Posted by Doug Anderson on 04/29/06 17:57

Gary <gary_w1@hotmail.com> writes:

> I've had mp3 players for a long time. Every one I've owned allowed
> you to take the files of mp3s, heirarchically arranged, into the
> player. So I developed this structure which has worked for me for a
> long time:
>
> mp3s
> ---Books
> ------Author1 - Book Title 1
> ------Author2 - Book Title 2
> ---Classical
> ------Composer1 - Album Name 1
> ------Composer2 - Album Name 2
> ---Comedy
> ------Performer1 - Album Name 1
> ------Performer2 - Album Name 2
> ---Folk
> ------Performer1 - Album Name 1
> ------Performer2 - Album Name 2
> ---Popular
> ------Performer1 - Album Name 1
> ------Performer2 - Album Name 2
>
> and so forth.
>
> Withing each folder was a series of mp3s, usually starting with a two
> digit track number, giving the name of the particular track. I never
> concerned myself with tags...some files had them, others didn't.
>
> Now the iPod (just a few days old) presents me with a totally new
> organization. All the files will go into the same folder and will be
> grouped together by their tags. So I have to tag a huge number of
> files with Genre (Book, Classical, Comedy, Folk or Popular),
> Performer, Album Name and Track. There are programs to help do this,
> but the job is still massive. First I have to add the tags...then
> organize files into playlists.

There are irritating things about such a transition. But let me point
out that it might be easier than you may think.

For example, make a folder in iTunes labeled (say) Book. Drag your
books into that folder. When they are done importing, select all the
tracks in that folder, and then type Command-i and select info.

Then either take "Books and Spoken" from the pull-down menu under
genre, or enter what you prefer for the genre.

This will change all tracks simultaneously.

It was a huge savings for me when I realized I could make changes like
this to large groups of tracks.

> Just an afterthought. The Windows-type organization seems more suited
> to people who think of their collection as a bunch of albums. The
> iPod-type organization seems more suited to those who think of their
> collection as a bunch of individual tracks.

It may seem that way, but I don't think this is really true. You
developed your own very sensible organizational system. iTunes wants
you to use their (also sensible) organizational system.

Unfortunately for you, your system was based on organizing your files
by what directories they were in (and maybe by their name) and iTunes
system is based on organizing files by the information attached to
them (which ideally includes things like Artist, Album, Composer,
Genre, etcetera.

The strength of iTunes is then it is easy to decide you'd prefer (that
day) to think of your music as organized by artist, rather than
album. The weakness is that you need to make sure this data is
attached to the tracks.

Often when I import a CD into iTunes, I end up correcting the artist
and the composer (and occasionally even the album). iTunes usually
gets this data from the CDDB, and often it has been entered there in a
way I don't like. For example, I want to find Beethoven under "B"
for Beethoven, not under "L" for Ludwig. And I want it always to be
the same, so that I don't have to wonder whether to look for Elvis
Costello under "E" or under "C."

Luckily, by the strategem mentioned above, it is easy to make these
changes after importing the album.

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