Switching from Media Monkey to iTunes

[jtconte]

Hi, I have been enjoying my Devilsound DAC using my Win XP laptop and Media Monkey. I used EAC to rip my CD's to an external USB HD. The external HD has a Music folder and then Artist/Album/Song#, Song Title. The Album folder has an jpg for the cover art. I just got a Mac Pro and want to setup iTunes to use this external drive for the library. When I point iTunes to the external drives Music folder in the "iTunes Music Folder Location" dialog box, it accepts it but does not show my music. What steps should I follow to get iTunes to use the external drives Music folder and subsequent music files. This is my first Mac product too so be gentle! Thanks for any help!

 

John

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi John - You need to use the Add To Library option and select the folder containing your music. It's pretty easy. Let me know if you don't get anywhere and I can probably create a little video of this.

 

[jtconte]

Thanks Chris! I'm getting there slow but sure- I hope! iTunes now displays all my music in just one big list. It does not seem to recognize the artist/album folders? Did I waste my time organizing with EAC/Media Monkey?

 

John

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

"Did I waste my time organizing with EAC/Media Monkey?"

 

Let's just call it a learning experience :~)

 

You'll have some "librarian" type duties to clean up your music, but iTunes will pull down album art for you.

 

[jtconte]

I don't feel too bad since I only did about 40 CD's out of about 300. So can iTunes use the Artist/Album folder scheme? How should I proceed? I am sorry but as you can no doubt tell, I am clueless to this whole process of ripping, tagging, organizing of music. I'm still a vinyl guy for goodness sakes ;-)

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

iTunes can use any scheme but its own. It will organize everything by itself.

 

[Lord Chaos]

Itunes has its own way of doing things. If your way differs, there will be some arguments.

 

In the Itunes Preferences window you can choose "Keep Itunes library organized." I recommend this. The directory structure will end up with a folder for each artist. Within that will be a folder for each album. Compilations will be handled differently: there is a Compilations folder, and within that is each album that has been designated as a compilation.

 

If you've imported your existing library, when you choose "Keep Library Organized" Itunes will go through and set up the directory structure. Because Itunes uses a different database for CD info, there will probably be some differences but the basic information should be there.

 

To edit the tags for a track, press command-I for "get info." If you want to edit the entire disc, press command-A for "Select All," and then command-I. This allows you to change the Artist tag for all tracks quickly, for example. Then if you need to change something for a particular track, get info on it.

 

Compilations are a judgment call. I consider a compilation to be a collection of songs by different artists. Others consider a compilation to be a collection of different works by the same artist, such as a Greatest Hits collection. For example, to me a collection of choral works by various composers, with all performed by the same group, is not a compilation. The important thing here is to be consistent for yourself, so you can find things.

 

So, my practice is this:

1. Load the CD. Wait for Itunes to bring up the information.

2. Select all tracks and press command-I.

3. Check the Artist track. Most of the time this is correct, but sometimes the wrong thing is here. I match it to what's printed on the CD.

4. Check the Title track. For classical works I put the composer's name first so I know where to look.

5. Check the Genre. I don't often use this field for searching, but I still try to keep it consistent, as it makes it easier to assemble playlists of a certain kind for my Shoutcast broadcasts (e.g. Christmas).

6. Check the Compilation tag. Make sure it's flagged the way you want it to be.

7. Check the Gapless playback. I'm not sure what this is about. It may be valid only for MP3.

8. Once everything is tagged as you want it, close the info window and tell Itunes to rip it.

 

My library is currently closing in on 20,000 tracks, stored on an outboard hard disk, using a Mac Powerbook G4.

 

 

[audiozorro]

I have not switched from iTunes to MediaMonkey (the reverse from your situation) but I have imported my iTunes library into MediaMonkey to be able to use both players.

 

I believe the Compilation folder has been the source of any library disorganization between the two players. Normally there is a top level Album folder that contains the audio files for each CD. But a top level Compilation folder contains several subordinate Albums folders for all the CDs designated as compilations.

 

I believe in my case for MediaMonkey I would have to move all the Album folders under the Compilation folder up one level and delete the Compilation folder. Perhaps in your case, you would do the reverse. I’m not a fan of manually updating a library database that the computer program should be able to do automatically.

 

 

 

[jtconte]

It is seeming like I should just start from scratch using iTunes as editing every song multiple ways to get them into artist/album format would take much work. Thanks to all who replied!

 

[Olive Empithrie]

The fastest way (faster than ripping 40 CDs again) is:

 

1. Delete all your songs in iTunes (don't delete them off the hard drive when it asks though!)

 

2. Reimport into iTunes ONE album directory only. Group the songs together and name the artist and album.

 

3. Repeat step 2 39 times.

 

I did this in a past life. iTunes and wav files are not a happy marriage.

 

Olive.