Complicated question

[banana_dude]

Okay, I have a large (150gb) iTunes library, and am looking to make it nice and tidy.
I've noticed a lot of albums showing up twice in Coverflow, despite me manually making sure that every single field in the Get Info window is the same.
I also think that my iTunes music folder may have files that are not in the library, that I would like to delete.
So my question is...how can I 'recreate' the iTunes database/library, preserving only the ID3 tag information and already added album artwork, while weeding out any unwanted files in the iTunes music folder. As I understand it, iTunes doesnt write album artwork to the individual song files anymore, but stores them in a separate folder (correct me if I'm wrong).

[d9762862]

Check you have the latest v of iTunes 1st, then delete everything from iTunes, download Mp3Tag and do the whole lot manually via Mp3Tag, (Mp3Tag automatically updates everything data wise on the album, artwork, track numbers, the works it's great). It takes a long time, took me 3 weeks of sundays and a couple of hours every day during the week but I tell you what it is the best way and it is most satisfying when you have finished all your albums. Best of luck with that and it would be great to hear how you got on. Dan. P.s. iTunes is messy with the album artwork, wouldn't trust it again. mp3tag saves it in the metadata on the track.

[S2_Mac]

iTunes offers two options for album art: if you get it from the iTunes Store, the art is stored outside the msuic files, in a folder-based "database" in the \iTunes\Album Artwork\ folder. If you paste or drag your art from a web page or desktop/folder into a file's Get Info box, the art is embedded in the file. (You can also multiple-select tracks -- say, all the tracks in an album -- and then add art to all of them at once via Get Info.)

Unless you have massive tag cleanup to do (like trimming "1969--Beatles, The--Abbey Road--Sun King" from the Track Name tag on hundreds of tracks), just let iTunes handle your tags (whole 'nother learning curve for tagging apps, and all too easy to goof up and add ID3v1 tags, or wind up with a mix of ID3v2.2, 2.3, and 2.4 tags..... I'm not knocking other tagging apps, just saying that cleaning up doesn't need to become a massive project ;-)

You'll p'bly find scepticism here about your multiple-albums-in-coverflow not being caused by inconsistent tagging until you prove your innoncence <g>. Have you: 1) selected all tracks that should appear as one album; 2) right-clicked on the group selection for Get Info; 3) noted that the only fields which are blank are track name, track number, and possibly composer?

[banana_dude]

Originally Posted by d9762862

Check you have the latest v of iTunes 1st, then delete everything from iTunes, download Mp3Tag and do the whole lot manually via Mp3Tag, (Mp3Tag automatically updates everything data wise on the album, artwork, track numbers, the works it's great). It takes a long time, took me 3 weeks of sundays and a couple of hours every day during the week but I tell you what it is the best way and it is most satisfying when you have finished all your albums. Best of luck with that and it would be great to hear how you got on. Dan. P.s. iTunes is messy with the album artwork, wouldn't trust it again. mp3tag saves it in the metadata on the track.

I wish I had that kind of time, but studying medicine doesn't offer much!
If I could, I totally would.

[banana_dude]

Originally Posted by S2_Mac

iTunes offers two options for album art: if you get it from the iTunes Store, the art is stored outside the msuic files, in a folder-based "database" in the \iTunes\Album Artwork\ folder. If you paste or drag your art from a web page or desktop/folder into a file's Get Info box, the art is embedded in the file. (You can also multiple-select tracks -- say, all the tracks in an album -- and then add art to all of them at once via Get Info.)

So let me get this 101% clear, if the artwork has been manually added then its embedded in the tracks? Since all my artwork is manually added, this would mean I could delete all the songs from iTunes, delete the .itdb and .xml file, and re-add all the files once again - while preserving the artwork?

Originally Posted by S2_Mac

You'll p'bly find scepticism here about your multiple-albums-in-coverflow not being caused by inconsistent tagging until you prove your innoncence <g>. Have you: 1) selected all tracks that should appear as one album; 2) right-clicked on the group selection for Get Info; 3) noted that the only fields which are blank are track name, track number, and possibly composer?

Haha, I am positive that its not to do with this, as I've gone into Get Info and ticked the boxes next to every single field on every single tab, ensuring that unnecessary fields are blank and that the essential fields are typed in the same - then clicked OK. So all the files in an album have identical tagging, apart from the song name of course. That's not the problem lol, it's something more dubious.

[S2_Mac]

So let me get this 101% clear...

Prove it to yourself -- find a track with no art; note its file size. Now drop/paste some art onto that track via iTunes, click OK. Look at the file size again -- the file will be larger than it was before (the increase will just about match the size of the art you used, with variances depending on the format headers). You paste in a giant TIFF and see a giant gain in file size; you drop in a wee .jpg and see a wee increase in file size. Or check 'em out in another tagging program....

Haha, I am positive that its not to do with this...

Check the Album Artist field as well; when an album has different values in the "Artist" tag ("ABC feat. DEF", "ABC feat. GHI", etc.), the "Album Artist" tag is what keeps the album together. Don't have an iTunes to check right now, but maybe Sorting info also plays a role? (Dunno)

Sometimes the iTunes index get a little hung, and removing-and-re-adding the problem tracks works things out.