Managing Your iTunes Music

ByMike Moffit

I’ve finally completed my enough of my various computer projects that it’s time to start working on organizing, tagging and adding album artwork to my songs. With a library of over 25,000 track’s it’s going to be quite the ‘project’.

Of course Mac developers love to make projects like these fun, easy and quick! They develop really awesome programs that aid in this whole iTunes Library organization process and usually speed things up. The first application is by Equinux and it’s called Cover Scout. It will look on Amazon and Google Images for album artwork. The interface is very easy to use and in no time at all you’ll have all the album artwork you could ever want. It even allows you to resize and rotate the artwork. Cover Scout pretty much works with all well known musicians and groups, but I noticed it had some trouble finding the ‘underground artists’ which is to be expected, but since it has the built in Google search you’ll mostly likely be able to find it. The application has a demo so you can can download and try it out, the full version is $19.95.

For tagging my music a.k.a displaying the track name, artist, album, date, genre, track number, etc I usually just do it right from iTunes. In the newest version of iTunes, it will automatically fetch all artwork for tracks that don’t have any. While this is really nice, I find it to be rather annoying. From time to time I’ll move my iTunes library around from computer to computer and I’ll forget to grab the artwork which is stored in your Music folder so I have to re-get all the artwork.

The method I use will actually embed the artwork into the audio file so it’s there no matter how much you move around your library.

First I selected all 25,000 songs and went to Advanced (found in the menu bar) and Convert ID3 Tags…A little window comes up and where it says ID3 tag version: with the drop down menu I choose version 2.4 which is the latest. While it probably won’t add any major additional features, it’s good to keep things up to date. Version 2.4 adds support for things like bookmarks in audio files (audiobooks and podcasts). Once that’s completed you can just start tagging and adding information to the songs. You can right click on a single song and choose ‘Get Info’ from the menu or you can select multiple songs and right click on them and again choose ‘Get Info’ from the menu that comes up.

Some people like to use applications that assist in tagging but I prefer to use iTunes. If you want to try some applications out that help with tagging try out:

IEatBrainz
TUAW Article on Tagging
TuneTagger

Other neat iTunes applications:
You Control Tunes
CoverSutra
The Filter

Similar Posts

  • Microsoft's Mac Tax

    by Matt@Smalldog.com (posted by Ed, written by Matt@Smalldog.com) There are many versions of Microsoft’s Vista operating system: Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Ultimate…not…

  • S. Burlington iTunes Fix

    I rely on and love my morning cup of Starbucks while simultaneously enjoying the ability to download music directly from the iTunes Store….

  • World of Warcraft Updated

    I know I’ve written about World of Warcraft many times before but there was just a major update to the game. The new…

  • Our Favorite iPad Apps

    With 3 million sold in just 80 days, the iPad is a runaway success. Since the device’s release on April 3rd, developers have…

  • xPad: A Free Text Editor

    I’m always on the lookout for good, free software. This week I’ve found xPad. It used to be shareware but is now freeware!…

  • Cold Weather vs. Your iPhone: Some Tips to Keep It Safe

    There are two things that I am constantly interacting with every day: Vermont’s bitter cold and my iPhone. Apple officially states you can safely use your iPhone between the temperatures of 32 and 95 degrees (F), but if you are like me and live in the real world, you’re probably popping these guys out during times where the radio is trying to tell you to stay inside (yeah right; I’m from Vermont, after all).

    It’s no surprise that the past four years have put a smartphone into the pockets of most Vermonters, but as we drift through these gruesome winter months, a mystery still remains: What are we mountain folk actually subjecting these devices to?

    The first thing to consider — and most important to me — is the battery. The chemicals in the Lithium-Ion batteries totally hate extreme temperatures and will drain much faster than they should. In some cases, your battery will display a decent amount of a charge but in reality, will be on its final leg, and you will discover your phone dying out of nowhere.

    If this does happen, DO NOT TURN IT ON.

    Wait until you get inside and your phone warms up to room temp. Although the effect of cold weather draining your battery is temporary (phew!), you can permanently shorten your battery’s lifespan by trying to power it on immediately after it shuts down. Grandma’s Facebook comments on your pics aren’t going anywhere, so just wait until your phone warms up to check out what she said!

    The next thing the cold will try to kill is your screen! Cold temperatures tend to make your LCD screen way more sensitive then it usually is. Watch how you are applying pressure to your screen, especially if you have any pre-existing cracks and knicks! I had a customer come into the store last week and tell me about how she was talking on her iPhone outside and all of a sudden, heard this pop in her ear. When she looked, the pressure from her fingers mixed with the cold had cracked her screen in half! Definitely keep chats on your phone outside to a minimum!

    One final thing to look out for is condensation. Liquid is the number one enemy to your electronics. Much like your windows, condensation will form underneath your display as your phone travels from the cold to your warm houses. This will cause liquid to damage and corrode your internal parts! This will literally break your phone beyond repair, causing you to have to purchase a new one!

    There are some simple ways to avoid these catastrophes:

    # Keep your phone in a pocket close to your body — DO NOT leave your phone in a bag or in the car
    # Turn it off — your phone can endure a wider temperature range from -4 to 113 degrees (F) if it’s off
    # Purchase a case — not only do these guys provide physical protection, in some cases they provide insulation
    # Charge your iPhone before bringing it outside — this will give your battery the strength it needs to survive
    # Finally, do not get it wet in the snow — perhaps the most obvious one, but please watch where you are busting that phone out!

    So, as a reminder, keep it safe everyone — and be mindful about when you answer that text. Is it really worth replacing your iPhone because you had to check on that smiley emoticon text from mom?