Itunes Library

[Abstraction]

I have a large collection of WAV files organized in files by group, album, and songs, which I have used with j. river. Is there software somewhere that will read my file structure and produce Itunes libraries.

 

If there is not, I am going to re-rip the collection again (ugh), and this will take most of my spare time for a month (a lot of CDs). I see no reason to use a so-called lossless format. WAV and AIFF are certainly are not lossless, and with the price of hard drives, I see no reason to try to conserve a little space.

 

When I started doing PC audio some years ago, my wife got 10 out of 10 right on apple lossless versus wav.

 

If I have to re-rip I am thinking I will use AIFF. Is there any reason not to?

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi abstraction - If you're going to switch to iTunes I recommend pointing your iTunes music folder location to the location of your existing music. In iTunes select the box to have iTunes keep your music organized and it will do the best it can to prevent you from re-ripping. Granted this will not be very pretty in the long run, but it's worth a shot if your other option is re-ripping. It will be tough since WAV files don't support tags, so the files will likely get imported and make iTunes look unimpressive. You could try this with one or two albums first to see if it gets you anywhere.

 

I don't know of any tools to convert your stuff into an iTunes friendly format. I'll keep my eyes open though.

 

One question. Why are you switching from JRiver to iTunes? No judgements, just curious :-)

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

One more thing I forgot to mention. I use AIFF files and see no reason to change.

 

[Abstraction]

Chris-- a G5 fell in my lap. It doesn't look great, but it works

fine, and the stock Dell Dimension I am using is very minimal.

Getting away from XP seems like a good idea.

 

I think j river is the best option for WinOS--better interface, sounds

better,especially with USB ASIO, but it wouldn't load with an Empirical

Off-Ramp Turbo II as my USB interface (had been using HagUSB,

which for the price is excellent). I didn't like ASIO4All. So it was a

combination of things.

 

The best sounding players that I found for XP are Wavelab and

Samplitude. Significantly better to my ears than any thing else, but they

require loading one file at a time. I am interested in Bias Peak 6 LE.

Haven't done a lot of listening, but I like what I have heard, and it uses play lists.

 

Why don't the pro audio software companies make a player? All of them I have

tried sound great. Steinberg was making a juke box in the 90s, but it seems to

have been an idea before its time.

 

I suspect the biggest gains to be main in PC Audio--especially relatively cheap

gains--are in software.

 

[cfmsp]

 

iTunes handles Wav files just fine, doesn't it.

 

As for library mgmt, if you cannot get Itunes to 'capture' metadata from your file structure, I'd try TuneUp - it's a newly released program which will add iTunes metadata to files that were NOT imported (i.e. ripped) by iTunes.

 

enjoy

clay

 

 

[Abstraction]

Clay--

Yes, Itune handles WAV, yes, but it needs the Itune library.

 

I'll give TuneUp a shot. It seems as if it should be a fairly

straight forward data juggling.

 

thanks.

db

 

[cfmsp]

 

 

db,

okay, this will be pretty simple for you I think. I just tried it myself albeit with only a couple of files.

 

First off, go into iTunes>Preferences>Advanced and get yourself set up.

 

Select the file location for your iTunes Music folder. Can be local drive or external drive. This is the file location where iTunes will 'add' imported (ripped) files but does NOT need to be the location of your current wav libraries. You can change this later as needed. For starters I would probably NOT recommend making it the same as your current file folders (for sanity's sake).

 

Secondly, click ON the box entitled "Keep iTunes Music folder organized". This is where some of the magic happens - letting iTunes organize (re-organize, in your case) your files into a preferred, tidy file structure. Biggest annoyance I have with this is the socalled "compilations" CDs, which are not grouped under artists' name, but in a Compilations folder instead. A similar process is done with Unknown Artists, or Unknown anything really.

 

Thirdly, turn OFF the checkbox entitled "Copy files to iTunes Music Folder when adding to library". This is the real magic. iTunes will build it's library without moving/copying your music from it's current location.

 

Now, go to File Menu, select Add to library, and then select the folder or folders that you want to 'add'.

 

If asked to 'Organize Music', or 'Update iTunes' curing the process, just click okay.

 

This should get all of your current WAV files added to the iTunes Music Library.

 

After that, go into the Advanced menu, play around with Adding Artwork, etc., within iTunes. You may not be able to Get CD Track Names (since the files were NOT imported/ripped by iTunes). This is where TuneUp can help out.

