How to prevent iTunes automatically adding new audio to library?

[Stringtheorist]

Does anyone know how I can set up iTunes so it doesn't automatically add any new audio/media track I play to my library? It's a nightmare trying to catalog my music collection when I have to trawl through hundreds of unlabelled audio tracks that have nothing to do with music.

Thanks.

[Cold Irons]

On a Windows PC, make some other program your default for playing audio files. Don't remember how this is done in Windows....

[Stringtheorist]

I'm a Mac user.

[Jesse Hollington]

The principle is the same on the Mac, albeit it done a bit differently.

If you select an audio file in Finder and choose File, Get Info, you should be able to reassign the app used for that file type to something else in the "Open With" section. QuickTime is probably a good choice for audio files as it should be installed by default on your Mac and won't add these to your iTunes library. Use the "Change All" button after selecting QuickTime (or any other app you prefer) from the drop-down menu to apply this setting to ALL files of that type.

Note that you may need to repeat this for other types of audio files, as this will only apply to whatever specific type of file you've selected (e.g. MP3 or WAV, for instance).

[Stringtheorist]

OK, I see it now. Thanks a lot.