Combine FLACs and itunes library

[schuffr]

Hi all,

I have just completed ripping about 600 of my CDs into FLAC format into a location that will be my master library of music. All good so far.

Now I need to add in music I have purchased from itunes. Is there a good way to do this that does not involve manually copying files?

My overall strategy is to create my master library that is composed of ripped music (FLAC) and add anything I have purchased from apple/itunes. There will be duplicates for sure, but I will likely just delete the lower quality copies. Once my master library is curated, I will then create an apple-compatible version of my library to be used on ios devices.

Just looking for an effective way to do this that minimizes manual work.

Sure appreciate any suggestions!

CHeers!

Rob

[garym]

Re: Combine FLACs and itunes library

Maybe I'm missing your point, but here's what I do. I have a folder on my HDD called "Music". Under this folder I have a folder called FLAC and another called Lossy. This way my lossless files are stored separately from my lossy (mp3 and aac files). But by pointing my music server at the Music directory, all the files are included and can be played. (and any lossy files I replaced with FLAC rips, I simply deleted from my "lossy" subdirectory.

e.g.

c:\Music
c:\Music\FLAC
c:\Music\Lossy

So just copy the FLAC files into the c:\Music\FLAC directory (can all be done with a couple of mouse clicks in a batch). Then copy the itunes files into the c:\Music\Lossy directory. All can be done with almost no manual intervention (just copy and paste everything from one directory to another).

[schuffr]

Re: Combine FLACs and itunes library

Ah yeah, basically I am just trying to organize several years' worth music stored in different formats and sources and want to combine into one larger library. I am hoping there is a tool I can point at a couple of directories and import/organize into my main library without me having to do it manually album by album

Maybe I'm missing your point, but here's what I do. I have a folder on my HDD called "Music". Under this folder I have a folder called FLAC and another called Lossy. This way my lossless files are stored separately from my lossy (mp3 and aac files). But by pointing my music server at the Music directory, all the files are included and can be played. (and any lossy files I replaced with FLAC rips, I simply deleted from my "lossy" subdirectory.

e.g.

c:\Music
c:\Music\FLAC
c:\Music\Lossy

So just copy the FLAC files into the c:\Music\FLAC directory (can all be done with a couple of mouse clicks in a batch). Then copy the itunes files into the c:\Music\Lossy directory. All can be done with almost no manual intervention (just copy and paste everything from one directory to another).

[garym]

Re: Combine FLACs and itunes library

Look at the dbpoweramp utility DSP "arrange audio". That could take all your music and move it/create subdirectories, rename files, etc. But I'm still not clear. You have a directory/subdirectories containing FLAC files you ripped. So that should be well organized. Are you saying that your aac/mp3 files are spread out over lots of locations rather than being organized in a single itunes library? If so, seems like you could open file explorer, click on C:\, then in the search box, enter "m4a" and find all the m4a files. Then copy those to a specific new subdirectory. Do the same thing with searching for mp3, etc. Then all these lossy files would be in the same subdirectory. If they are not organized by artist/Album, but the tags are OK, you could use the "arrange audio" dsp to automatically arrange all these files by artist/album/tracknumber - tracktitle, or whatever you want.

[schuffr]

Re: Combine FLACs and itunes library

the utility arrange audio does indeed look like it would do the trick, however, for MacOS the page that describes how to do this (https://www.dbpoweramp.com/Help/dMCOSX/utility.htm) does not seem to match what I see on "CODEC Central" (https://www.dbpoweramp.com/codec-central-utility.htm).

And now I finally see on another page that the optional CODECs are available only on Windows. Shoot!

Thanks for you help and patience!

[Spoon]

Re: Combine FLACs and itunes library

If you have R17, they are already installed, look in the encoder menu.

[garym]

Re: Combine FLACs and itunes library

If you have R17, they are already installed, look in the encoder menu.

yes, select the top folder and then "batch converter" and then when choosing the encoder, choose "arrange audio" as the encoder....

[schuffr]

Re: Combine FLACs and itunes library

got it now!
thank you!