Some time ago I implemented 'consolidate library' in iTunes and what it's done is look for all audio files everywhere on my system and put them in 'Unknown Artist' folder in the itunes folder. Very nasty indeed, especially as it's taken this long long for me to face what I now need to do, which is match each individual audio and fade file to each project ( which of course loads with 'cannot find violin#01' etc... Worse to come: the filenames are no longer identical - they have little bits added to them, so 'violin#01' has become 'violin#01.sd2' in my iTunes library - so I can't batch import. Advice please on how to avoid this in future And advice please on how to do the job of re-assembling my audio content? :-( peter

On Apr 8, 2007, at 13:28, peterlemer wrote: > Some time ago I implemented 'consolidate library' in iTunes and > what it's done is look for all > audio files everywhere on my system and put them in 'Unknown > Artist' folder in the itunes > folder. But Peter, iTunes doesn't delete the original files. They should still be at their original location. (At lest that is how my system is working, eventually because I use external FW drives for audio work?) Greetings from Sweden Per Boysen www.boysen.se (Swedish) www.looproom.com (international) http://tinyurl.com/fauvm (podcast) http://tinyurl.com/2kek7h (CC donationware music releases)

> But Peter, iTunes doesn't delete the original files. They should > still be at their original location. (At lest that is how my system > is working, eventually because I use external FW drives for audio > work?) I concur. iTunes always copies my audio files that I import...leaving the originals intact in their original location. Matt --- King Never www.kingnever.com

> Greetings from Sweden :-) likewise from East anglia If I knew how I managed it I would know what to avoid, but there is only one copy of several audio files from several projects and they are all in the iTunes Library. I must admit my filing systems have improved over the last 3 years :-) However, I must deal with this situation and try to understand what I asked my Mac to do that caused this peter

> But Peter, iTunes doesn't delete the original files. They should > > still be at their original location. (At lest that is how my system > > is working, eventually because I use external FW drives for audio > > work?) On Apr 9, 2007, at 2:51, Matthew F. McCabe wrote > I concur. iTunes always copies my audio files that I > import...leaving the originals intact in their original location. > > Matt That's great! Then we have now confirmed that it works as my guess above, i.e. that iTunes does not copy files if the original file location is on an external project drive while the iTunes library is kept on the system drive. So for a user that runs his audio projects on the system drive there is no way to avoid iTunes moving the files into the iTuens library folder. My own way of avoiding this (when working on a one drive system) is to never use iTunes for quick monitoring of files in Finder; instead I use either the Quicktime player or Finder. Greetings from Sweden Per Boysen www.boysen.se (Swedish) www.looproom.com (international) http://tinyurl.com/fauvm (podcast) http://tinyurl.com/2kek7h (CC donationware music releases)

On Apr 9, 2007, at 7:31 PM, Per Boysen wrote: > >> But Peter, iTunes doesn't delete the original files. They should >>> still be at their original location. (At lest that is how my system >>> is working, eventually because I use external FW drives for audio >>> work?) > > On Apr 9, 2007, at 2:51, Matthew F. McCabe wrote >> I concur. iTunes always copies my audio files that I >> import...leaving the originals intact in their original location. >> >> Matt > > > That's great! Then we have now confirmed that it works as my guess > above, i.e. that iTunes does not copy files if the original file > location is on an external project drive while the iTunes library is > kept on the system drive. So for a user that runs his audio projects > on the system drive there is no way to avoid iTunes moving the files > into the iTuens library folder. My own way of avoiding this (when > working on a one drive system) is to never use iTunes for quick > monitoring of files in Finder; instead I use either the Quicktime > player or Finder. Look in the iTunes preferences under "advanced" item and you will find a place to set the behavior you can have it copy the files to the iTunes folder or just leave them in the original location and do nothing.

