Consolidating the itunes library

0. I noticed the consolidate library function which I guess puts all my music in one folder.
Consolidating will bring all the music files that iTunes already knows about into one location; it does not go searching for any and every music file on your computer.

1. Files wind up wherever you set the "iTunes Music folder location" to in Prefs>Advanced>General

2. Yes; that's one of the requirements of the consolidation process (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305451) Note that it's up to you to set the pref for "Keep iTunes Music folder organized" (same pref pane as noted above); dunno why the human has to set that pref, but that's what Apple sez.

3. It'll take just a few seconds longer than it would normally take your machine to copy 9,000 files occupying 51GB. Note that Consolidating does not move files; it copies them to the specified location. So, if you don't have 51GB free, you might not be able to complete the operation. (If you already have a bunch of files residing in the specified iTunes Music folder they'll just be moved to fit the organizational scheme, so that's a bit of a space-savings.)

4. Won't affect them at all

5. If the art is embedded (like if you added it manually) it will, of course, be in the file. If you used iTunes to add the artwork, that info is all in the "iTunes" folder (<username>\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\), which will be unaffected by consolidating. For everything else -- playcounts, playlists, ratings, volume adjustments, start/stop times, ettc. -- that info is maintained in the "iTunes Library.itl" file, which also resides in the "iTunes" folder, which will also be unaffected by consolidating.

Most folks consolidate for one of two reasons: first, they want to move their "iTunes Music" folder (to another drive, or to another location on the same drive), and this method retains playcounts, ratings, etc. The second reason is to "de-scatter" your music files...to bring a little peace of mind, or to make it easier to up the files, or for whatever reason.

Yeah, it's worthwhile.

Make sure you follow the instructions (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305451)! Trying to cut corners will mess it up, and you'll risk losing all/most of the info you hope to retain.

I am about to do the same thing. Here is my situation: Itunes library on C: drive , my music and video files on G:\Media . I used ITunes Library updater to get the songs into iTunes, so it already knows about them ( ratings, tags, etc. So, now I want iTunes to manage every thing, i am thinking I can
1) relocate the iTunes library to g:\media\itunes using Preferences .
2), Select "Consolidate library" to have it copy every file it knows about into the iTunes folder.

3) Check "let itunes manage my files" so it will reorganize them without listing the extra data ( such as rating ) that I took time to enter.
4) Perhaps use the folder watcher add-on so that I can just copy files into any itunes folder, and it will see and manager it ( move it to where it needs to go based on iTunes logic )

Does this look like a good plan? I think any other method would get my files moved and into iTunes, but I would lose the data as it would be re-importing them as new music.

Thanks!

The consolidation worked well! It looks like a had a few gig of files that were not moved, so I am trying to find a way in Windows to say " show me all the files in the directory tree that do not end with .mp3" and figure out whats left and what to do with it.

Btw, I tunes did not see to do much when I enabled it to manage my files...maybe that is only for new files? Anyway, the hard part is over, its time to cleanup what is left.

Btw, I tunes did not see to do much when I enabled it to manage my files...maybe that is only for new files?
Assuming you enabled this pref before consolidating, iTunes would simply have placed the files in Artist/Album folders (eg. Pink Floyd/Animals/tracks).

how should I get my "external" image files and ipod formatted video files into iTunes?
Photos are same as always -- iTunes doesn't keep track of them, but will load them onto an iPod. Pick a spot for 'em to live, and then "sync" them to your pocket pal. Viddies are just like music -- wherever the file is now, just drop it onto iTunes' window; it will be added to the iTunes index and the file will be copied over to the folder specified in "iTunes Music folder location," inside a "Movies" folder.