How to copy folders in iTunes?

[grubco]

Hi all,
I have what is hopefully a very easy beginners question for you experts to answer.
I just got an Ipod Classic and am very new to iTunes. I've copied all my MP3 collection to PC ready to transfer to my Ipod. Its 45gb of about 9,000 songs with around 700 folders.
When I tried to make a new library out of just a few CDs, iTunes keep throwing everything into 1 screen/folder, which is how it appears on my Ipod too.
Question is: can the collection be copied to the Ipod exactly as it is on my PC? The collection is structured around media type (CDs, Records, Cassettes), with their albums and singles as subfolders, etc - which is the way I've designed it.
Any help appreciated.

[Cold Irons]

iTunes (and the iPod) are based completely on your music's "tag" info - not on any folder/directory structure that you have set up. There is no way to have iTunes/iPod viewed based on your folder structure. You will have Artist, Album, Genre info to organize you music. If you put your "Music Type" into the comments field, you could make smart playlists to collect songs based on this information.

[grubco]

Originally Posted by Cold Irons

iTunes (and the iPod) are based completely on your music's "tag" info - not on any folder/directory structure that you have set up. There is no way to have iTunes/iPod viewed based on your folder structure. You will have Artist, Album, Genre info to organize you music. If you put your "Music Type" into the comments field, you could make smart playlists to collect songs based on this information.

Thanks. Looks like I'm screwed then. I don't have tag info on anything (if you mean that ID3 info). All my MP3s are titled "song title - artist.mp3". On my 8gb media player, that works fine and it will navigate through folders. I chose the Ipod Classic, though, as its the only thing big enough to hold my full collection. But converting ~9,000 songs to ID3 is going to take forever (unless some batch program can do it all for me).

[Cold Irons]

Googlers Tag & Rename. There are other tag editing utilities also. They will automatically set tags based on file names.

[grubco]

Originally Posted by Cold Irons

Googlers Tag & Rename. There are other tag editing utilities also. They will automatically set tags based on file names.

Okay, so I can set that to gradually convert my collection. Thanks, I'll check that out.
Are you saying that iTunes will put my collection on the Ipod physically in the same location (ie no folders) and only the tag info identifies what tracks belong to what album and artist? If so, does that take a few seconds to pull up album info with thousands and thousands of songs?

[Cold Irons]

I don't know (or care) where the songs are physically put on the iPod. The iPod's menu gives you ability to select songs based on Artist, Album, Genre, Composer (all from the ID3 tags on the songs). You have an iPod - experiment with it.

When you put songs on the iPod (either in auto-sync or manually manage mode) it builds a database so that it does not have to "search" the songs - so there is no delay that grows as you library grows. Once you get used to the tag-organized approach, you may find it much easier than manually organizing folders.

I use Tag & Rename for tagging, etc. before putting songs into iTunes. If you have a consistent file naming pattern that includes some of the tag data (sounds like you do - at least for song/artist), utilities like this work very well for automatically setting tags based on file names. Again, this utility is one that you're gonna want to experiment with a little bit before running it on all your songs.

[grubco]

Originally Posted by Cold Irons

I don't know (or care) where the songs are physically put on the iPod. The iPod's menu gives you ability to select songs based on Artist, Album, Genre, Composer (all from the ID3 tags on the songs). You have an iPod - experiment with it.

When you put songs on the iPod (either in auto-sync or manually manage mode) it builds a database so that it does not have to "search" the songs - so there is no delay that grows as you library grows. Once you get used to the tag-organized approach, you may find it much easier than manually organizing folders.

I use Tag & Rename for tagging, etc. before putting songs into iTunes. If you have a consistent file naming pattern that includes some of the tag data (sounds like you do - at least for song/artist), utilities like this work very well for automatically setting tags based on file names. Again, this utility is one that you're gonna want to experiment with a little bit before running it on all your songs.

Thanks for all your help. I had a long chat yesterday with a friend who helped explain it all.
I experimented today with Tag&Rename on 3 albums (1 CD, 1 Vinyl record, 1 cassette) and got them tagged OK (very easy). I also got cover arts (free from Wiki) matched for them, and then synced them perfectly with my Ipod.
Still a few tiny bugs I need to figure out, but thankfully I'm on my way to getting my library growing. Thanks again.

[Cold Irons]

Glad it is coming together. Always experiment with small number of songs 'til you get the idea.

And....welcome to iLounge!