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iTunes Music Folder inside iTunes Library

Hi


I have been using iTunes for many years and initially ripped my CD’s into my iTunes Library. I also purchase and download music from Apple.


This was never an issue, but now when I sync my iPhone or iPad to my iMac, the ripped music isn’t transferred over, though it can be seen and played on my iMac. I noticed that in the iTunes preferences The iTunes Media folder location is shown as /user/myname/music/iTunes Library/iTunes Music.


When I look at the folders, my iTunes Music folder, is inside my iTunes Library folder. With nearly most of the my music shown in both folders, though not all of it. How do I get my ripped music onto my iPhone and iPad? Should I have two lots of music, if not which folder should I make sue my music is located in Library or Music. And once I have made sure every thing is in one place, can I delete the duplicates?


For information I am using 10.12.6 Sierra on my iMac.


Thanks

Posted on May 31, 2020 7:40 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 7, 2020 7:01 AM

You're welcome. 🙂


Looking good from what I can see. Yes, you should be able to sync your devices with selected playlists. If that doesn't give the expected results try iTunes > Preferences > Devices > Reset Sync History.


tt2


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11 replies

May 31, 2020 8:26 AM in response to Minty01

See Make a split library portable - Apple Community for some background. Typically on a Mac your iTunes library would be stored at ~/Music/iTunes with media inside ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media. iTunes Music is the old name for the media folder. You appear to have the components of your library scattered around somewhat. In a modern library (post iTunes 8) the album artist folders would normally be inside a folder called Music which is inside the media folder so that the media folder has sections for each media type.


Quite how you would proceed from here depends a bit on how large the media collection is and how much free space you have. When discarding duplicates you also need to make certain which files the library is connected to.


tt2

Jun 3, 2020 4:18 PM in response to Minty01

Hi,


I'm not entirely sure I have the whole picture of your library but I think I see enough. Backup first.


The key database file is the one called iTunes Library in your second screenshot. The normal location for this would be ~/Music/iTunes where ~ is your user folder.

  1. With iTunes closed you can move the four files that you see in that screenshot into ~/Music/iTunes
  2. Move the folder called Album Artwork that is in the same folder as those files into ~/Music/iTunes
  3. Rename the file iTunes Library to iTunes Library.itl
  4. Press and hold down option as you start iTunes and keep holding until asked to choose or create a library.
  5. Click choose, then browse to and open ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Library.itl.
  6. Check that your music still plays as it should.
  7. Go into iTunes > Preferences > Advanced and reset the media folder so it becomes ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media
  8. Use the menu option File > Library > Organize Library, tick the boxes Consolidate Files and Reorganize Files
  9. Click OK and leave iTunes to copy all of your media into the new media folder.
  10. Test the library, backup the iTunes folder, clean up the original copies of files outside of the iTunes folder, check things still work after cleaning up and emptying the trash.


In the unlikely event that things stop working after a step please stop and come back for advice. Make sure you know exactly what action you took just before things went wrong. Having made a backup at the outset you can always get back to that state if required.


tt2

Jun 7, 2020 6:48 AM in response to turingtest2

Hi tt2


Firstly thank you so much for your help with this. Considering Apple told me my only option was to just delete the whole folder, including my ripped music and download it form iTunes again! I had visions of having to check each folder. I followed your directions and all seems good. Just a couple of points just in case it is an issue.


The Art Work folder was already in the location you suggested, step 2, ~/Music/iTunes so I did not move it. I have attached a picture of the new folder for information.


When it came to resetting the media folder, step 7, the iTunes>Preferences>Advanced was already showing ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media and the reset button did not do anything. Again I have attached a picture.


When it came to step 8, iTunes would only allow me to Consolidate Files, the Reorganise Files option was greyed out. Again I have attached a picture so that you can see what iTunes said.


I have been opened iTunes and looked at the Artists and albums and all seems to be there, even though they were split across the two old folders. I have moved the old music into a separate folder until I have had a chance to triple check everything.


I am assuming that if I now sync my iPhone and iPad to the iTunes app on my iMac I should get my "ripped" music along with the music that has been downloaded from Apple?


Thanks again.

Jun 14, 2020 8:09 AM in response to Minty01

Can i ask another question? I have cleared out the duplicate folders and tested them. There are a couple of folders in the new Music folder which have been placed in the Compilations folder but need to be assigned to he correct artist. Faure, Mendelssohn and Pachelbel to highlight three. A couple of compilation albums show up if searched for or under Genre, but not under an artist or in the compilation section in artist. I guess this is a simple case of changing something in iTunes. Any idea how and if I should do this?

Thanks.

May 31, 2020 12:19 PM in response to turingtest2

Hi


Thanks for this. What I don't understand is what most of the artists folders have been duplicated on 22 Sep 2013, 15:51 and then put these duplicates directly in the iTunes Library Folder? I know I did not do this and until now have never really looked at my iTunes folder.


The preference settings show that iTunes is getting its information from the iTunes Music folder, so would I be right in thinking that this is the one that it is using and anything that is not in this folder is not seen by iTunes? I guess the only way to check is to compare what is seen in iTunes with what is in the folder?


Would this is also explain what music I imported from CD's was not being synced to my iPhone/iPad?


Thanks,



May 31, 2020 1:07 PM in response to Minty01

At a guess 2013 is likely when you moved your library from one computer to another, or at the very least opted to consolidate the library. Consolidating will look at every track connected to the library. If the current path is outside of the designated media folder, and the file exists at that path, iTunes makes a fresh copy inside the media folder, updates the reference in the library, and thereafter ignores the original file. Where are your most recent additions stored? Do you think there are any orphans, i.e. files on your computer that aren't connected to the library, or is the case that you have duplicates in the file system, but not in the library.


What about the size of the library and the free space? If you have enough room I will suggest steps to get the library into the standard shape of an iTunes folder, containing an iTunes Media, which in turn contains all of the media of the library, and how you can clean up the remaining duplicates once that has been done.


tt2

iTunes Music Folder inside iTunes Library

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