On Mar 26, 1:34 am, Kris Tilford ktilfo...@cox.net wrote:
iTunes?
Assuming these Windows folders are the original .mp3 files only, and
no extra data files, you can merge them on your Mac by dropping the
contents into a common folder and when it asks to Don't
Replace,Stop or Replace a previous version, check the box Apply
to all and the Don't Replace button. This will result in a merged
superset of both folders.
The problem with this method, I think, would be that newer versions of
a file (maybe I edited a tag) could exist in either location. I don't
want to blindly replace files. It would be nice to see which files,
at a glance, I need to give special consideration to.
To organize these, you'd need to know beforehand whether or not the
ID3 tags are somewhat complete or not. If these .mp3 files are NOT
tagged correctly, but are organized in some untagged format, for
example, some songs might use the track # in the title even though the
track # tag is incomplete. In this case you'll want to be VERY CAREFUL
with adding these .mp3 files to a program like iTunes, otherwise you
may end up with and unsorted mess of songs with no tags. A large group
of these untagged songs can be nearly impossible to sort out. Better
to add these slowly so you can add the tags when you know exactly
which artist/album they came from originally.
In the past, when I had the time, I had started tagging files. I have
two folders, Updated and Not Updated. For the most part, if a
file is in the Updated folder, then I've already tagged it. There
aren't individual Artist or Album folders within these folders. That
just seems like too much clutter for me. My file name convention is
simple: Artist - Title. (Let the tag handle the rest.) I think I've
done a pretty thorough job at tagging them. I can usually locate and
play a track in WinAmp in about 5 seconds. Ultimately, I want to get
all of the files that are in the Not Updated folder moved into the
Updated folder.
If the files ARE tagged already, you can dump the whole shebang into
iTunes. If you've selected the iTunes PreferenceAdvancedKeep my
music organized (is the default), iTunes will copy all the files into
a MusiciTunesiTunes Music folder. This will duplicate all files, so
after this import process completes, you can trash the original
files/folders, unless you want complete duplicates on your HD, which
is a waste of space in my opinion.
I don't think I'll be importing the tracks into iTunes. I'll use
the tracks from one common location where all the machines (Windows
and Macs) can get to them (read only).
If you decide to use iTunes to organize your .mp3's, there is also the
iTunesFileShow Duplicates which will show all duplicate tracks
within your iTunes catalog. You can then delete any duplicates you
have, but, BE CAREFUL, sometimes many different albums have the
identical track, and there is no provision in iTunes for keeping a
single copy of that track and using alias' as placeholders in other
albums. This means it's normally better to keep duplicate tracks if
they occur in different albums.
Yes, I've seen/used iTunes Show Duplicates a couple of times. It
actually found dups. I'll have to remember that one. I know what you
mean about a track being on multiple albums. Hmm... This track is on
this album (and I have the complete album) AND it's also on this
soundtrack (which I also have all of). Where does it belong?
Sometimes a duplicate is necessary for completeness of both albums. A
necessary evil.
Lonnie.
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