TUAW Resolutions: Organize iTunes

David,

Depending on how the tags are situated, iTunes may have to rewrite the whole file to place the new tags where they need to be. For shortish pop files, it's not as much of a big deal. For loong Classical tracks it can be maddening.

After update a tag for a track, do you find that it updates faster afterwards or is it always slow?

"A faster computer makes a big difference. My MacBook blows away my G4 when it comes to editing multiple sets of metadata in iTunes."

Macbook Pro here. Any other ideas? It really seems bizarre it should take a whole minute to write a few byes and update an index, no matter how slow the IO.

Along with keeping new artists in a try-out area, I'm adding the following to my personal list: Don't download iTunes Store free tracks just because they're free. They've started sucking a lot lately anyway.

talk about busywork... look, this pruning/anality is fine if you have nothing better to do, but iTunes does a far better job of organizing my 100GB or so of crap than I ever could. Unless you are short on disk space there's no reason to obsess about old junk you no longer listen to or watch, and chances are you'll be going "dammit!" in a year when you go to find something that you tossed in a fit of purging.

to #20 ("Also this is a reason for Apple to Allow multiple libraries to be created")

You can use multiple libraries with iTunes 7. Simply hold the option key when you launch iTunes and it will ask which you want to use. Using multiple libs at once would be nicer still.

to Jeffbbs, #21 ("It would be good if there was something in preferences we could switch on like advanced labelling cagtergories or something.")

This is a limitation of the MP3 and AAC formats, not iTunes. The fields available are dependent on the standards published, which don't include fields such as 'remix' or whatever.

My solution? Get creative in your comments with tags like 'remix', then build smart playlists that look for them. I use 'canada', 'live', 'book', and a few others for this purpose.

Also, my music library is well over 300 GB. Yes, three hundred. Almost all of it is tagged, and much of it has artwork. There's no reason you can't spend an hour or two tagging and finally have some use for smart playlists.

to Jessi, #23 ("So I absolutely toss stuff I don't like or want.")

I hated Neil Young and Supertramp for a long time, then found that I actually really liked them some time later.

Right now, I have the whole Led Zep and Tragically Hip catalogues on a backup drive, even though I absolutely detest both of those bands. I may start to like them sometime down the road, and it would be a big hassle to try to get all of those albums at that time (either from a friend, or from iTunes).

to #30 ("Does anyone else find that iTunes takes a loooooooooong time to update metadata? Why is that? It makes it very upleasent to change things. Anything that can be done about it?")

A faster computer makes a big difference. My MacBook blows away my G4 when it comes to editing multiple sets of metadata in iTunes.

Erica: please visit http://smartplaylists.com/ and learn a bit more about iTunes.

I swear, the Mac users who blog here haven't been on a Mac very long.

The iTunes automataic file management is great for listeners of pop music that doesn't need a lot of metadata. Almost all of my regular CDs fit this category and remain in the iTunes library where I don't even think about how it's managed. I also have about 150 gigs of live music which requires a lot of metedata management. I keep this on a seperate drive where I meticulously organize it all. There isn't one solution that will make everyone happy, much like all of the great GTD implementations that exist. Just use what works best for you.

"Just because Erica isn't doing things the way YOU would do them doesn't make her wrong."

Absolutely right, but I think you'd find the same kind of astonishment if someone were recommending that you manually organize your iPhoto library as well. :) Similar to "try a mac" I figure many users would like Erica to "try smart playlists", contacting other smart playlist users for guidance and then post back in a month or so letting everyone know how it worked out!

I love it how alot of people complain about what iTunes "Does" To their tracks. What exactly is it "Doing" to them? The whole idea behind the iTunes/iPhoto/Spotlight/Mail and address book/QS (Okay, it's not an apple product-whatever) is that it deals wth "Pools" or "Soups" or, basically intricate messes that any possible borderline OCD individual would balk at, of information. You search for something-it pops up. However, I'm stuck with my ancient iMac G4 with only a 40GB HD and no external drive, So I have to keep my music down to a minimum... well, 10GBs. It used to be 80, but when I was forced to downgrade, I had to cut my music. The only feature I'd like to see added to iTunes is the ability to delete song files from Smart Playlists.

There is no excuse for all the incivility here, folks. Just because Erica isn't doing things the way YOU would do them doesn't make her wrong. We each of us use our Macs in different ways. Don't make me quote the "Diff'rnt Strokes" theme song, people! ;)

"Wait, people actually rate songs? I've always thought that feature was completely useless. I can listen to something to tell how good it is, I don't need the computer to remind me..."

Uhhh, YEAH! I have over 10,000 songs on my iPod, but there are times when I only need some "ear candy" and want to hear my absolute favorites. That's why I mark those songs as 5 stars and keep a Smart Playlist of only 5 star songs. iTunes gives you tons of options like this if you just use your imagination.