I Pod question

To many ads? Support ODJT and see no ads!
dunlopj

dunlopj

DJ Extraordinaire
Aug 14, 2008
6,429
8,151
65
Belair MD
Since my good old faithful and trusty Zune only has 120gb of storage and cannot hold all of my music, unless I can upgrade that HD to a bigger one, I need to switch to an I Pod Classic.

In the past when I've helped friends set up their I Pods, I've noticed that I Tunes takes their library and no matter how it is categorized, I Tunes will force the library to a "folder by artist with sub-folders of albums" layout.

Is this required? Can I buy an I Pod and have I Tunes keep my library as it is now - folders by genre?
 
It's not required; in the current version of iTunes there's a checkbox under Preferences>Advanced: "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized". You'll want to make sure that the option is unchecked, otherwise it will create artists folders and rename your files based on the disc numer, track number and song title.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dunlopj and Dan The Man
While you can place music anywhere on a PC/Mac, and have iTunes manage the files, I believe when you sync to an iDevice, the files will be moved into a custom structure with file structure names (directories and files) given numeric values. So it would only be on the PC/laptop/Mac that the filesystem can be as YOU want it.

Not sure that makes any difference, unless you were going to try and read the files directly from another device (as you would with a mounted disc). I d not believe you can do that without the app using the iTunes library to locate the files .. nor is direct filesystem mounting possible any more (it was very early on with ipods).

The iPod classic has too small of a screen to be really useful ... a better bet is an iPod touch for "most" of your songs and a portable hard drive on a media player or 2nd laptop for the full monty.
 
steve149 said:
The iPod classic has too small of a screen to be really useful ... a better bet is an iPod touch for "most" of your songs and a portable hard drive on a media player or 2nd laptop for the full monty.
Click to expand...

I only use my Zune for the gym and for my 75 minute each way M-F commute. So having all my music on one portable device is a blessing.

But I see two conflicting answers here:

B-Sharp said:
It's not required; in the current version of iTunes there's a checkbox under Preferences>Advanced: "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized". You'll want to make sure that the option is unchecked, otherwise it will create artists folders and rename your files based on the disc numer, track number and song title.
Click to expand...

and...

steve149 said:
While you can place music anywhere on a PC/Mac, and have iTunes manage the files, I believe when you sync to an iDevice, the files will be moved into a custom structure with file structure names (directories and files) given numeric values. So it would only be on the PC/laptop/Mac that the filesystem can be as YOU want it.
Click to expand...

So which is correct? I'd hate to go this route and have all my 22,000 track anal-retentive OCD file system switched to Apple's methodology.
 
B's answer is correct if you are indexing existing files in place and does not apply to syncing to an iPod (ie: indexing existing audio files for iTunes that are stored on an external hard disk). This is for those users that do not want to import the physical music into the iTunes containers.

Steve's answer is correct if you are talking about syncing files to an iPod. When you sync, the iPod will build its own folder and file structure as pointed out by Steve.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dunlopj and steve149
On the PC/laptop/Mac, as long as you turn off iTunes from managing the files themselves, you can have them in any structure you'd like. If you let iTunes manage the files, it puts them into artist / album directory format. Your choice.

When you sync the library to your iDevice, the structure will be different .. it's an internal one with numeric file names and directory names. So .. if you are concerned with the structure on the pc .. you can decide it. On the iPod .. iTunes will make the decision for you. The library files (which will be synced between the pc and iPod, will point to the correct locations on both.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dunlopj and ittigger
Another option is to skip iTunes altogether and use Mediamonkey to manage what's on the iPod. This is what I personally use to manage my main music hard drive as well as what's on my i-devices.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dunlopj, ittigger and Ron
B-Sharp said:
Another option is to skip iTunes altogether and use Mediamonkey to manage what's on the iPod. This is what I personally use to manage my main music hard drive as well as what's on my i-devices.
Click to expand...

Hmmm...I thought if you had an I Pod, you HAD TO have I Tunes to manage it and update new music. As I rarely buy music from I Tunes (mostly Google Play), I may look into this option.

