I am Zachariah

Organizing iTunes

iTunes is brilliant. It organizes your music so effortlessly and efficiently that it has revolutionized the way we think about our computers. However, if you're like me, iTunes feels like it's missing out on something, like it could be even more powerful. Genres and Smart Playlists and the like are great ideas, but limited by the content that they work with. That is to say, if you're album by Death From Above 1979 is somehow genre-labelled as "Classical," then your Smart Playlist of "genre> is >"rock"" isn't gonna satisfy your DFA 1979 yearnings.

I'm gonna show you how to maximize iTunes so that you're library is as accurately indexed as the one in New York. You know what I'm talking 'bout.

Step 1: Gather Your Tools: We're going to be unleashing the power of Applescript for this little exercise, so get on over to Dougsscripts.com and get the "Append to Comments" script.

Follow the built in instructions to install the script into iTunes. Don't worry, it's easy.

Step 2: Sort it out: In iTunes, sort your library according to comment (by clicking the comment column header.) Then select every song that has either unfilled or poorly filled comments (e.g. "Mr. Furyo®'s Mean Classic Rock" doesn't help organize your music, unless of course Mr. Furyo is a close, personal friend of yours and you'd like to keep track of his Mean Classic Rock.)


Create a new smart playlist by clicking File > New Smart Playlist, or by holding down the Option key and clicking the gear button in the bottom left hand corner of iTunes. notice that when you release the option key, the button reverts to a + sign which will create a normal playlist. Set the new Smart Playlist to "comment>contains>"comment"," as pictured below. You now have a complete list of all the songs in your library that require tags.


Step 3: Keywords: Think of the ways you want to classify your music. What words would you use to describe each song? Think of about 10 of these, and create a regular playlist (click the + button) for each. Prefix each playlist with a period; this will keep the conveniently grouped together.


Step 4: Rock out! This next step is pretty easy, just listen to your music. Make sure to listen to songs from the "Require Tags" Smart Playlist you made in Step 2, and as you listen to a track, drag it into each applicable keyword playlist. For example, as I'm listening to "Creep" by Radiohead, I'll drag it into the downbeat playlist, the male vocals playlist, and the slow playlist. Do this for as many songs as you want. Once you're done, go through each playlist and ensure there are no duplicates. Do this by going to Edit > Show Duplicate Songs, and then removing the extra tracks by hitting delete.


Step 5: Thank Jobs for Applescript! You're probably wondering why I made you download that Applescript way back in Step 1, right? Well, stop it, I'm getting to it. "Append to Comments" does just what it's called. It adds any word of your choice to the comments of a (or many) selected song(s.) It's important to note that it adds the word in, rather then replaces it. Make sure the Applescript is installed before going any further.

Step 6: Do it, Doug!: In iTunes, go to your first keyword playlist you've made and hit Apple + a on the keyboard, followed by Apple + i. This will select all the songs in th playlist and then show you there shared metadata information. Clear out the comment field so that it's empty, but leave it checked on. Click "Ok." Ensure that each song in the playlist is selected and that it's comment field is blank. Click on the pretty little Applescript icon in the menu-bar (it's right before the Help menu) and click on "Append to Comments." Enter in the tag correspondent to the playlist in the little dialogue window that pops up. Select "After," and then click "Thanks," and, badaboom! Instant comments!


Repeat this step for each keyword playlist that you've created, and soon will have an accurate and fully customized index of all your music!

Step 7: Ok, but who cares? Accurately tagging your tracks allows you to take full advantage of the power of iTunes' Smart Playlist, giving you immediate access to the songs you wanna hear, Try setting up a Smart Playlist of all male vocalists, that are slow, and downbeat. Or try one with only female vocalists, that are fast, upbeat. I'm also going to recommend that you keep your genre list as short as possible. Consolidate all your "Altern-Rock," "Alternarock," Punk Alternative," and crap into just "Alternative." Change all your "Thrash Metal," "Hardcore" and "HardRock" into simply "Metal." The fewer genres you have, the easier it will be for you to, say, play all Punk female vocalists, that are upbeat, or all your male and female vocals, that are downbeat, and Alternative. Catch my drift?


Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

posted by Zach Forrester @ 6:05 PM