New Mac, help organizing music

[canderson]

I'm transferring from a PC where nearly all my music is outside the iTunes library/media folders, I have maybe 6 or 7 albums in the iTunes folders (purchased within iTunes). Currently I have folders by artist, then subfolders by album.

My questions are on the new iMac how should I migrate the music so it is 1) in one location, b) not duplicated and 3) accessible to play outside iTunes on whatever computer, phone or tablet I won't (ie outside the iTunes "you can only play on authorized machines" nonsense)?

 

[derekson]

Even if you import your files into iTunes, it doesn't change the files in any way. Authorized computers is only about content you buy from the iTunes store. Plain old MP3 files will play on any device through iTunes or just accessed through the file system. Even if you import all of the music into iTunes and let it copy and organize it into the default location (which will be /~/music/iTunes/iTunes Media/) you can still access those files in the hierarchical folders it sticks them in. Or you can set the iTunes options to not copy the music there at all and the library will just point at the location you put the music in. 
 
Basically you have 3 options if you use iTunes:
 
1. Let iTunes copy the files into its own library folder (the location I mentioned above by default, you can change it to be wherever you like though). Then you either delete the original files or have duplicates.
 
2. Tell iTunes not to copy music and let it just point its own library to where you have the files sitting.
 
3. Tell iTunes to use the folder you already have the music in as your iTunes library location.

 

[SumnerH]

I'm transferring from a PC where nearly all my music is outside the iTunes library/media folders, I have maybe 6 or 7 albums in the iTunes folders (purchased within iTunes). Currently I have folders by artist, then subfolders by album.

My questions are on the new iMac how should I migrate the music so it is 1) in one location, b) not duplicated and 3) accessible to play outside iTunes on whatever computer, phone or tablet I won't (ie outside the iTunes "you can only play on authorized machines" nonsense)?

Macs suck for music management. You're pretty much going to have to go with iTunes, or none of the Apple ecosystem will work for you. With enough care, you can do that without messing up your other organization, but it's pretty much mandatory. Start thinking about how to go with the itunes flow or jettison Mac/Apple entirely.

 

[canderson]

Even if you import your files into iTunes, it doesn't change the files in any way. Authorized computers is only about content you buy from the iTunes store. Plain old MP3 files will play on any device through iTunes or just accessed through the file system. Even if you import all of the music into iTunes and let it copy and organize it into the default location (which will be /~/music/iTunes/iTunes Media/) you can still access those files in the hierarchical folders it sticks them in. Or you can set the iTunes options to not copy the music there at all and the library will just point at the location you put the music in. 
 
Basically you have 3 options if you use iTunes:
 
1. Let iTunes copy the files into its own library folder (the location I mentioned above by default, you can change it to be wherever you like though). Then you either delete the original files or have duplicates.
 
2. Tell iTunes not to copy music and let it just point its own library to where you have the files sitting.
 
3. Tell iTunes to use the folder you already have the music in as your iTunes library location.

This makes sense, I'll keep my music outside the iTunes library. Two follow up questions:
 
We'll have two users on the iMac; how do I set it up so iTunes on both accounts has identical music and playlists and so forth)? Additionally, on the new machine is there an easier way to add music than manually open each subfolder and copying the contents within it over? I have around 94 gb music ... that'd take a while!

 

[derekson]

This makes sense, I'll keep my music outside the iTunes library. Two follow up questions:
 
We'll have two users on the iMac; how do I set it up so iTunes on both accounts has identical music and playlists and so forth)? Additionally, on the new machine is there an easier way to add music than manually open each subfolder and copying the contents within it over? I have around 94 gb music ... that'd take a while!

 
As long as you store the music outside of either User's home folder then you have it in the iTunes library for multiple accounts. The easiest thing to do would be to make a Music folder right in the root level of your hard drive. Then in iTunes preferences, go to the Advanced tab and turn off "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library".
 
If you literally want multiple accounts to have the same library and playlists and everything then you might be better off if you also point iTunes to that Music folder as its actual library. I think if you do that in iTunes while logged into each account then it'll keep the library the same for each. There's a support doc talking about doing that here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
 
As for adding music all at once, if you open iTunes and go to File -> Add to Library... you can select a folder and click open and it will add all media files within that folder or any subfolders.

 

[canderson]

Awesome, thank you. It's been 10 years since I had a Mac so these little things are much different. Root folder it will be!

 

[nighthob]

This makes sense, I'll keep my music outside the iTunes library. Two follow up questions:
 
We'll have two users on the iMac; how do I set it up so iTunes on both accounts has identical music and playlists and so forth)? Additionally, on the new machine is there an easier way to add music than manually open each subfolder and copying the contents within it over? I have around 94 gb music ... that'd take a while!

 
You actually don't need to do that. The music folder doesn't even need to point to something in your home directory. When I was organising my content locally I created a subdirectory in the /users directory called media for all the media content and any users on the machine can access. Now that I've dumped workstations for a MacBook Pro my media library is a 2tb portable drive that any user on the laptop can use.
 
In conclusion the easiest thing for you to do is to consolidate your iTunes purchases into your main music directory and just designate it as the iTunes library.
 
EDIT: What Derekson said.

 

[canderson]

 
You actually don't need to do that. The music folder doesn't even need to point to something in your home directory. When I was organising my content locally I created a subdirectory in the /users directory called media for all the media content and any users on the machine can access. Now that I've dumped workstations for a MacBook Pro my media library is a 2tb portable drive that any user on the laptop can use.
 
In conclusion the easiest thing for you to do is to consolidate your iTunes purchases into your main music directory and just designate it as the iTunes library.
 
EDIT: What Derekson said.

So after purchase physically move from the default location where they are saved to where I put them (in said folder under /users)? Or if I point the iTunes library to that folder (/users/media) they'll automatically go there. If that's the case, what happens if I have a folder named "AAA" and then I later purchase an album by musician "AAA" - is it smart enough to go within that subfolder or does it freak out and make duplicates?

 

[nighthob]

Yes, just open the preferences file and select a directory to be the library and consolidate all your music in, and it will put purchases into whichever directory you set by default The only time that fails for me is when I accidentally forget to plug the external drive in before making a purchase, then it reverts to the default settings and I need to transfer the purchase later (this most normally happens if I'm sitting in a Starbucks and download a sample tune). But you're using a desktop unit and the hard drive space should be capacious. Or at the very least the external permanently plugged in.
 
EDIT: And for the record I always recommend this approach (of just designating a non-user account folder to be the general music library) and consolidating all your content there. I can tell you that I once made the mistake of not importing some music content that did not come from the iTunes store or ripped from my CD collection and let iTunes just play it from its location. I did not realise my error until about a month after I'd completely cleaned out that folder in a periodic hard drive cleaning when I went to listen to one of the tracks and finding it gone.

 

[canderson]

Follow-up, more of a general question I guess.

I put the music under Mac HD. I can see it and open it, but the other user can see but not open (it has a red symbol in the lower right). I added the Music folder for sharing and the other user can then open it, but when you go to open subdirectories you get a permissions error (red mark still on all folders).

The folder isn't in a users folder. What am I doing wrong?

 

[derekson]

Somehow the permissions were set as if it were within your user folder. You can take it off of sharing, you just need to fix the permissions. Select the folder and Get Info. Under the bottom section of the Info window you can set permissions. You can probably just set Everyone to Read and Write, unless you just want admin accounts to have write access or something. After you set the permissions to what you want, click the little gear underneath that section and select "Apply to enclosed items."

 

[canderson]

I did move it from my desktop (where I copied it over from the PC); I bet that gave it user rights. I'll check tomorrow, thanks!