Submit Hint Search The Forums LinksStatsPollsHeadlinesRSS
14,000 hints and counting!


Click here to return to the 'iTunes Music library vs. music folder(s)' hint
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
iTunes Music library vs. music folder(s)
Authored by: loren_ryter on Oct 01, '05 09:21:30AM

if iTunes then tries to play a track on an external volume when it's not connected you'll wind up with a dead track. However I do think that iTunes has been fixed so that next time you mount that drive, iTunes will recognize it properly. I'm not sure, however, whether iTunes will skip that "dead track" in a normal playlist shuffle unless you try to play it manually. If it doesn't that could be a limitation of this method.

Personally, I keep two separate iTunes libraries -- one for laptop and one for external + laptop. and switch as needed. Doug's iTunes Library Manager does a fine job of this -- but I find it just as easy to do manually.



[ Reply to This | # ]
iTunes Music library vs. music folder(s)
Authored by: sjk on Oct 01, '05 08:55:06PM

Thanks for the info about dead tracks. I finally got around to ridding my main iTunes library of the few dozen remaining ones. I considered using Doug's "Bring Out Yer Dead" script but that would have modified Date Added info and I wanted to preserve it so I just reassociated the tracks directly from iTunes. I'll be surprised if any go dead again since all the files/folders for that iTunes library are now on permanently mounted internal volumes, with backups on external volumes and iTMS purchases redundantly burned to DVD. A few years of chaotically managed iTunes content are finally behind me.



[ Reply to This | # ]
iTunes Music library vs. music folder(s)
Authored by: zzmcclos on Oct 03, '05 11:19:29AM

Actually, when "File -> Import..." is used on an XML file (as specified above), iTunes copies the XML and the audio content (AIFF, WAV, ...) into the library from the source specified in the XML. When the source volume is unmounted, it doesn't matter - the content is now IN the target iTunes library. Hence, no dead track when the volume is unmounted.

I am, of course, assuming that "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" has been specified in iTune's advanced preferences. That is why the song may be deleted from the source library - as in (optional) step 7.

Bill



[ Reply to This | # ]