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Automatically adding custom-folder music to iTunes 12.x +

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dcsev:
Hi all,
I am sure if this is within the scope of DC, but it's worth a shot and it seems people all over the Internet want something like this. I can't believe no one has coded anything that currently works on the Internet for this.   The closest thing I've found is called "iTunesFolderWatch" located here: http://albumbrowser.klarita.net/itfw.html, but it's not maintained, costs $, doesn't work, requires .NET 2.0 which i'm finding is difficult to find on the Internet, and most importantly NOT portable.

Basically, a lot of people like me keep their music in D:\ directory instead of the standard C drive just in case they need to reinstall. Unfortunately, iTunes does NOT allow you to "automatically" add music to its library, unless you use a very specific folder deep in the C drive.

Asks:
1. Program must watch a specific folder(s) and automatically adds the music to the iTunes library (like this pic: http://albumbrowser.klarita.net/itfw3.png)
2. Must be lightweight
3. Must be able to minimize in tray
4. MUST be portable (pretty please!). All settings should be contained within the folder.


Is this a proper ask?

c.gingerich:
@dcsev - I use Link Shell Extension for this - http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/linkshellextension.html
I keep my music on an external drive and just create a hardlink to the music folder on C:. Works great for me.

It doesn't give the tray alerts but is easy and simple.

wraith808:
I was actually working on something that would work for this, but life got in the way of finishing it.  Hopefully soon.  But there are a few alternatives out there to watch directories and then do things based on the directory changing.  An easy alternative is also PowerShell.  I have the following script running as my first step to creating that program.


--- Code: PowerShell ---### 1. Setup folder to watch (it's currently set to the default download directory with my username commented out)### 2. Should it watch subdirectories?  I have it set to false since my process copies to the subdirectories### 3. Set file filters- I have it set to all files     $dirWatcher = New-Object System.IO.FileSystemWatcher    $dirWatcher.Path = "C:\Users\<username>\Downloads"    $dirWatcher.Filter = "*.*"    $dirWatcher.IncludeSubdirectories = $false    $dirWatcher.EnableRaisingEvents = $true   ### 4. Define your action for when an event is raised.###    This is currently a multi-part action, logging it, then running my cleanup program     $watcherAction =    {                            $path = $Event.SourceEventArgs.FullPath                            $changeType = $Event.SourceEventArgs.ChangeType                            $logEntry = "$(Get-Date), $changeType, $path"                            Add-content "C:\Users\<username>\Downloads\DirSweeper\log.txt" -value $logEntry                                             [System.Diagnostics.Process]::Start("C:\Users\<username>\Downloads\DirSweeper\DirSweeper.exe")                        } ### Decide which events to watch (I only watch for files being created)      Register-ObjectEvent $dirWatcher "Created" -Action $watcherAction###    Register-ObjectEvent $dirWatcher "Changed" -Action $watcherAction###    Register-ObjectEvent $dirWatcher "Deleted" -Action $watcherAction###    Register-ObjectEvent $dirWatcher "Renamed" -Action $watcherAction    while ($true) {Start-Sleep 5}
Just kill the window when you want to stop it.  That command I have in there to my other program can be anything that you want to script to do the copying.  Thanks to 4wd for getting me back into PowerShell scripting.

dcsev:
@dcsev - I use Link Shell Extension for this - http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/linkshellextension.html
I keep my music on an external drive and just create a hardlink to the music folder on C:. Works great for me.

It doesn't give the tray alerts but is easy and simple.
-c.gingerich (February 11, 2019, 10:10 AM)
--- End quote ---

I didn't think of that. I suppose I could use a hard junction link to sync the directories without running the app.  I'll try this and see if it works.

dcsev:
Any chance of getting a lightweight app to do this?

The powershell seems like an inelegant solution. Might have to do the junction links, but I have no idea how iTunes will handle it. I don't keep itunes running 24/7 - only when I want to sync music to my phone.

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