Saving space on HD w/iTunes (iPod)

[The Spawn]

How can I save space with iTunes practically doubling my music?

 

[jaguarr]

Doubling your music? I don't understand what you think iTunes is doing as a program that's increasing your used space on your HD.

jag

 

[Steve Rogers]

I know it uses mp3's. Aren't they the smallest music file?

 

[jaguarr]

I know it uses mp3's. Aren't they the smallest music file?

Actually, .mp4 (or Apple's .aac format, which is just a protected .mp4) bring higher quality at smaller file sizes. Ogg Vorbis files can be fairly small as well, but iTunes doesn't support them.

jag

 

[Steve Rogers]

mp4's and aac's huh? Will an iPod embrace them?

 

[jaguarr]

mp4's and aac's huh? Will an iPod embrace them?

Yeah, they work fine on iPods. You can rip to .mp4 right from within iTunes and the .aac files are the format the iTunes Music Store uses as they allow for Apple's DRM scheme. They even work on my old 3G iPod.

jag

 

[Steve Rogers]

That's cool. I have an iPod shuffle and it only holds a gig. I'd love to shrink down music files so I can fit more music on it.

 

[jaguarr]

That's cool. I have an iPod shuffle and it only holds a gig. I'd love to shrink down music files so I can fit more music on it.

Apple Lossless is the option in iTunes that will rip to .mp4, but the encoding rate is automatic so the files won't be tiny. Your best bet is to rip everything to 128kbps .mp3 and call it good. The audio quality will suffer a bit, but not so much that you'd notice while listening to a Shuffle.

jag

 

[Steve Rogers]

I actually can't hear the difference between different audio formats anyway.

 

[Leto Atrides]

You really don't most of the time, especially with a iPod. I can personally only notice the difference (at least with Ogg, mp4, Flac, etc. as opposed to mp3) unless I use headphones at a high volume. With earbuds, or on a portable player you don't really notice it.

or Apple's .aac format, which is just a protected .mp4

I don't think they actually invented it or own it or anything, the iTunes Store is just the most well-known use.

 

[jaguarr]

I don't think they actually invented it or own it or anything, the iTunes Store is just the most well-known use.

They didn't invent the .aac format but they do use it with their proprietary Fairplay DRM protection. Apple won't license Fairplay to anyone, so they're the only one's that use that particular flavor of .aac.

jag

 

[The Spawn]

Let's say all my music is in "My Music".

I put all of that into my iTunes library.

Those same files are in another folder called "iTunes Library."

So, it's basically My Music x2.

If you google what I'm referring too, many people have this "problem".

I don't think it discriminates between Mac and PC users. I'm assuming those of you who don't know what I'm talking about use Macs?

 

[jaguarr]

Let's say all my music is in "My Music".

I put all of that into my iTunes library.

Those same files are in another folder called "iTunes Library."

So, it's basically My Music x2.

If you google what I'm referring too, many people have this "problem".

I don't think it discriminates between Mac and PC users. I'm assuming those of you who don't know what I'm talking about use Macs?

You can't just move your music into the iTunes library folder. You have to use the "Add to Library" option from within iTunes so that iTunes will see your music. If you have left the default iTunes music folder untouched and leave the "Keep iTunes Music folder organized" and "Copy files to iTunes Music Folder when adding to Library" options checked, it will also basically create a whole new directory structure and copy them to that when you do add your music to your Library. Essentially, when that happens, you wind up with two copies of your music Library on your hard drive. Deleting the stuff out of "My Music" should free up disk space if you're just going to let iTunes manage your music Library for you.

jag

 

[Steve Rogers]

Yeah, iTunes calls up your music, it doesn't store it.

 

[The Spawn]

If it doesn't store it, then I should not delete My Music then correct?

 

[jaguarr]

If it doesn't store it, then I should not delete My Music then correct?

Look in your iTunes preferences under Advanced > General and see where your music in iTunes is being stored. If it's not your My Music folder then your My Music folder is essentially housing duplicate files of your music library, thus using up more hard drive space.

jag

 

[The Spawn]

The music goes to iTunes Music.

If I try to import all of My Music into the Library will it weed out duplicates and suspend itself from copying songs already taken from that folder?

I just want to make sure everything I delete has a clone.

 

[jaguarr]

The music goes to iTunes Music.

If I try to import all of My Music into the Library will it weed out duplicates and suspend itself from copying songs already taken from that folder?

I just want to make sure everything I delete has a clone.

It won't weed out duplicates automatically, but if you go to View > Duplicates it will show you the dupes so you can delete them out of iTunes (and your hard drive) manually.

jag

 

[The Spawn]

But it would take a while to copy all of those in the first place just to delete them, right?

Should I just open up both windows and sort them by name and delete them like that?

 

[Crook]

This is a copy of my previous post, but it should help.

What I usually do is let iTunes handle all my music content, so it's all in one area. That way you won't have a problem with playback. These are the settings I have:

So with these settings, say you have an album on the desktop, copy the album to iTunes, and it'll be copied to whatever directory you have set in the iTunes preferences. Then you can just delete the original files since you don't need that anymore. It'll just waste space.

 

[D4rkShaDoWz]

Let's say all my music is in "My Music".

I put all of that into my iTunes library.

Those same files are in another folder called "iTunes Library."

So, it's basically My Music x2.

If you google what I'm referring too, many people have this "problem".

I don't think it discriminates between Mac and PC users. I'm assuming those of you who don't know what I'm talking about use Macs?

I know what your saying. When you add a folder to your Itunes to update it, it adds another copy to your itunes directory...am i rite?

 

[jaguarr]

But it would take a while to copy all of those in the first place just to delete them, right?

Should I just open up both windows and sort them by name and delete them like that?

Alright, was able to look at my Windows box at work today and see how iTunes organizes itself. Your directory structure should look like C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music. That's the folder all your music should be in. If it's not in there, then it's a duplicate on your system. Best advice I could give you is to delete the contents of your iTunes library from within iTunes WITHOUT deleting the actual files themselves. Then consolidate your library into that folder I listed above, making sure that you don't have the songs anywhere else on your hard drive. And then re-add everything to your library from within iTunes.

jag

 

[The Spawn]

What about Podcasts?

D4rkShaDoWz you are right.

 

[jaguarr]

If D4rkShaDoWz is right, then we identified your problem earlier and Drexx even showed you how to fix it with a screenshot. And Podcasts are stored in the same directory structure.

jag

 

[The Spawn]

The music portion has been solved.

My Music never has podcasts because that is not where they originate from.

Unlike their music Mp3 counterparts...which come from LimeWire, eMusic, etc.