 

NOTE: You can also create an AIFF version for your music files here. NOTE: this WILL create a NEW file and it will put it into the location you entered in above for iTunes Music location.

 

note: it is very easy to manage libraries in iTunes once you get over the fear of accidental deletion. E.g., If you decided you want to move a bunch of files to a different drive, no problem, delete the items in iTunes (you can and SHOULD do this without 'deleting the actual files', of course), and then add them back (with Add to library) after they've been moved.

 

Finally, go into iTunes>Preferences>General and click on Import Settings.

Select AIFF or WAV in the Import Using listbox, click on User Error Correction and your all set.

 

Any questions, please ask.

 

enjoy the music,

clay

 

 

[cfmsp]

 

 

db,

okay, this will be pretty simple for you I think. I just tried it myself albeit with only a couple of files.

 

First off, go into iTunes>Preferences>Advanced and get yourself set up.

 

Select the file location for your iTunes Music folder. Can be local drive or external drive. This is the file location where iTunes will 'add' imported (ripped) files but does NOT need to be the location of your current wav libraries. You can change this later as needed. For starters I would probably NOT recommend making it the same as your current file folders (for sanity's sake).

 

Secondly, click ON the box entitled "Keep iTunes Music folder organized". This is where some of the magic happens - letting iTunes organize (re-organize, in your case) your files into a preferred, tidy file structure. Biggest annoyance I have with this is the socalled "compilations" CDs, which are not grouped under artists' name, but in a Compilations folder instead. A similar process is done with Unknown Artists, or Unknown anything really.

 

Thirdly, turn OFF the checkbox entitled "Copy files to iTunes Music Folder when adding to library". This is the real magic. iTunes will build it's library without moving/copying your music from it's current location.

 

Now, go to File Menu, select Add to library, and then select the folder or folders that you want to 'add'.

 

If asked to 'Organize Music', or 'Update iTunes' curing the process, just click okay.

 

This should get all of your current WAV files added to the iTunes Music Library.

 

After that, go into the Advanced menu, play around with Adding Artwork, etc., within iTunes. You may not be able to Get CD Track Names (since the files were NOT imported/ripped by iTunes). This is where TuneUp can help out.

 

NOTE: You can also create an AIFF version for your music files here. NOTE: this WILL create a NEW file and it will put it into the location you entered in above for iTunes Music location.

 

note: it is very easy to manage libraries in iTunes once you get over the fear of accidental deletion. E.g., If you decided you want to move a bunch of files to a different drive, no problem, delete the items in iTunes (you can and SHOULD do this without 'deleting the actual files', of course), and then add them back (with Add to library) after they've been moved.

 

Finally, go into iTunes>Preferences>General and click on Import Settings.

Select AIFF or WAV in the Import Using listbox, click on User Error Correction and your all set.

 

Any questions, please ask.

 

enjoy the music,

clay

 

 

[Abstraction]

Clay,

Thanks for the very full and clear instructions. I have a big hard drive to go in the G5 on order, and it should be here and installed by mid-week or before. Then I will give it a go.

 

I still have only my jazz collection ripped. I have probably close to a terabyte of classical and rock, blues, world music, and so forth to go. Whew!

don

 

[arin]

Hi Abstraction,

just for curiosity: when you and your wife compared wav versus Apple lossless some years ago, were you using a Window or a Mac computer?

And do you by any chance remember what operating system and application the computer ran?

 

As a musician and sound engineer I did several tests comparing aiff and Apple lossless files on several Macs by ear and by measures and was not able to hear or find any difference.

But I'm always happy to make new discoveries...!

 

Enjoy your switch!

 

Arin

 

[Abstraction]

I didn't think of it when I made that post, but it must have been when I first decided to set up a music server. I didn't realize at the time--this must have been about 5 years ago--that I wasn't the first one to have this idea. I was using a computer w/ Win 2000, and I was outputting SPDIF to my Timbre DAC from an Aardvark 24/96 w/ ASIO--high end pro audio stuff, but from the late 90s. So yes, those tests are questionable.

 

I guess I biased toward not monkeying around with anything in signal path, if you can help it, and it seems to me at least that adding all of that processing in and out couldn't help.

 

In Apple Lossless, however, I might be able to get my music collection on one large hard drive--something to be said for that.

 

db