organizing ipod files and lossless files in itunes
Feb 25, 2006 at 7:22 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 22

rhythmdevils

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hello all,
I am thinking about making duplicate copies of all my songs for my ipod, making 192 ACC files for my ipod, cause lossless files fill it up so quick. ive got ab out 40 albums on my 40 gig right now.
biggrin.gif


but i cant figure out a good way of organizing the two sets of files. i thought maybe i would label the 192 files with a genre called "ipod files" but then i iw wont be able to search via genre on my ipod.

i could label the 192 version of every album, with ipod after the album name. but i really dont want to have two copies of every album showing in itunes, it would get too messy and confusing.

so how do you guys do it?

is there any way to hide the ipod files in a different directory, like a second library or something? seems like there must be something like this.

thanks for the help

whitney
 
Feb 25, 2006 at 7:34 PM Post #2 of 22
What you can do is either make a playlist based on the 'kind' of file field or just sort the files by the 'kind' field. You can see this field once you check it in the view options box.
 
Feb 25, 2006 at 8:09 PM Post #3 of 22
Quote:

Originally Posted by Timboly
What you can do is either make a playlist based on the 'kind' of file field or just sort the files by the 'kind' field. You can see this field once you check it in the view options box.


Using the "Smartplaylist" helps keep lists you use to sort/download to the iPod up-to-date.
 
Feb 25, 2006 at 8:33 PM Post #4 of 22
If I want to have two version of the same album, one in LOSSLESS and one in 192, do I have to import it twice?
Or, can I just rip it to LOSSLESS the first time, then copy and paste the album into a "192" playlist and once its ther just lower its quality to 192.

My question is, if thats all do-able, how do you lower a already ripped albums kbps?
 
Feb 26, 2006 at 6:43 AM Post #5 of 22
Quote:

Originally Posted by kwitel
If I want to have two version of the same album, one in LOSSLESS and one in 192, do I have to import it twice?
Or, can I just rip it to LOSSLESS the first time, then copy and paste the album into a "192" playlist and once its ther just lower its quality to 192.

My question is, if thats all do-able, how do you lower a already ripped albums kbps?



Jahn just explained this to me. in preferences, you set your importing to ACC - whatever quality you want. then you highlight the tracks you want, then right click and "convert files to ACC"

works like a charm, and when its done, the new files are highlighted so you can drag them up and away
biggrin.gif


-whitney
 
Feb 26, 2006 at 6:44 AM Post #6 of 22
the smartplaylist is a good idea. But when i search by genre in my library, the AAC version will show, and its just going to add more difficulty to the already combersome process of searching through lines of computer text to find an album. (i prefer stacks of cd cases, but itunes lets me do sooo much)

thanks everyone

whitney
 
Feb 26, 2006 at 7:35 AM Post #7 of 22
I was thinkin of doing this too (duplicating the files, a set of loseless and a set of mp3s for my ipod) but in the end I decided just keeping the FLAC files on my system, and whenever I wanted a file on my ipod just I would just convert it to mp3 and send it over to my ipod... as soon as it was on my ipod, I would delete the mp3 from the system

is there a another reason why you want both filetypes on the computer? I don't know... it might save u some space,
wink.gif
 
Feb 26, 2006 at 4:42 PM Post #8 of 22
Quote:

Originally Posted by rhythmdevils
the smartplaylist is a good idea. But when i search by genre in my library, the AAC version will show, and its just going to add more difficulty to the already combersome process of searching through lines of computer text to find an album. (i prefer stacks of cd cases, but itunes lets me do sooo much)


If you have a smart playlist collecting all stuff at a certain bitrate you can also make a second smart playlist collecting all stuff that *is not* that exact bitrate, which in your case would be the ALAC files. Forget the library & just use the smart playlist to browse.
 
Feb 26, 2006 at 5:24 PM Post #9 of 22
you have a powerbook listed in your sig, this means you can use the power of Applescript. I use this method.

Set ipod to manually update.
Select all the tracks in my library.
Use the scipt called Lossless to AAC workflow (iTunes to iPod)
Set it going and leave it to complete.

It is a good idea to set it going overnight.

Definately worth checking out, as you can sync the playcounts and ratings between the two. Also means you save hd space on your computer and keep your itunes library clean.

I use this and it is great
 
Feb 26, 2006 at 9:46 PM Post #10 of 22
Quote:

Originally Posted by xUKHCx
you have a powerbook listed in your sig, this means you can use the power of Applescript. I use this method.

Set ipod to manually update.
Select all the tracks in my library.
Use the scipt called Lossless to AAC workflow (iTunes to iPod)
Set it going and leave it to complete.

It is a good idea to set it going overnight.

Definately worth checking out, as you can sync the playcounts and ratings between the two. Also means you save hd space on your computer and keep your itunes library clean.

