Supplement iTunes Library

October 31, 2007 4:45 PM

I'd like to know how to more quickly add files to my iTunes Library, under Windows. I download mp3's directly into the folder "iTunes Music," which is where the "Library" is stored. But to actually add them to the Library I am presently going to "File/Add Folder to Library" and then designating the folder "iTunes Music." I can't designate a particular downloaded file, or even a subdirectory for the artist downloaded, because the directory or folder "iTunes Music" is huge and the files are often lost in there somewhere. When I click on adding the folder "iTunes Music" to the Library, it takes forever and seems like it is adding files and looking for artwork for files in the folder that were added long ago. Is there some set of commands I should be using instead, that would simply supplement the Library with more recently added tunes, or that would add only the tunes/files from the directory that aren't already in the library?
posted by swlabr to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

you can drag files from windows explorer to your itunes library to add them. combine this with explorers 'sort by last modified' and save yourself some time.
posted by softlord at 4:51 PM on October 31, 2007

Best answer: Dowload them to a separate "new music" folder on your desktop or somewhere. Then just add that folder periodically to iTunes. If you have iTunes set to organize your files, it will copy the music into the iTunes folder and delete the ones in the "new music" folder. I find if you keep a random image file in the new music folder, it won't vanish when iTunes does its work. (That way, you can keep the settings for applications like DownThemAll to always download to that same new music folder.)
posted by CunningLinguist at 4:52 PM on October 31, 2007

I downloaded iTunes Library Updater and run it every week or so to painlessly add any new music on my computer to the itunes library.
posted by logic vs love at 5:25 PM on October 31, 2007

Like logic vs love, I downloaded the iTunes Library Updater. iTLU has both a GUI version and a console version. I use WinXP's Scheduled Tasks utility to run the console version, wrapped in a one-line batchfile, to scan a folder named "Quarantine" every night. I add new mp3s to Quarantine whenever I think of it .... and the next morning, there they are in my iTunes library.

Actually, I just took a look at the iTLU site, and the developer is having trouble with his host and is contemplating the future of iTLU. So if you want a copy, grab it before it disappears.
posted by harkin banks at 5:33 PM on October 31, 2007

You could set the download action in your program of choice to open the files automatically in iTunes once downloaded. That also adds them to the library.
posted by loiseau at 5:35 PM on October 31, 2007

I had some issues with iTLU, but maybe it's been tweaked since then. At any rate, all you really need to do is make sure iTunes is configured to "Copy files to Music folder when adding to the Library" (which I think is in the Advanced Preferences tab). You can then just download files to your desktop (or some type of quarantine folder), add them manually when you get the chance, and then delete the files on your desktop (or wherever).
posted by Rock Steady at 8:38 PM on October 31, 2007

I can't stand letting iTunes manage my folders, so I do it manually for small jobs (add one or two albums), or use iTLU for adding or refreshing after a lot of changes.
posted by sprocket87 at 7:42 AM on November 1, 2007

What CunningLinguist said. However, when I download tunes from emusic into the emusic folder, and then have iTunes import that folder, I find iTunes does not delete the initial files. I have to do that manually.
posted by tr33hggr at 7:55 AM on November 1, 2007

I put them in a folder, go to add folder to library and then after that's done I go to consolidate library. That copies everything into my itunes folder. Anything else would seem super complicated to me.
posted by sully75 at 8:07 AM on November 1, 2007

Yeah, iTunes can be a little tricky, most of all when it doesn't auto-delete already existing files in the library when you're loading new ones into it. I don't know why, I guess it considers files new until you replace them with exactly the same file information in all fields (album, year, etc.) Right?
posted by gmodelo at 10:26 AM on November 26, 2007