[viper]

Hi Guys,

Am not sure if I am posting in the right section but I have a bit of a problem in my comp. I had installed Itunes on my comp on Saturday and it has re-organised my entire music folder containing approx 60 GB of music,

I can't seem to find most of the songs as they have been organised in a manner I am not comfortable with. Is there anyways possible to undo that.

Also my system also crashed on Sunday due to some software I tried installing. I just restored it yesterday night and installed Vista Ultimate instead of XP.

Initial experience is it looks good. Now am busy trying to get the machine set up the way I like and am comfortable with.

Looking forward to a workable solution for my problem.

Viper

[hrishig]

Hi Guys,

and it has re-organised my entire music folder containing approx 60 GB of music, Viper[/quote]

What was organised ? the ipod or the folder on the HDD?

Originally Posted by viper

I can't seem to find most of the songs as they have been organised in a manner I am not comfortable with. Is there anyways possible to undo that.
Viper

What exactly you are not liking? Can you explain with example?


I don't think there is any undo button which restore the original stuff , but there are programs using which you can dump all your ipod data to your HDD. There are also setting using which you can download the ipod data in directory's by artist/ album/ genre etc . try program idump

[viper]

Hi,

Both the folder/subfolders on my HDD and the Ipod. They both have synchronised.


Viper

Originally Posted by hrishig

What was organised ? the ipod or the folder on the HDD?


What exactly you are not liking? Can you explain with example?


I don't think there is any undo button which restore the original stuff , but there are programs using which you can dump all your ipod data to your HDD. There are also setting using which you can download the ipod data in directory's by artist/ album/ genre etc . try program idump

[navin]

Originally Posted by viper

Both the folder/subfolders on my HDD and the Ipod. They both have synchronised.

Viper what did you ask iTunes to do? When you ask it add a folder to library it adds the folder and all subfolders.

What do you want iTunes to do?

Sometimes what you ask it to do is not the same as what you want it to do. :-)

[DerAlte]

There may be a confusion between physical storage organization on the PC HDD, and the logical storage organization created by iTunes.

iTunes does not physically re-organize the tracks. When installed, it automatically goes searching for anything playable / displayable by it (and the iPod), and making 2 things:
1. A repository of information of each track and playlist found on the HDD (Meta-data regarding each track, and pointer to physical location; you are not expected to cheat with iTunes by moving the file after that)
2. A few logical views of the repository (trackname-wise, artist-wise, ...)

When iTunes syncs with iPod, tracks are copied to the iPod along with the meta-data repository (minus physical location). The physical organization on the iPod is updated when the iPod stores the track somewhere (one doesn't have control over that).

iTunes or iPod don't bother physically reorganizing your collection - can take hours (you will realize that when you try defragging an HDD with a lot of content!)

The views seen on the iPod are the same as that on iTunes (I haven't bothered to check whether you can create your own view on the iPod; I either go by Genre or Artist or some such criteria).

Clues about iTunes not bothering about physical re-organization are:
- if you were to have added tracks from say a DVD, it will update the repository WITHOUT pulling it to HDD
- if you now remove that DVD, the track is still listed but iTunes will complain only if you try to play it. It does not say which DVD or where, just says content not found and marks a cross against it!

@Viper: one way you can get the organization to your liking is by
1. First reorganizing the files physically (move them around, for the moment don't worry about iTunes)
2. Creating Playlists for each physical / logical collection whichever way you want it
3. Asking iTunes to forget about it's current repository (delete everything in iTunes's jing-bang list)
4. Ask iTunes to search for only playlists and not all tracks
5. Or sending iTunes on the track discovery mission, let it do what it does - and using only your playlists for playback

There must be someone around who has played with iTunes / iPod enough to create their own views: please share the know-how (I'm too old and lazy to read the help file mumbo-jumbo properly)

[navin]

or you can start by sotring your music in a structure that is simple. My music for example is in a simple .../MP3/Artst Name/Album Name/Track name.mp3.

[hydrashok]

I think DerAlte has said most of it

@ Viper, I've read someplace that there is/was some basic issue between Vista & iTunes, but that MS or Apple (don't remember which) have issued a patch. This info is about 3 months old, so maybe the iTunes version you installed (you have the new classic iPod with the metal body right?) might have this problem already beat. Else, if you update Vista, the problem should go away (backup or create a restore point before you update, pls).

