I'd start with that overall structure. Of course you can simply let iTunes look after the files while you focus on the metadata in the library. You really don't need to access tracks from the file system.


tt2

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

File structure for iTunes

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.