iTunes 2
Posted: Wed 9 August, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Geeky, Getting Organised, Weirdness 5 Comments »So, in yesterday’s post, Gordon commented that he’d had iTunes running for three years without a problem. Great, Bully for you. I will, however, just point out this comment he made on my earlier post about iTunes being a piece of crap that insisted on ordering things its own way, rather than some form of logic involving, oh, say a folder structure.
I used to have all my MP3s in a similar structure. Once the files are in iTunes though I don’t care where they are but that does mean you’ll need to tag the MP3s.
OK, so it’s run fine for three years. But the start-up was a pain in the arse, because of having to re-tag and edit all the files that iTunes can’t be arsed to do automatically.
As that post I wrote showed, ten days ago I’d only just started with iTunes. So I ended up with 6,000 files I needed to re-edit. Frankly, fuck that – I want a piece of software that “just works”, not some fucking hunk of junk that insists on me changing my workflow to suit it. So I uninstalled it, and went back to RealPlayer, which “just works” and suits me fine. I’ll maybe use iTunes for buying tracks, but I’m more likely to do that now through the website. (EDIT : Turns out I need iTunes installed to use the iTunes store)
But – hang on – RealPlayer’s now missing a buttload of tracks. Half the files have disappeared, and it’s saying they’ve been deleted off the hard drive. So I check – off to c:/music/faithless and – what the fuck? – there’s only two albums there. Which are, funny enough, the ones iTunes had no problem with. So where’s everything else?
Luckily I’d still got a total back up on the old PC, and was able to restore the full music collection. But it still took five-plus hours to transfer everything back across the network. Oh, and why does iTunes insist on ripping new albums (by one artist, not “Various”, before anyone asks) into a folder called “Compilations”? Or is that just something I screwed up somewhere along the line?
Maybe it was a coincidence, and nothing to do with iTunes. Maybe it was just a fuckup, or (as Gordon implies) me doing something wrong. But whatever, I won’t be using iTunes to “manage” my music again.
Let go Lyle. Let go.
WHERE the files are doesn’t matter. HOW iTunes structures the folders doesn’t matter. As long as you can find the MP3s in iTunes (which is where the ID3 tags come in) then why do you care that an album is stored in ‘compilation’?
(that may be an error in your case mind you but then why does it matter?).
I have a drive with all my music in it. I have not looked at that drive in months, other than to check the available space.
That’s my point about iTunes, it took a leap for me to make. I LIKE knowing that things are stored properly, or at least I did. Now I know I can find the music if it’s in iTunes. To be honest it could dump all the mp3s in one folder, I don’t care.
And I still say PEBCAK! 😉
There’s a post about that in the offing, believe me.
And yeah, maybe it is PEBCAK – I dunno. Maybe it’s just that I’m too much of a control freak, and don’t like having other things tell me where they’ve put stuff. I want it where I want it.
Luddite to the core, I tell thee. Hah.
File-type specific backing-up is a lot easier if you have a rigorous file structure, unless the player/organiser software you use also has a well-designed automated backup facility. Minus points to iTunes for not putting Gordon’s MP3s in logical places (although I’m sure it can be told to do that, come to think of it).
Realplayer, and any other MP3 player-manager, really should encourage the user to add IDx tags from Day One, to avoid exactly the problems Lyle has been having. No user is going to stay with the same player forever — I guess that’s precisely why IDx tags were designed to be part of the file system.
I have some anecdotal evidence of iTunes deleting huge swathes of a music collection when it has been uninstalled, which is the main reason why I’ll probably never install it myself. Go on Gordon, uninstall it and check out the contents of your music hard disc — I dare ya! 😉
I agree, David, that RealPlayer should’ve been doing the IDx tags on the MP3s. I don’t know why it hasn’t – unless it’s something to do with the way it gets CD information from the database, but even so, that sucks.
But even if it is Real’s fault that the IDx tags haven’t been put in, to my mind iTunes should handle that eventuality when it’s importing tracks, and shouldn’t force the user (who may not have even realised that IDx tags weren’t being done – I know I didn’t. PEBCAK indeed…) to then spend hours – and in some cases days – re-editing every file to fit in with iTunes arbitrary decisions.
That sort of shit should be automatic, and – in my mind – it shows utter arrogance on the part of the developers. Mind, Apple’s been accused of that once or twice before…
HOKAY. I’ve checked.
1. My Music drive is organised as I told iTunes to do it, artist/album.
2. When I import tracks into iTunes, I have yet to need to edit ID3 tags. Even if I’m importing MP3s rather than ripping CDs.
3. I’ve uninstalled iTunes several times in the past two years, mainly to get my Airport Express to work. Not a thing has been deleted.
And Lyle, mate, “I want it where I want it.” it YOUR decision, YOUR limitation. Not iTunes. Yes, it’s not perfect but it’s not THAT bad if you read the instructions!