Apologies for repeating several often-asked questions about iTunes and
iPod here, but I'm about to do a major reorganization of audio files for
use on an iPod via iTunes; the relevant documentation is really not
totally clear or complete; and I'd like to get it right the first time.
The objective is to keep my audio files --- sorry, my "tunes" --- in
widely dispersed locations on my HD; use iTunes as a catalog for
organizing them and putting them on an iPod; but not have iTunes moving
them, stuffing them into Artist and Album folders, or otherwise altering
them; and also not have to have duplicate copies of all of them in the
iTunes Music folder. (And, let's not debate why I want to do this.)
So, I gather that in iTunes Prefs, I should:
* Uncheck "Keep iTunes Music folder organized" -- right?
* Also uncheck "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when
adding to library" -- right?
* Uncheck "Create file names with track number" -- right?
(I don't want iTunes creating or messing with my file
names -- the files already have the names I want)
* Finally, what do I enter for "iTunes Music folder location"?
(I'd like to have different files live in different folders all over
my HD -- though I could live with all my folders being inside
one master folder if I have to.) (Maybe I enter my User
folder name? Or my Documents folder?)
Anything else I need to do before I start dragging groups of these files
into a virgin iTunes Music Library? And then, after I've set the above
preferences and start loading my file into iTunes, since these files
exist in small organized groups on the HD:
* Can I actually drag each such group *as a group* from its HD
location into its own iTunes playlist, right from the start?
* Can I simply drag a group's enclosing folder into iTunes,
or into a playlist?
* Can I drag *nested* folders, each containing some "songs",
into iTunes?
Finally, if I manage to get all my audio files into iTunes in this way
--- which I think will really mean that they've all been **cataloged**
in that iTunes library, right? -- then
* Will iTunes otherwise function, and deal with these "tunes",
as if they were in the iTunes Music folder? (which, I realize,
is where God, and Steve Jobs, intended them to be)
* Will I be able to modify metadata like Genre and Album for
these files using iTunes, just as if they really were in the
iTunes Music folder?
* Will I be able to modify individual *file names* in iTunes, and
have the original files be re-named, as seen in the Finder?
* And should I stick to strictly manual synching, so that
iTunes doesn't try to undo everything the first time I
reconnect the iPod after its been loaded the first time.
And I guess I won't even ask what will happen to the iTunes links if I
move one of these files elsewhere using the Finder, or rename it in the
Finder . . .
Thanks much for any advice or assistance (and this is on a MacBook
running 10.4.11, currently using iTunes 7.6.2, and intended for a black
8 GB iPod purchased late last year).
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