The iPOD Thread: where's best to Buy? iTunes Library, MP3s, Applications etc.

[rick]

I've got an iriver iHP120. Well pleased. No complaints.
Try www.pricerunner.co.uk

[Rick Huggins]

Hi Guys n Gals,

Having a little bit of a problem with my itunes library, hopefully one of you might be able to help with?

Since my first import of tunes I have tidied up my existing library into a different folder changed all the The Red Hot Chilli Peppers into Red Hot Chilli Peppers etc and am ready to re-import it into the library.

I have deleted the existing itunes folder/library, cleared out my temp folder, deleted the itunes directory under C:/, emptied my recycle bin, uninstalled itunes and re-booted. This I thought would clear the current library and enable me to import my cleaned and tweaked library.....erm, well no!

Somehow Itunes picks up the old library with messy structure and duplications.

Can anyone help, im about to sling my laptop into the snow!

Love the iPod though, thanks for the advice

[vulcan]

..but unfortunately I can't. However, may I piggy back on your request for help; I attempted something similar and got the same result as you, so if there's any one can help I'd be grateful too..!

[Bunny]

This may be really obvious, and completely inappropriate to your problem...


But when I wanted to make big changes to my library changing the contents files for artist to be more generic etc, I created the directories I wanted, dragged and dropped them into itunes in Windows explorer and eleted all the itunes directories I didn't want. I managed everything from the Explorer, and I had no problems.

I found apart from adding and deleting playlists, there was not a lot I could do to change those folders around.

[Bantam]

Okay. To clean iTunes up to a fresh install.

1: Uninstall iTunes.
2: Remove the c:\documents and settings\[yourname]\application data\apple computer subdirectory. This contains the iTunes settings and the CDDB downloaded database files
3: In 'My Documents'\my music, remove the iTunes subdirectory from there. Note this will delete all music loaded on your machine in that tree.

Empty recycle bin and you can then reboot and all should be well.

Then just re-install and it should be like it's never graced your system ever!

Best just to either re-import the music, or if it's already somewhere else just double click the files and it will copy it to it's directory tree for you and manage it itself - I've found it best to let it manage the files for you otherwise it starts to cry

Don't forget - if you cradle your ipod with an empty itunes you *will* lose your music on the iPod. Also, if you have any ITMS (Music Store) purchases you will need to re-authorise that machine by logging in as yourself..

Hope that helps!

Mark.

[Rick Huggins]

No matter how I re-structured the filing in itunes they always resorted back to the way they were.

Having had a good play and resolved the problems, here's the scoop.

Albums, tracks and the likes must be edited, deleted or changed from itunes itself. This must also update the db file at the same time, so it's very important when importing that you drag or import to the library instead of copy/paste into the itunes folder.

HTH

[vulcan]

Originally Posted by Frogman

.

Albums, tracks and the likes must be edited, deleted or changed from itunes itself. This must also update the db file at the same time, so it's very important when importing that you drag or import to the library instead of copy/paste into the itunes folder.

HTH

So let me get this straight, if I want a clean install can I save the contents of "My Music" to a spare hard drive I have; completely remove i tunes and all associated Albums, tracks etc, and then selectively import the bits I want from the spare hard drive after I have reloaded i tunes?

I thought I understood it 'till I started reading the posts! The techies at work look at me with that sympathetic look when I ask them...but none of themcan dive, so what do they know!!

[Rick Huggins]

Yep

[Mr T.]

Downloading soars as music fans buy 200m songs
By Matt Born
(Filed: 20/01/2005)

The extraordinary speed with which downloading music has moved into the mainstream became apparent yesterday with new figures showing that more than 200 million songs were bought online last year, a tenfold increase on 2003.

The success of online music stores such as iTunes and Napster, coupled with the ballooning sales of digital players such as iPods, has transformed the record industry's perception of digital music, which just a few years ago it saw as endangering its very future.

The International Federation of Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said the number of legal online stores had increased fourfold over the last 12 months to 230, with more than one million tracks now on offer in their catalogues.

Analysts at Jupiter Research estimated that the digital market in Europe and America was worth £176 million last year - a figure that it expects will double this year. Indeed, so quickly is the market evolving that some experts believe downloading, where consumers buy songs over the internet with a percentage going to the record company, will account for 25 per cent of music industry revenue by 2008, compared to a modest 1.5 per cent at present.

John Kennedy, the IFPI chairman, said the figures showed that 2004 was the "first year of significant sales" for the digital music industry and marked a turning point in its development. "At last a threat has become an opportunity," he said.

The industry was particularly encouraged by evidence that its efforts to clamp down on internet piracy - it has tried everything from publicity campaigns to prosecuting persistent offenders - is being won. Research found that the number of illegal downloads fell by 30 million to 870 million last year, despite the burgeoning popularity of digital music, while the number of people using FastTrack, the most popular illegal download service, which includes KaZaA, had dropped by a third to just over two million.

Mr Kennedy said: "The biggest challenge for the digital music business has always been to make music easier to buy than to steal. At the start of 2005, that ambition is turning into a reality."

The IFPI said the huge success of gadgets such as Apple's iPod deserved much of the credit for the boom in online music sales. An estimated 50 million portable music players were sold last year, of which 10 million were iPods. However sentimentalists may rue the way in which the growth of online music has also helped shepherd the traditional singles chart towards the dustbin of history.

Earlier this year, sales of downloads in Britain overtook sales of CD singles for the first time.

Eric Prydz's Call on Me made chart history recently by reaching Number One on the back of just 23,500 sales, the lowest number since records began 36 years ago. Experts are predicting that Elvis Presley will complete a hat-trick of Number Ones this week with weekly sales of just 30,000 and this is seen as a further blow to the chart's credibility.

The shift in the two charts' relative importance is exacerbated by the fact that the physical singles chart is increasingly regarded as the preserve of teenagers, while people who buy downloads tend to be wealthier and older. The disparity is highlighted by comparing the respective Top 10s for last year. The two charts had only one song in common - Do They Know It's Christmas.

The Band Aid 20 track was top of the retail single chart followed by F**k It (I Don't Want You Back) at number two. In contrast, U2's Vertigo was the most popular download track last year, thanks in part to the band's joint marketing deal with Apple for a U2 iPod. It was followed by What You Waiting For? by Gwen Stefani and Lose My Breath by Destiny's Child.

[dlegros]

Originally Posted by vulcan

So let me get this straight, if I want a clean install can I save the contents of "My Music" to a spare hard drive I have; completely remove i tunes and all associated Albums, tracks etc, and then selectively import the bits I want from the spare hard drive after I have reloaded i tunes?

I thought I understood it 'till I started reading the posts! The techies at work look at me with that sympathetic look when I ask them...but none of themcan dive, so what do they know!!

If you want a completely clean install, do not save the files "iTunes Music Library.xml" and "iTunes 4 Music Library.itl" as these are the database structure that contain ratings and playlists etc.

Just save the music files (by default, iTunes places these into My Music/iTunes/iTunes Music)

If you have all your music under one umbrella directory (like "iTunes Music", just select "Import Folder" from within iTunes, select the directory and the whole lot will be reimported.

Dom