MOTUnation.com

Haven't had time to explore deeply yet, but just launched iTunes after last night's update, and was pleasantly surprised to see playlists and music library functions reintegrated again so that we as users can choose our own preferred workflow, organization, and search methods.

I'm in! Thanks, man!

I got quite excited when I saw what you wrote, Mark, and kept this link so I could ask you this, if I may:

I'm still on iTunes 11.1.5 in Mavericks. When I get my AVB system I may have to move to Yosemite in order to be able to run an AVB-capable PCI card. This scares me 'cause iTunes is perfect for me as it is. I have my own way of doing things - Artists are Genres (a duplication of the appropriate Genre tag), and album names are prefixed with artist names. The "Album Artist" metadata has been cleared. This way, my iTunes folder (the old-school "iTunes Music" one) contains only Genre-titled folders, within which all albums reside, named in the manner previously-described. This keeps things neat and the "iTunes Music" folder a joy to access if need be.

Also, I use the playlist column to house a separate-and-complete list for each Genre.

I spent 6 years rebuilding (and re-converting to 320k MP3 using LAME) my library thusly. All metadata is cleaned except for the few fields critical to my M.O.

The dreaded question: Will I have any issues running things the way I've long-planned and intended with whichever version you'd recommend? Obviously Yosemite's default-install one might be one of the clangers you've mentioned in the past, one that I gather would destroy all my hard work.

The purpose of rebuilding the library this way was not only for its utility; it was intended to last me a lifetime. Naive, perhaps, but I can't overstate how important this is to me, mate.

I appreciate that you're uber-busy these days, so please don't stress about replying immediately. I'll watch the thread like a hawk whilst I prepare to hang like a monkey from every word of your response...

Yours faithfully, respectfully, humbly and thankfully,
Nicky-poo!

Nicky, unfortunately, I've made too many of the incremental updates to have a clear view in my head what a progression path would be from an older version to the latest.

I do know, however, that there was at least ONE release during that timeframe that required a rebuild of your iTunes database, and afterwards, quite a bit of my music got lost.

That gave me quite a scare, as I don't buy on-line music, so iTunes for me is mostly my OWN music, plus stuff I upload to practice for live shows.

It all turned up eventually, but I didn't have the time to non-anonmize the stuff that somehow was "incompatible" in its previous structure (even though iTunes-generated vs. manual).

Just be aware of that. When hundreds of classical pieces (which I do tend to upload to my computer from CD) go to "unknown album" and the like, it can be a nightmare due to how classical music is labeled to start with (i.e. not consistently, especially if its a single extract from a larger opus).

Oh man, it all sounds so scary, Mark, especially given the size of my library (vast!).

Thank you so much for replying, mate; I've had this thread sitting in my Dock and check it every day.

The only real question must be then, "Can I upgrade directly from where I am (11.1.5 in Mavericks) to whatever the latest version is in, say, Yosemite, and still retain my full library without too many dramas?".

Obviously missing or corrupted data or AWOL-tracks, however insignificant the corrective tweaks might appear to be, would represent a huge undertaking on my part to rectify due to the mega numbers involved...

OK, took the plunge and went to 10.11.6, and iTunes was the first thing I tested. I can't remember whether or not I had to install the latest version separately or not, but it's 12.4.3, for the record.

Thankfully, my entire library was read correctly, and I "only" had to switch each of my 131 genre playlists (reflecting the 131 folders in my lib folder 'cause of the way I name my albums) to the list view, one-at-a-time. I also had to adjust all the column widths, so it probably took an hour all-up.

My only disappointment is that I can't seem to be able to get rid of the 2-inch or whatever playlist-name space at the top of each list's window. This didn't exist for me until now (previously on 11.1.5 since 2014-04); the list views were all nice and clean - just, well, lists.

It's frustrating that Apple has chosen to steal this real estate away from me just so that, it seems, it can implement a fancy auto-colouring scheme to the top of the page. Between this and the "taskbar" areas, there's a whole lot of space that would've made keeping tabs on where one is in a list much easier. It's a grand-perspective thing. Anyway, hopefully someone here knows of a way to remove this "bold" playlist-name area from the top of list-view pages.

Bottom line, FWIMBW to some, 12.4.3 reads 11.1.5 libraries, at least music ones, just fine. Good news indeed.