h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I hate iTunes. Let's get that out of the way
but I won an iPod that me and like to use at the gym

so now (using my Windows Media Player and Vista Home Premium) I've ripped some new CDs. Which iTunes won't automatically include in my iTunes doohickey, I have to import them or whatever.

I'm pretty sure there must be a way to synchronise my Windows Media Player contents with the iTunes contents so I don't have to help every single time he buys a new CD.

But how? (obviously iTunes help doesn't work and iTunes itself is the most unhelpful and idiotic interface I've ever seen.

Thanks in advance not to start the whole "don't use microsoft" stuff - I like Vista.

Weirdo.

I got rid of Vista, now running Windows 7!


GT

>>I like Vista<<

This is baffling. Wouldn't you want a free upgrade to Windows 3.1?

obviously iTunes is worse than I thought
I use 7 on my netbook - but to be honest, I don't notice any difference between Vista and 7 because I don't faff with the machine I just store my music and photos and surf the net...

*If you have files in WMA format, you will be prompted to convert those WMA files to AAC. This is a necessary step if you want those tracks available to play on your iPod.*

http://www.jakeludington.com/ask_jake/20080329_transfer_music_from_windows_media_player_to_itunes.html

"you will be prompted to convert those WMA files to AAC. This is a necessary step if you want those tracks available to play on your iPod"

False. Or at least, not the whole truth.

The iPod won't play wma files, but you can set iTunes to default convert them to mp3 format rather than AAC if you wish.

I used to hate iTunes. I still don't like it much. However, once you know how it works, it works... OK. The seriously unusual thing, the thing we've become unused to, especially with Apple products, is that it doesn't simply do what we MEAN. It's shocking to try to do something that seems intuitively obvious and have something from Apple not interpret it correctly.

Anyhoo... my story - over Christmas I set aside a weekend to "sort" my iTunes library. I went from many, many duplicate tracks, loads of stuff without artwork, terrible disorganisation etc. to now, where I have all my album artwork in place, no dupes (or very, very few and justifiable ones, like where I've got the track on an album and a compilation) and everything where it should be.

How did I achieve this? By burning my previous library to the ground and starting again. I highly recommend this approach. Find the folder with all your iTunes stuff in, back it up, then delete it, completely.

Then rip ONE CD. See how it works. See what files it generates. Find out how to add artwork (it's easy and quick). Set iTunes up to generate mp3s rather than AACs (if you intend ever using any other kind of mp3 player again... but why would you? I hate iTunes, I don't use a mac, but the iPod, or in my case the iPhone, is simply the best way of carrying music around. IMHO.)

Then try adding back a folder from somewhere else - perhaps your backup. Look to see how that's changed the contents of your iTunes library folder. In short - learn how it works.

Once you've done that, recompiling your library can be quite quick, and when it's done, it's hella satisfying. Ultimately, most people's libraries get pretty disorganised pretty quick, and there's no one-size-fits-all automated solution to reorganising them.

Burn it down and rebuild. You'll be glad you did. It's worth it.