Easiest way to create a big iTunes library from scratch?

Posted by: Bart on 21 February 2013

I *think* that I want to take my music library, that is now in folders organized by artist, 1/2 of which are .wav on my uServe and 1/2 of which are .flac on a nas, and get it onto my iPods. 

 

I am hoping folks will have suggestions for how to create an iTunes library from that, hopefully in batch mode.  I'll want to convert to a lossy format -- something like 256k mp3 or aac.  I can't fathom doing it on album at a time -- too many hundreds of albums for that.

 

Will iTunes, or something else, do a bit batch like that?  (Then I'll need to add iTunes compatible album art.) 

Posted on: 21 February 2013 by PinkHamster

Foobar2000 will do it in one run for you.

 

But be warned. You'll be spending more time syncronizing and keeping your different libraries alinged than listeng to your iPod(s) (plural? Did I read that correctly?)

 

My iThings are no longer in use for listening purposes. Too much hassle with sh.. iTunes. I copy my daily/weekly dose to a USB stick for the car or simply copy via the regular file manager to my Android and Windows devices.

 

Best of luck!

Posted on: 21 February 2013 by PinkHamster

Oh, I forgot to mention, that the iThings want the cover art embedded in each file. This can also be done by Foobar. But what a waste ...

Posted on: 21 February 2013 by Guido Fawkes

XLD will do it .. iCloud can keep all your devices in sync once done. 

Posted on: 21 February 2013 by garyi

Good luck with the WAV working.

 

Posted on: 21 February 2013 by Iver van de Zand

Also dbpoweramp hass batch conversion. Convert to the format you'd require. Once done, you can open iTunes and import everything. Don't forget to set the iTunes import formats correct.

 

good luck, Iver

Posted on: 21 February 2013 by Bart
Originally Posted by PinkHamster:

Foobar2000 will do it in one run for you.

 

But be warned. You'll be spending more time syncronizing and keeping your different libraries alinged than listeng to your iPod(s) (plural? Did I read that correctly?)

 

My iThings are no longer in use for listening purposes. Too much hassle with sh.. iTunes. I copy my daily/weekly dose to a USB stick for the car or simply copy via the regular file manager to my Android and Windows devices.

 

Best of luck!

Maybe not a bad idea to give up on the iPod(s) in the car(s).  The cars all accept usb sticks now anyway.   

 

But as Guy says, once done, iCloud is pretty handy.  I use it for my iPhone. 

 

Thanks all for the suggestions; I will try some and see how it goes.

Posted on: 21 February 2013 by PinkHamster

How much free space do you get in the iCloud? And how big is your library?

I am sure it would be a mismatch for me - even for the reduced AAC version of my library.

 

If you decide to buy a new USB stick for the car, don't get carried away. Many cars will only accept FAT32 file systems. Even though you can format a larger than 32 GB stick to FAT32 and still fill it to its full capacity, the car may not read it. It will only recognize the first 32 GB. That's what my car does at least. So just a word of warning.

Posted on: 22 February 2013 by Bart
Originally Posted by PinkHamster:

How much free space do you get in the iCloud? And how big is your library?

I am sure it would be a mismatch for me - even for the reduced AAC version of my library.

 

If you decide to buy a new USB stick for the car, don't get carried away. Many cars will only accept FAT32 file systems. Even though you can format a larger than 32 GB stick to FAT32 and still fill it to its full capacity, the car may not read it. It will only recognize the first 32 GB. That's what my car does at least. So just a word of warning.

I pay (I think it's $25/yr) and have hundreds of cd's and have not hit any sort of limit.  I did mis-type; it's actually the iTunes Match service I'm thinking of.  I have way more music in iTunes Match than can fit on my iPhone (16 gb model).  32GB in the car is plenty and thanks for that bit of info!