Add content to iTunes without copying
Ivan | Sun, 2010-11-14 10:41
Sometimes you want to add media files to your iTunes so you can sync them on your mobile devices, but you don't want to copy the files to your /Music folder to avoid extra copies of the content and to save space on your hard drive.
In order to do that you can open iTunes Preferences and switch off Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library.
Alternatively, if you only want to add only a few files to iTunes without changing your preferences you can press and hold the Option + Command (Alt + Apple) keys while dragging the files.
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I don't get it. Why not just leave it as it is and then simply delete the copy you just dragged into iTunes?
Because there are some content that you like to have access to without going through all those iTunes folders to find.
iTunes > Right Click > Show In Finder
Desktop > Apple + Spacer > Type in name of song or artist
Seriously, it's really much smarter to let iTunes keep it all nice and organized. You don't save any time and if you have any sizable amount of content you are just going to end up with a big cluster mess of files all over the place.
Not to mention how much simpler the migration to a new computer or clean OS install will be when you can go and grab all the iTunes stuff in one swoop.
For example you may have an external HD just for your media files.
I actually keep all my iTunes media on an external firewire hard disk, but still have it set up to let iTunes keep everything organized. I find that it works incredibly well, especially if you take the 60 seconds on import to ensure all the meta tags are accurate.
I think a better tip would be to make an alias of the "Automatically add to iTunes" folder. This folder is created where ever you store your music. So if you stick with the default settings it will be in user > music. If you are like us then it will be on your external drive.
So you make an alias of this folder on your desktop, or your downloads folder, you can even toss it in with the stacks folders on dock. Then when you drag and drop stuff into the folder it actually get's moved into the iTunes location rather than copied there.
I've always felt the options in iTunes to handle media organization are top notch, especially compared to iPhoto which as I remember it would import photos into non-sequencial numbered folders. Luckily I switched to Aperture where I have more control over that process.
Thanks! Sounds good.