On Mar 26, 1:34 am, Kris Tilford <[email protected]> wrote: > iTunes? > > Assuming these Windows folders are the original .mp3 files only, and > no extra data files, you can "merge" them on your Mac by dropping the > contents into a common folder and when it asks to "Don't > Replace","Stop" or "Replace" a previous version, check the box "Apply > to all" and the "Don't Replace" button. This will result in a merged > superset of both folders.
The problem with this method, I think, would be that newer versions of a file (maybe I edited a tag) could exist in either location. I don't want to blindly replace files. It would be nice to see which files, at a glance, I need to give special consideration to. > To "organize" these, you'd need to know beforehand whether or not the > ID3 tags are somewhat complete or not. If these .mp3 files are NOT > tagged correctly, but are organized in some untagged format, for > example, some songs might use the track # in the title even though the > track # tag is incomplete. In this case you'll want to be VERY CAREFUL > with adding these .mp3 files to a program like iTunes, otherwise you > may end up with and unsorted mess of songs with no tags. A large group > of these untagged songs can be nearly impossible to sort out. Better > to add these slowly so you can add the tags when you know exactly > which artist/album they came from originally. In the past, when I had the time, I had started tagging files. I have two folders, "Updated" and "Not Updated". For the most part, if a file is in the "Updated" folder, then I've already tagged it. There aren't individual Artist or Album folders within these folders. That just seems like too much clutter for me. My file name convention is simple: Artist - Title. (Let the tag handle the rest.) I think I've done a pretty thorough job at tagging them. I can usually locate and play a track in WinAmp in about 5 seconds. Ultimately, I want to get all of the files that are in the "Not Updated" folder moved into the "Updated" folder. > If the files ARE tagged already, you can dump the whole shebang into > iTunes. If you've selected the iTunes Preference>Advanced>"Keep my > music organized" (is the default), iTunes will copy all the files into > a Music>iTunes>iTunes Music folder. This will duplicate all files, so > after this "import" process completes, you can trash the original > files/folders, unless you want complete duplicates on your HD, which > is a waste of space in my opinion. I don't think I'll be "importing" the tracks into iTunes. I'll use the tracks from one common location where all the machines (Windows and Macs) can get to them (read only). > If you decide to use iTunes to organize your .mp3's, there is also the > iTunes>File>Show Duplicates which will show all duplicate tracks > within your iTunes catalog. You can then delete any duplicates you > have, but, BE CAREFUL, sometimes many different albums have the > identical track, and there is no provision in iTunes for keeping a > single copy of that track and using alias' as placeholders in other > albums. This means it's normally better to keep duplicate tracks if > they occur in different albums. Yes, I've seen/used iTunes Show Duplicates a couple of times. It actually found dups. I'll have to remember that one. I know what you mean about a track being on multiple albums. Hmm... This track is on this album (and I have the complete album) AND it's also on this soundtrack (which I also have all of). Where does it belong? Sometimes a duplicate is necessary for completeness of both albums. A necessary evil. Lonnie. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