Did you first copy the music onto the iPod physically? i.e. after using the iPod in the removable hard-disk mode? If that is so, I think iTunes would have rearranged the music in the iPod to enable proper synchronization in the regular iPod + iTunes mode (dunno what its called, Duh!)

As such, if you plan to have iTunes manage the music library (which I would think is the best way), it is best to let iTunes decide the folder structure on the iPod. As far as the structure on your computer is concerned, you can set in any which way you want, blank the iTunes list and get iTunes to create the library again (as DerAlte suggested).

[rajismine]

Do one thing. Use a program called Copypod. Copy all your music from ipod to comp. Now restore your ipod to original settings. and then recopy all your music to Ipod. Its a lengthy but a sureshot procedure

[rocksterraghu]

I second Der, iTunes doesn't organize the files physically. However, if you have selected the option below, you may have your files renamed and placed differently:



Unfortunately, there is no one-click solution to restore it back. You may try tools like MediaMonkey (Freeware) or Ultra-tag editor (30-day fully functional available on the Internet) to restore back filenames, according to your requirement from ID3 tags. If you don't have ID3 tags on your files, you're kinda lost. If you just have Track 01, Track 02 and album name, MediaMonkey extracts all the track and album information from the Internet including album art and renames tracks adding ID3 tags to it. I'm sure you can find plenty more tools to do this, but I'm afraid I can't post a link here. PM me if you want the link.

[d.kiran]

Originally Posted by rocksterraghu

I second Der, iTunes doesn't organize the files physically. However, if you have selected the option below, you may have your files renamed and placed differently:

Not necessarily. I use Itunes to manage my collection (Physically as well). But all my music is tagged properly.

@Viper: If your music is tagged properly, then I think it is best to let Itunes to manage your music.

The folder structure would be Music\Artist\Album, where Music is your Itunes default folder.

If you wanna start from scratch, here's what I would suggest. (I am assuming you have enough hard disk space i.e. twice your media collection).

1. Clear your ITunes library. Select all and delete them (take care to delete nothing from your physical disk).
2. Using "Add Folder" or "Add File" from the file menu add all your required files to your iTunes library. Make sure all your files are added.
3. Go to Edit -> Preferences and set your iTunes default location to wherever you want the organized music to reside.
4. Go to Advanced -> Consolidate Library.
5. Grab a couple of beer cans
That's it. You are done.

HTH

[d.kiran]

BTW I am using iTunes on Vista with nary a problem.

[viper]

Hi Guys,

Have finally sorted out my hard disk issues(HD had to be replaced under warranty had got corrupt) Now I face a new problem when backing up my music on another drive from Itunes the songs all went to My Music folder in 49 different sub folders and under each folder the song names were not visible and all I could see was e.g. AABJ, BACY, BAJO etc.

When the same folders were restored to the Itunes library not all song names showed up and some were still reflecting as above. As a result Itunes does not find my songs which were there earlier(assuming they are not extracted correctly).

Now my question is

1> How do I solve the problem. I have all my music backed up in a external HDD about 80GB of it saved in 49 folders.

2> Is there someway I can directly import a MP3 CD or a music DVD to my library retaining the same folders as on the disc. IF not what is the fastest way to import the songs on a MP3 Cd into the library and find them on Itunes.

Help will be appreciated.

Viper

[normally_crazy]

Viper,

Here you go Viper - iTunes for Windows: Moving your iTunes Music folder

Open iTunes and set your music folder/library to your External HDD music folder . Then follow the steps above and move your iTunes music folder to your HDD on your desktop.

That should solve it I guess.

[viper]

Guatam,

I don't think that link will apply in my case. Let me give some more specific details of what happened.

1> Itunes installed in C drive of comp Hard disk 1 that crashed.
2> Music was luckily in E drive hard disk 2 that got saved.
3> Hard disk 1 sent for repairs.
4> Hard disk 2 made primary and Itunes reloaded on new "C" drive.
5> Music was backed up on external HDD and then deleted form comp.
6> Music copied back on new "D" drive from external HDD and then copied to Itunes library.
7> Music folder consolidated.

Hope I have explained the situation clearly.

Viper

[viper]

Bump.

Guys help please.

Viper