I use MP3 Tag to clean and adjust my files and tags, so all I need is a method to put on and update new music on an I Pod.
 
dunlopj said:
Hmmm...I thought if you had an I Pod, you HAD TO have I Tunes to manage it and update new music. As I rarely buy music from I Tunes (mostly Google Play), I may look into this option.

I use MP3 Tag to clean and adjust my files and tags, so all I need is a method to put on and update new music on an I Pod.
Click to expand...

While you can manage music with MediaMonkey, you still need iTunes to manage the device (backups, updates, apps, etc.). So you can decide whether to use just one tool for all, or different tools for different functions.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ittigger and dunlopj
steve149 said:
While you can manage music with MediaMonkey, you still need iTunes to manage the device (backups, updates, apps, etc.). So you can decide whether to use just one tool for all, or different tools for different functions.
Click to expand...

So I would use Media Monkey to add or delete music to the I Pod and just use I Tunes to keep the actual program on the I Pod updated - no music updated to the I Pod through the I Tunes program?

Sorry for the continuing questions...I've been a Zune devotee' for five years.
 
I don't have a need for MediaMonkey, though it does appear to have many more features than iTunes does.

I don't buy much music from the iTunes store .. merely use the application to rip CDs, create playlists and manage the library (just crested the 100K song level). MediaMonkey would be handy (along with Tag&Rename or MP3Tag) to manage the actual files, and I would consider them helper apps.

But I would use (and do use) iTunes for managing everything going into and out of the iPhone/iPad, so I can be sure everything is synced, as I use the iPad as my "hot" backup to my laptop, and want to make sure that the playlists match (PCDJ and VDJ both read iTunes playlists and the iTunes library directly).
 
  • Like
Reactions: dunlopj and ittigger
dunlopj said:
I use MP3 Tag to clean and adjust my files and tags, so all I need is a method to put on and update new music on an I Pod.
Click to expand...

I use MP3 Tag as well for my tagging needs. I have bought off of iTunes before but I use iTunes mostly for the index.
 
steve149 said:
I don't have a need for MediaMonkey, though it does appear to have many more features than iTunes does.

I don't buy much music from the iTunes store .. merely use the application to rip CDs, create playlists and manage the library (just crested the 100K song level). MediaMonkey would be handy (along with Tag&Rename or MP3Tag) to manage the actual files, and I would consider them helper apps.

But I would use (and do use) iTunes for managing everything going into and out of the iPhone/iPad, so I can be sure everything is synced, as I use the iPad as my "hot" backup to my laptop, and want to make sure that the playlists match (PCDJ and VDJ both read iTunes playlists and the iTunes library directly).
Click to expand...

I agree with all this - in addition, I use Serato and it also can read iTunes playlists and the iTunes index (library).
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: dunlopj and steve149
ittigger said:
I agree with all this - and I use Serato and it also can read iTunes playlists and the iTunes index (library).
Click to expand...

Yes .. forgot Serato .. dumped it since my Rane MP4 hasn't been supported for a few years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ittigger
OK...got an I Pod Classic as a gift. I've got I Tunes all set up, but even after I tell it where the music is, it does not automatically bring my music into it's library. I have it do it manually by opening each folder, highlighting all and "OK".

What option or feature am I missing? And I have not yet hooked up the actual I Pod yet.
 
To add music to the library, select File, Add Folder To Library - point to the highest level folder containing music and click ok. Might take it a minute to take off. All this does though is add the music to the index and it may also be set to add the music to the iTunes containers too.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1473 - look under 'Adding content on your computer to iTunes'

I do NOT allow iTunes to put media into containers - I simply 'index in place'

To 'index in place', under Advanced, just uncheck "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library".

From reading, some people having issues also had to do the following - 'in Store Preferences, deselect "Show iTunes in the Cloud purchases"'
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Dan The Man, dunlopj and steve149
I don't have an "add folder to library" option - only a "add files to library" under control O.

So I have to open each sub-folder and select all those mp3 files.

It does not allow me to choose folders - only files within a folder.

What setting do I not have correct??
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back