itunes - rename files: Yes or No??

[Roodster]

Hi there!

Sorry if you think that the answer to my question lies elsewhere but, I've looked and can't find (or understand!) a similar predicament!

So, I installed a new OS on my mac. I already had all my tunes on an external hard-drive and since they still played them as normal, I thought that I had directed itunes successfully to that hd. However, any new cds that I imported afterwards were actually being saved on my mac's hd because when I deleted a few music files from my mac's hd, I then found out that itunes wasn't actually directed to the right place, because they couldn't find the songs any more.

I've just changed the media folder location and having checked 'keep files organized' etc, I've got a message asking if I want to rename files - Yes or No. What do I do? I've got playlists in itunes that I cannot possibly lose - one of them is for a wedding in two weeks time, so I'm sure you understand my panic here!!

Ideally, I would like my itunes as they are now, with any new music added, going to the external hdd, without losing those playlists.

Please advise! Any help is greatly appreciated.

Roodster

[kornchild2002]

Renaming the files will be fine so long as iTunes does it. You won't lose your playlists or anything like that so long as you let iTunes keep everything organized and let it rename your files. However, if you want to wait a couple weeks, you can. What you want to do is uncheck the option that you enabled to let iTunes organize your library. Essentially what that allows iTunes to do is move your music around and use the organization scheme that Apple has it setup for. That means it is going to move your files around. Just like with the option of renaming the files, this should be fine.

However, if you are worried, you should just wait a few weeks before doing any of this. You should be fine with both options though.