Best way to get music into iTunes?

Hello everyone,

I have over 3,000 music files, and I would like to know the best way to get them into iTunes. From a lynda.com training video about using iTunes, I learned that there is a folder called "Automatically Add to iTunes", which is monitored by iTunes for new files to import into the iTunes library. However, I would like to know if this is the best way to do this. For example, can I just *move* my 3,000 music files into this 'Automatically Add to iTunes' folder and then let iTunes do its thing?*
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Will iTunes *move*the files that it is able to manage*OUT*of this folder and into one of its managed folders, such that there would be no duplicate file left behind? Is it correct in saying that the files that are left in this folder that were not able to be handled by iTunes and must be handled differently before they can be imported into iTunes. Or is there just an all around different, and better, way to get these music files into iTunes?

The other question I have involves 'restoring' a previous iTunes library that was backed up to disc (CD or DVD). I have a couple of these and want to _merge_ them with my existing (current) iTunes files, but in a way that I don't have 2 folders for some artists and double tracks, etc. How can I *best* import these iTunes library back ups into my latest iTunes installation.

Last is a question which is about ripping my audio CDs into iTunes. I have 2 optical drives on my computer, and I would like to know which one will be most efficient at ripping audio CDs into iTunes. Is there someway to test the read / error correct speed of both drives to get an idea of which one is going to be faster?

Thanks for your advice and opinions!

juanantoniod said:

Hello everyone,

I have over 3,000 music files, and I would like to know the best way to get them into iTunes.

I just drag and drop my mp3 files from Windows Explorer into several i-Tunes playlists. That automatically populates the library.

I don't let i-Tunes have any control over the mp3s other than playback. Nothing is done "automatically". I retain complete control.

Every month or so, I clear all songs from the library and then reload the playlists from my updated Windows Explorer folders--which in turn re-populates the library. This process takes about 6 minutes for 21,000 songs.

I don't use an i-Pod and I don't use i-Tunes as a burner.

Hello, and thank you for your helpful input!

I would like to do something similar, but let iTunes have complete control over my library, rather than me having to maintain the names and id3 tag information, etc.

What is the best way to do this?

Thanks for your help!

~Antonio