Hey guys, Im new to mac and Im trying to get the hang of itunes. My question is, everytime I play a music from my, example, MP3 folders, it copies and moves the song to the Music folder. Does that mean I should move all of my MP3's on the Music folder instead? Hope I was able to explain my problem clearly. Thanks!
Hi tabs. That's the default behavior of iTunes. If you want to keep iTunes from copying your MP3's to the iTunes Music folder, go to Preferences > Advanced. In the General tab, uncheck the option to 'Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library'. This allows you to keep your MP3 files in their original location. Another way to do it, is to change the location of your iTunes Music folder. In the same tab (General tab), there is an option to change it. Simply change the location to point to the folder where your MP3 files are located. Note that when you do this, any CD's you import or any music you purchase from the iTunes music store will be stored at the new location.
maybe you have this option checked just uncheck it, but personally, i prefer having itunes automatically organize my music.
Ok, got it, thanks guys! Another question, where do you guys put your music? On the itunes music folder or on your own folder? Thanks! EDIT: Is there anyway to download OPM cd covers? And how does iTunes syncing with ipod works? Thanks!
additional question lang po regarding sa itunes. when itunes copied my mp3 files from my "MP3 folder" to the "iTunes Music folder", i noticed that the mp3 files that were copied also consumed the space in "iTunes Music folder". can i delete the "MP3 folder" (or move to an external HDD) without effect in itunes? or is it just better to set the 'Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library' uncheck?
@batotoy, you may delete the "MP3 folder" you have there since iTunes has already copied the mp3's to the "iTunes Music folder." and, it won't affect anything. you may wanna consolidate your Music Library first before deleting the "MP3 folder," though.
@farrell i see. so it is better to delete (transfer to exernal HDD) my mp3 files in the "MP3 folder" to free some internal HDD space , rather than setting the 'Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library' uncheck. if so i will delete (transfer to external HDD) my mp3 files then. and yeah, i already consolidated my Music Library. thank you very much farrell.
I have iTunes set to keep my iTunes Music folder organized AND copy files to the iTunes Music folder. I find it much simpler when I backup, I don't have to remember where all my music files are.
I also have itunes do the organizing and copy thing since I've pretty much decided to make itunes the center of my digital entertainment. As patrick says it is simpler that way. By consolidate, I think batotoy means to just drag all the mp3 to itunes and itunes copies it to the designated folder (which itunes designates) so it can be processed, converted (if desired), synced to various playback devices, beautified with album coverart, viewed via the elegant coverflow, tweaked with EQ, and, of course, there's genius.
with the new itunes, i cant find the option where i can change the music format (to mp3, aac etc) in the preference menu. where can i see it?
it should be under preference -> general -> import settings -> (AAC, WAV, AIFF, ALAC, etc. Or for existing itunes library songs, you can open the context menu for a particular song or selected songs and itunes will show you an option to change to the preferred itunes format, which is AAC.
That's also the same path I have taken when I ported from windows folder structure to iTunes in mac. I have put my faith in mac's itunes and let it handle my precious MP3 library. I just let iTunes copy the MP3s from my external HDD to it's default music folder. Tagged each album painstakingly (with album cover and proper genre and comments!) and voila, my precious music collections sits comfortably now in the mac. The mp3s in the external HDD are still there and will be deleted in a few months time or as soon as I am very much comfortable and secured that I don't need them anymore. hope this helps!
