[Aimless1]

I started on computers programming in Fortran (some engineers will recognize that). I've lived through the various renditions of Windows up to and including Windows XP. I've been fortunate in that I have never suffered a major catastrophe nor had a machine brick on me ... until a week ago. I have stayed clear of Vista since it has been introduced as I don't think it is stable enough for prime time. In fact, talking to my future son-in-law tonight, he confirmed that view after relaying his woes with Vista. And he will soon be an aeronautical engineer.

My laptop suffered sudden and instantaneous death. All rescue and ER attempts to revive it have failed.

Probably due to my start in engineering and early programming, I have admittedly belonged to the "anything but Apple" camp. But my needs have changed and now find all I really need is email, internet, music and photo storage and some basic word processing. I jumped ship and went out and got a MacBook. Nothing fancy, just lots of storage.

Obviously a learning curve to live through, but so far it hasn't been too bad. PC logical? nope! But do the layout and the operating thought processes make sense. Yep, sure do. NO, I'm not an Apple convert but I'm keeping an open mind. So far, so good.

I've noticed some odd ball things in the past 30 hours. I-tunes music downloads are a little nuts. If various artists are on a CD then the music is ripped to separate music folders for each artist? So far I haven't found a way to undo this. I also miss simply plugging a USB cord in and having Windows recognize the peripheral. MacBook required me to instruct it to accept the DAC/Amp.

Please don't make this into an Apple vs Microsoft debate. There are enough of those already. But if you're able to help me keep the various artists downloaded to one album (I used Apple lossless in itunes) and/or to help me keep from having to instruct MacBook everytime I hook up a new peripheral, I'd appreciate the help. Any other advice for someone switching from Microsoft based products to an Apple product is also appreciated...short of suggesting I come to my senses and go back to what I "know". Just trying to cut the learning curve down.

I appreciate your help!

 

[vulc4n]

If you want to use iTunes auto organize feature there is no way to do this. Personally, I don't mind as I only browse my library on my mac through itunes.

I'm a somewhat recent mac convert myself and here is the process I use.

1. Rip CD on windows server using DB Power Amp CD Ripper. This is a great app because it provides eac style secure ripping along with accuraterip and allows me to encode to multiple formats. On top of that it can grab album data from AMG and several other sources to make sure your tagging data is perfect. DBPA encodes to FLAC and V2 lame into two separate directories.

2. I then open up EAC and create a noncompliant cue sheet. This is done so I can recreate the physical cd should it ever be lost/damaged.

3. I use cuetools to make sure the filenames in the cue sheet match the actual names.

4. Import V2 lame files into iTunes via a SMB share. (my directory structure is such that I can sort by most recently created and import only new items to avoid duplication)

5. If iTunes does not add albumart on its own, I use a python album art server that intercepts itunes requests and allows you to inject whatever art you would like. I do this because I don't want to increase the siaze of my files by adding a copy of the art to each of them. Makes a big difference with large art in a large library.

Not sure if this is at all helpful to you, but this is the best way I have found for my own needs. It provides a reasonably sized and decent quality library on my laptop, but I still have everything archived in flac for when the time comes.

 

[[L]es]

that ? just select the files (they'll be under one album), right click, get info, info tab, click on "part of a compilation". it will reorganize them and put the files in a folder under compilations - album folder.

 

[dvessel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aimless1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've noticed some odd ball things in the past 30 hours. I-tunes music downloads are a little nuts. If various artists are on a CD then the music is ripped to separate music folders for each artist? So far I haven't found a way to undo this. I also miss simply plugging a USB cord in and having Windows recognize the peripheral. MacBook required me to instruct it to accept the DAC/Amp.

For the issue with various artists under one album..

Select all the songs for the album then hit Command-I or "File > Get Info" menu from the menu bar. You'll see a compilation menu in the lower left. Select yes and they'll be seen as one album. Sometimes iTunes detects this automatically, sometimes not. It's hit and miss but it's easy enough to fix.

As for the external DAP, the OS doesn't assume anything here to play it safe. Audio engineers may not appreciate that if there are tons of I/O devices flipping on and off from plugging things in and out. To change this easily, install SoundSource. It will place a new item in the menu bar to switch between all your input/output devices.

Good luck with your new Mac.

 

[blessingx]

I hadn't touched a Mac since '85 until a few years ago. Complete convert now (though keep Ubuntu on VMWare).

A few things - iTunes (Mac and Windows) has Artist and Album Artist fields (if latter doesn't show right click on column bar). Your scenario is why the Album Artist field was created. This doesn't affect where files are stored, but does help with organizing.

I though use another approach. One of the great advantages of OS X iTunes over Windows (besides lack of ASIO configuring) is that it can be used with Applescripts. Run over to Doug's AppleScripts and download This Tag, That Tag. After you install and restart iTunes you'll have a script icon. Select your various artists tracks. You can know move the artist info after the track names. Then use iTunes to change the artist name to Various Artists or the name of the album, etc. Now you can organize by album with the artist tag. And the files will be in a single directory.

There are plenty of other great scripts like Remove n Character in Front and Put Track Prefix In Track Number. The data manipulation options here eliminates nearly any advantages to file tree structure if you ask me.

As for activate a plugged in USB, it usually does for me, but consider adding the free SoundSource to select from your toolbar.

Finally have fun exploring. Lots to a new OS. Plus plenty of great Mac sites like MacOSXHints.com and TUAW.com and generally a great community overall. Also you may want to check out this thread.

 

[Aimless1]

Thanks for the tips and the links! If the macbook doesn't recognize the Opera then Soundsource sure seems like it's a great solution.

I see I have options with itunes as to how to approach the separate file issues for "various" artists. Now to decide which will work best for me.

I appreciate the help!