:On Apr 9, 2007, at 7:31 PM, Per Boysen wrote: > > > > >> But Peter, iTunes doesn't delete the original files. They should > >>> still be at their original location. (At lest that is how my > system > >>> is working, eventually because I use external FW drives for audio > >>> work?) > > > > On Apr 9, 2007, at 2:51, Matthew F. McCabe wrote > >> I concur. iTunes always copies my audio files that I > >> import...leaving the originals intact in their original location. > >> > >> Matt > > > > > > That's great! Then we have now confirmed that it works as my guess > > above, i.e. that iTunes does not copy files if the original file > > location is on an external project drive while the iTunes library is > > kept on the system drive. So for a user that runs his audio projects > > on the system drive there is no way to avoid iTunes moving the files > > into the iTuens library folder. My own way of avoiding this (when > > working on a one drive system) is to never use iTunes for quick > > monitoring of files in Finder; instead I use either the Quicktime > > player or Finder. > On Apr 9, 2007, at 19:12, dennis gunn wrote > Look in the iTunes preferences under "advanced" item and you will > find a place to set the behavior you can have it copy the files to > the iTunes folder or just leave them in the original location and do > nothing. You're so right about that, but this discussion was about what happens when you click "Consolidate Library" in iTunes. per

--- In logic-users@yahoogroups.com, Per Boysen wrote: >On Apr 9, 2007, at 19:12, dennis gunn wrote > >>Look in the iTunes preferences under "advanced" item and you will >>find a place to set the behavior you can have it copy the files to >>the iTunes folder or just leave them in the original location and do >>nothing. > > >You're so right about that, but this discussion was about what >happens when you click "Consolidate Library" in iTunes. > >per Consolidate... if following the strict definition of the word probably does move all the files to one location. HW

On 09.04.2007, at 22:02, pancenter wrote: > Consolidate... if following the strict definition of the word > probably does move all the files to one location. Not necessarily. My dictionary has several entries for that word and not all mean that everything goes to one point. And, however, there comes a dialog which says: "Consolidating your library will copy all of your music into the iTunes Music folder. This cannot be undone." First, that is pure nonsense. It can copy all what is currently in iTunes, not all of my music. It got obviously a distorted view of the world. But second, the dialog says 'copy', not 'move'. And here is the help page: ---------- Depending on how you've imported songs, videos, and other items into iTunes, your library can include items that are located in various places on your computer's hard disk or other locations. You can place a copy of all the files in your library in your iTunes Music folder so that, for example, it's easier to copy your library to a new computer. To copy all your iTunes files to your iTunes Music folder: Choose Advanced > Consolidate Library. Any iTunes file located outside the iTunes Music folder remains in its original location, and a copy of it is placed in your iTunes Music folder. ---------- According to the help page iTunes should not move anything, not even its own files. ___ Peter Ostry

Citeren pancenter <hwooten@dakotacom.net>: > Consolidate... if following the strict definition of the word > probably does move all the files to one location. I wouldn't be surprised if this also depends on the copy-or-not setting (since it's basically meant as an overhaul action in case you didn't store all the music in the library before), BUT what I still don't understand in all this..: When consolidating the library, iTunes ONLY consolidates the library (ie everything that's in iTunes' listings), surely it doesn't scan your entire system for anything that resembles audio and consolidate that as well?! There is a separate function for hunting down all audio and adding it to your library (without moving it), but I guess the original poster would know if he had done that? Maurits.

--- In logic-users@yahoogroups.com, "peterlemer" <plemer@...> wrote: > the filenames are no longer identical - they have little bits added to them, so 'violin#01' has > become 'violin#01.sd2' in my iTunes library - so I can't batch import. > > Advice please on how to avoid this in future > > And advice please on how to do the job of re-assembling my audio content? Hi Peter, A few of things to note: 1) Logic shows files in the audio window with the filetype suffix (e.g. ".sd2" or ".aif") hidden, so when the files show up in your iTunes library with these showing, they aren't necessarily any different than the files Logic was using in your song. 2) If you have moved any audio files and Logic asks where they are when you load the song (Where is violin#01?) then if you find the first one (violin#01.sd2) in your iTunes Library->Unknown Artist->Unknown Album then Logic will look for the rest of them there too. If all your audio has been moved there, the song should open up fine, and you can then select all audio files and copy them somewhere appropriate. After copying, Logic will ask if you want to change the file reference to the copied files, and if you answer "Yes" then it will use the newly copied files for the song instead of the iTunes Library files. 3) Don't worry about the fade files, Logic will recreate them (the first time you hit "Play") at whatever location "Set Audio Record Path..." is set to in the Audio window file menu. I hope this solves your problem. Sonny Keyes Ricochet Audio Toronto