iTunes folder content based on Albums?

[sri]

I let iTunes organize the music folder.

I have 'Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library' checked in the Prefs and then consolidated the library.

The folders that iTunes creates in the folder are by Artist. How do I change this so the folders are by Albums instead?

[Carol Haynes]

I don't think you can if you allow iTunes to organise itself. As far as I can tell there is no way to force iTunes to automatically arrange files in any other way.

The only solution is to turn off "Keep iTunes Music Folder organised" and "Copy files to iTunes folder" and organise the files yourself manually. You then need to clear all the files you moved out of iTunes from the playlists and library and reimport them into iTunes.

If purchase music from the iTunes store I think this is handled automatically - but you should be able to move the files somewhere else and then reimport them into your library.

iTunes really doesn't play well with other media players in terms of music file organisation. If you don't use iTunes store I would suggest using a different player (there are lots of examples in other threads on this forum). For organisational ability I prefer Windows Media Player 11 to iTunes simply because you can put files where you like (even multiple locations) and then just specify the folders WMP should check on to see new files. WMP is a heck of a lot faster than iTunes at loading too - and less prone to 100% CPU usage.

[BigJim]

Hi Sri:
I'm just curious about why you need (or want) to do this since if you use iTunes you can search and list all of the albums in it's built in browser.   

[sri]

Thanks for the reply Carol.

Jim: I want to share my music collection with a friend. But she doesn't like to use iTunes. The common standard that pretty much everyone follows where I live is to organize music my movie (= album) name. Now I can organize by mp3s my album names and import them into iTunes, but then when I delete a file from iTunes, that file won't be deleted from wherever it resides (non-iTunes folder)...and I want iTunes to delete a mp3 even tho it isn't in its folder. Hope that made sense.

[BigJim]

Thanks for that Sri. I think I get the picture. Seems like she could work with you a little on this though since you're helping her out. Have fun!!