If I ripped CD’s into Windows Media player, and then iTunes goes through a search for music on my computer and latches onto those files, are those files now taking up twice the disk space?
It usually doesn’t copy the file, just point to it.
If you’ve done it already, you can see where the files are by right-clicking
on the song in iTunes, then clicking “Get Info”. The Summary tab has the
path to the file at the bottom.
Find the iTunes preferences and see the “keep my music organized” and “copy files…” settings.
Both boxes are unchecked.
When I go into the files, it looks like some stuff was copied into Quicktime files or something. But not all of it.
I do not have an iPod but the kids do and they feel like a black box to me–I just don’t get them, and when there’re problems I just shrug and tell them to ask their friends.
That means no tracks are copied or stored twice on your hard drive.
I do not have an iPod but the kids do and they feel like a black box to me–I just don’t get them, and when there’re problems I just shrug and tell them to ask their friends.
Either all or some of the tracks in iTunes get copied to the iPod when you sync it with your computer. The iPod is really just a hard drive (or solid state drive) with a headphone jack.
What leads you to that conclusion? Are they in a different directory,
or do they have a different extension, or what?
FJohn,
I had the same problem and question when I started using an iPod, only a couple of months ago.
iPods don’t recognise WMA files, so if you’re trying to load a WMA file into iTunes, it has to convert it to its own format (AAC I think), and that has to be saved somewhere. Thus you’ll have 3 copies, the original WMA file where you first had it, and the AAC file in the iTunes folder, and a copy on the iPod. I guess at this point you could delete the WMA version because.
If you originally ripped the CD as mp3 files, you’ll only have that copy and the one on your iPod, and iTunes will look for it in the place you originally saved it when you want it. Windows Media Player will allow you to rip a CD as MP3 or as WMA, so be sure to set the MP3 option from now on.
I have an 80GB hard drive on my PC, and a remote 250GB hard drive that I store all my pictures and sound files on. I put the iTunes folder on my 250GB drive, which is remotely connected through a USB port. This does mean I have to have the remote drive turned on if I want to boot up iTunes and connect my iPod, or it’ll give me warnings that it can’t find the files.
My iPod is 160GB, of which I’ve used about 90GB so far on audio files, all of which are duplicated on the remote drive. I could theoretically delete the remote drive copies, because I can upload them again from the iPod, but I’d rather keep the copies in case the iPod is broken or stolen. Many of my files are mp3s ripped from old tapes, and thus irreplaceable. I should probably back them up onto DVD disks which hold a huge amount of data, and are a little safer than just having the remote drive copy.
I also had a problem with iTunes picking up wrong track names, because each file has several fields associated with it, and the one iTunes looks for when picking a name isn’t always the one you see on the screen.
Take any mp3 file, click once, then click on VIEW - CHOOSE DETAILS on the File menu. There is a name field, and also a title field. Usually we see the name, but iTunes for some odd reason uses the title field. Beth explained to me why tracks need both a name and a title, but I forget.
In all there are about 36 fields, most of which the average user couldn’t give a rat’s cuss about, but they’re there anyway.
I use a freeware programme (which Beth found for me) called MP3 converter, to copy the name into the title field or vice versa, so that what I see is also what iTunes sorts on. I also ensure the artist’s is spelt correctly, and the album title, and the genre. I rarely use the other fields.
Most of my iPod stuff is actually audiobooks, so on my iPod I prefer sort by Genre, then Artist, then Album. You can personalise your iPod menu to show only the fields you want to use.
I see… interesting.
Excellent Martin, thanks. And thanks to everyone.
So is there any reason I should be using both Windows Media Player and iTunes player, or should I just use the iTunes for everything?
I use iTunes for everything, and for what iTunes/Quicktime can’t display (like certain mpegs or avis), I use VLC, an open source program.
Thanks Bloomfield.
Due to a catastrophic loss of all my ripped CD’s yesterday (I have no idea why but system Restore doesn’t help) I have to re-rip everything and I think I’ll use iTunes, so whenever I get my own iPod I’ll be ready.