Hi Jane,
Consolidating library wouldn't really help you. I'm guessing that
your
invalid locations arise because you moved or deleted files outside of
iTunes. That mean that the file locations in your iTunes data base
don't
match where songs actually are (or aren't, in the case of deletions)
on
your hard drive, and they'll show up as invalid locations when you
try to play them.
On Dec 04, 2007, at 05:01PM, Jane Jordan wrote:
What does that option to consolidate the library mean? I have just
deleted a bunch of invalid locations by hand, would it do that for
me?
Jane
Consolidating library usually applies when the location of the music
in your iTunes Music Library is scattered over different
directories, and
you now want to put them all in one place. For example, if you used
a desktop computer, and ran out of space on your default hard drive,
you might have reset the default iTunes Music library location
to point to an external hard drive, which we'll call disk1.
Subsequently,
CDs that you rip, or music that you add to your iTunes Music Library
will be located in some folder on disk1, while your earlier music
still
sits on your main hard drive. Let's say you run out of space again on
disk1 and your change your default iTunes library location to be in
a new folder on disk2. Now new addtions to your iTunes Music Library
will be written into a folder on disk2. So you have your music
scattered
in folders on three different hard drives.
If disk2 has a lot of space, you might simply decide to consolidate
your
library there. When your run consolidate library from the Advanced
menu of iTunes, what will happen is that a copy of every music file in
your iTunes library that is located outside of the current iTunes
Music
Library location will be copied into the current library location.
You
won't get duplicates of what's already there, but every file that was
on your original hard drive and on disk1 that iTunes knows about will
be copied to your current location in disk2 and organized. So you
better have a lot of space available!
Another instance in which you might use consolidate library: suppose
you have music that you that you played using a third party music
player, especially if this is from a Windows machine and other
software.
You didn't initially want to let iTunes manage your music, because you
didn't want the folder structure changed when you edit the tags for
track name, album, artist, etc.; this would mess up your playlists
with
that third-party software. So you started off by going to the
advanced
menu preferences (Command+comma to bring up preferences; then
command+6 to go to the Advanced menu), and used the item chooser
menu to go to the General tab ("selected tab 1 of 3"), and you
unchecked the
box for "Copy Music files to iTunes Music folder when adding to
library", but left the box for "Keep iTunes Music folder organized"
checked.
New music that you imported from CDs would go into your iTunes
Music folder, and be organized by Artist, then by Album, then by
Song according to the tag information on the CD when you ripped
it. In addition, because you checked "Keep iTunes Music folder
organized", if you edit these tags, for example, to correct the
spelling
of an Album title, the folder name for the Album will also change.
But changing the name of folders or files only happens to songs
in your iTunes library which are located in the default iTunes Music
folder, and then, only if you have checked "Keep iTunes Music folder
organized".
So, if I decide to add music tracks to iTunes from another folder on
my hard drive, and I don't want iTunes to reorganize them, or to
place copies in the iTunes Music folder, I can go to my preferences
and uncheck the box for "Copy Music files to iTunes Music folder
when adding to library". Now, when I use Command+O to add these
files to my library, iTunes will point to their locations (wherever
they
are on my hard drive), so that I can play them, and will allow me to
edit the tags, but it will not change any of the file names or folder
names, because those files are located outside of the iTunes Music
folder. Even if, after these songs are added to my iTunes Music
Library,
I go back and check "Copy Music files to iTunes Music folder when
adding to library", that only applies to music that I add from that
point
on. I can still play the music I added earlier that is in a
completely
different location.
However, if you later want to move your music library over to a new
hard drive, there's no simple way of knowing how to move over all
these bits that are scattered in different folders outside of your
iTunes
Music library into similarly structured bits on the new hard drive.
So
you might choose to consolidate your library. Alternatively, you've
become comfortable with iTunes, your tagging information is in good
shape, and you want to use it as your main player. So you decide
to consolidate your library, and any instances where your files were
initially outside of the iTunes Music folder are now replaced with
copies inside the music folder, organized by Artist, Album, and Song.
It's actually faster for iTunes to work with files in one location.
Even
if you're using files outside of the Music Library folder, I used to
find
that I could burn data discs nearly twice as fast using iTunes as I
could using a burn folder on my G4 PowerPC laptop. Once you start
using operations with smart playlists, and develop a sizable library,
it's actually more convenient to let iTunes organize your library.
If you do try to consolidate your library, make sure you have enough
space to do it.
HTH
Cheers,
Esther
