Add songs to playlist in iTunes

[Jocco]

I'm starting to say i'm sorry if someone has ask this before, search alot now and i need some answers.

This is my problem.

I have all my songs in my music folder in different genres folder. These genres folders also exists in iTunes as playlist. I have drag and drop to create my playlist, so they are exactly the same.

What i want is to when i have added new songs to my music folders in one genre folder, say house, then i want that new sont to add to the playlist in iTunes.

My question is: Is it possible with Automator to create a workflow or folder action to do this? I've tried but no success so far. Is it possible to do this without adding all my songs to iTunes Media folder? How do i do that?

Hope you guys can help me, thx.

/Jocco

 

[Kaveman]

Why don't you just make a set of Smart Folders with the name of the Genres and as you add songs they will be added by iTunes?

 

[Jocco]

How do i do that? You understand when i say that i don't want my songs i iTunes library. I have my own folder for music. All i want (if possible) is for all my new music i add to my folder will automatic add to my playlist in iTunes with the same name as my folder. Thankful if you or someone could tell me how it's done, even better if someone have a guide or link to a guide. If there is other ways than with Automator i don't mind at all

Thx for your answer.

/Jocco

 

[Kaveman]

To ensure iTunes doesn't move your files, uncheck
iTunes > Preference > Advanced > Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library

Then once you have put the Music files into the Folder you want, from there also Drag and Drop them onto iTunes, this will put it into the iTunes database.

To Make the Smart Folders
File > New > Smart Playlist
Match the following rule:
Genre is "Your Genre"
Check Live updating
Click OK

repeat for each Genre

OF course these files must have a Genre in there Metadata.

 

[Jocco]

I don't have the genre in the metadata, is there another way to solve my issue?

 

[Kaveman]

After Dropping them into iTunes

Select all the new Tracks (Recently Added)
Get Info (Command - I)
Enter the Genre

 

[Jocco]

Is there no way to use Automator? If i must add genre to all my 10000 songs it's gonna take some time.

 

[Kaveman]

Select all

It only takes as long as how many Genre you have.

If you can't manage doing this, I can't see how Automator will help.

 

[Kaveman]

10000 songs

so you've 10,000 songs without meta data, I hope I not helping someone manage their stollen music collection.

 

[Jocco]

No, your not, i work as a dj and have been doing that for over 20 years. On all my new music i use a program that normalize the files so the songs is close to 0 dB, and after that all metadata is gone, that's why i have no metadata.

Thx for all your help so far.

 

[Kaveman]

Cool, good job. As someone in the industry you know how important it is to support the artists.

I'd do them in batches, get 100 files from Finder, Drag and Drop them into iTunes. Too many and iTunes will choke.
Have a Smart Playlist where Genre is < leave blank>
Go to that and it will show these added tracks.
Select All (command-a)
Get Info (command-i) and Add the Genre, this will do type completion so you only need to type the first few letters once the first ones are done.

There is no way in Automator to add music metadata to Finder Files, they have to be in iTunes and if they in iTunes then its as quick to do the above as to run a script.

If you want to make a workflow to do the last step, you need a selection step then the Set Info of iTunes Song step.

Or you could use a program like MusicBrainz Picard, but I'm not sure if it would find the Genre as the files have been edited.

 

[Jocco]

I was hoping that Automator could just add the songs some way without adding metadata. For example when i add 4 new songs i my house folder it will add them to the playlist in iTunes. It would be great, guess i'll have to try your way.

When i created my playlist i iTunes i started by adding a new playlist and called house. Draged all my files from my house folder to the playlist, so all the playlist in iTunes points to my music folder with subfolders within it. Maybe you understand more how i set it up.

 

[Kaveman]

Thats not the sort of thing Automator does.

I'm just trying to tell you how to maintain it easily by hand. How I would do it.

Or you can write an AppleScript. I think that could do what you want to do, but I think my way would be quicker and easier to maintain. The time you spend making the script could be spent fixing your iTunes.

The script needs to
Get the Folder name, parse that for the last component
Step through every file in that Folder
Move it into iTunes
Locate it iTunes
Move it to the Playlist named the same as the Folder last component

check around the web there are many iTunes AppleScripts it seems to be the most scripted App, you may find some examples you an piece together.

 

[Jocco]

Thx for your help, will try your way and see if i like it