I use this and it is great



awsome! i just downloaded it. But i have way too much music to fit on my ipod. can i just make a playlist and highlight those tracks? then once the tracks are highlighted, i just open the app with my ipod connected, and it does the rest?

how do i set the AAC quality? do i just set it in itunes preferences before beginning?

sorry about all the questions, and thanks so much! this looks great!
biggrin.gif


whitney
 
Feb 26, 2006 at 9:55 PM Post #11 of 22
I had your exact same question, and ended up with a great solution using playlists. Get your lossless files set the way you like them, then use the "Convert to AAC" feature mentioned above. Then make 2 smart playlists:

iPod --> Kind...is not..."Apple Lossless audio file"

and

Home --> Kind...is..."Apple Lossless audio file"

This will filter all your lossless from your non-lossless. Now for the brilliance, which is so obvious if you already know about it, but not if you don't. While you have each of the playlists above selected, choose "Edit-->Show Browser". From now on that playlist will show the browser bar (with Genre, Artist, and Album) at the top, just like when you select Library. Sync only the lossy playlist to iPod, listen to lossless on your computer.

Another thing I do is make all the playlists I want (generically), then make an iPod and home version of each. For instance:

3stars (smart playlist which has all my 3 * songs)

then I make

i3stars (playlist is 3stars and playlist is iPod)

and

h3stars (playlist is 3stars and playlist is Home)

Then under sync options, I choose all the playlists with the little "i" in front to sync to my iPod, and when I listen from home on the computer I only look at playlists with a little h in front.

Note: If ever I want to change ratings, song names, or any other tag info, I must go to Library and do it for both copies of the song to keep them in sync. But this is the only downside, and it's not that big of one.

For those of you still with me, I actually complicate things a bit more because some songs I only have lossy. Since there is no lossless counterpart, I want them to show up in my Home playlists as well. So for my "Home" playlist I use "kind" and "bitrate" to make a smart playlist that excludes only lossy songs for which I have a lossless counterpart. I can do this because my lossless files were converted to 256AAC, which is a different format from all my non-lossless stuff. This is a bit confusing, but if you understand it it works well.
 
Feb 26, 2006 at 10:07 PM Post #12 of 22
The only problem with that app would be the wait for the encoding everytime you want to update your ipod. My wife has a ipod nano so I made a second set of files for her in AAC 128.

I set the preferences to AAC 128 and then went back to the library and right-click to convert to AAC. It leaves the lossless files and makes a duplicate set of tracks in AAC. Then using smart playlists, one looks for AAC and the other apple lossless. In the playlist, turn the browser on to view by artist, genre, album. When my wife updates, her ipod, she just drags from the nano smart playlist. I use the lossless playlist for home and my ipod. I even have the party shuffle set to pull from the lossless files.
 
Feb 27, 2006 at 1:31 AM Post #13 of 22
Quote:

Originally Posted by rhythmdevils
awsome! i just downloaded it. But i have way too much music to fit on my ipod. can i just make a playlist and highlight those tracks?


Yes

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhythmdevils
then once the tracks are highlighted, i just open the app with my ipod connected, and it does the rest?


Did you put the script in Users/Username/Library/iTunes/Scripts. IF the scripts folder does not exsist. Make it and put the script in there. Then when itunes is your top app there should be a little scroll menu bar item between window and help. With the tracks selected click on the scroll and choose the Lossless to iPod workflow.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhythmdevils
how do i set the AAC quality? do i just set it in itunes preferences before beginning?


Got it in one
 
Feb 27, 2006 at 1:38 AM Post #14 of 22
Quote:

Originally Posted by iamdone
The only problem with that app would be the wait for the encoding everytime you want to update your ipod.


Well if you set the ipod to manually update it wont try and update everything when you plug it in. This means that once you have converted it and it is on your ipod then you wont need to do it again, unless you get a new ipod or delete it from it.

This saves the hassle of having multiple copies and the associated lost harddrive space that this entails.
 
Feb 27, 2006 at 2:04 AM Post #15 of 22
This would work if all the files fit on the ipod. Since my wife only has a 4gb ipod and we have about 14,000 songs to choose from, she'd be waiting for it to convert evertime she updated her ipod. Even if I decided to put aac on my 30gb ipod, only a fraction of the files would fit. Multiple copies works better in my case. We both like to completely change out our ipods with this much music to choose from.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xUKHCx
Well if you set the ipod to manually update it wont try and update everything when you plug it in. This means that once you have converted it and it is on your ipod then you wont need to do it again, unless you get a new ipod or delete it from it.

This saves the hassle of having multiple copies and the associated lost harddrive space that this entails.


Sorry for using two posts when i could have fited it in the one but its late her 1.40am and i have some coursework to do so my mind is a bit bogged down to keep track on more than on train of thought at once.



 

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