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Jason
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
 
2006-09-24, 06:08

Hi there,

I realise this may be somewhat of a duplicate thread to the one posted yesterday. However, I really need to know exactly what files/Folders I need to backup so that at I have a full and complete snapshot of my iTunes Library (including all metadata). Do I just backup the music files or do I need to get the xml file? My libary is about 60GB. I'd like to back up the album art too.

Any help appreciated.

Regards
  quote
Engine Joe
Going Strange...
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Brooklyn, NY
 
2006-09-24, 07:50

If you want the play counts and all that other metadata, you need the xml file and the iTunes Library database file, in addition to all of the media files.
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Jason
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
 
2006-09-24, 12:54

Ok Thanks. Which folder contains the artwork? Is it just the 'Album Artwork' folder?
Basically, if I just copy the whole iTunes folder - then I should be ok, right?

Regards
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PKIDelirium
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
 
2006-09-24, 13:06

Album Artwork is stored inside the music file.
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Majost
monkey with a tiny cymbal
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Lost
 
2006-09-24, 13:08

The artwork is actually *inside* the songs themselves as an ID3 tag. It's not kept anywhere else.
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chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: near Bremen, Germany
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2006-09-24, 13:11

Quote:
Originally Posted by Majost View Post
The artwork is actually *inside* the songs themselves as an ID3 tag. It's not kept anywhere else.
Not true. In many cases, iTunes stores Metadata outside the song, even when the song's format would permit storing the Metadata inline as a tag.
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Brad
Selfish Heathen
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2006-09-24, 13:22

Clarification:

If you use the new "Get Album Artwork" feature in iTunes 7, the artwork will not be placed in the music files themselves.

If you use the "Get info" dialog to manually add the art, the artwork will be placed in the music files themselves.

The play count, rating, and equalizer preset are stored in the library, not the music files themselves.

All content in the "Info" tab of the "Get Info" dialog is stored in the music files themselves.

The quality of this board depends on the quality of the posts. The only way to guarantee thoughtful, informative discussion is to write thoughtful, informative posts. AppleNova is not a real-time chat forum. You have time to compose messages and edit them before and after posting.
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chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: near Bremen, Germany
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2006-09-24, 13:23

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad View Post
If you use the "Get info" dialog to manually add the art, the artwork will be placed in the music files themselves.
No, not necessarily.
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Brad
Selfish Heathen
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2006-09-24, 13:31

Quote:
Originally Posted by chucker View Post
No, not necessarily.
So, would you care to explain under what circumstances this is not the case?
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chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2006-09-24, 13:37

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad View Post
So, would you care to explain under what circumstances this is not the case?
There are several tagging formats iTunes can read but not write, or files with broken tags; in such cases, it will use an external location to store tags, including artwork.
  quote
PKIDelirium
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
 
2006-09-24, 13:52

Uhh.

Is there any way to tell which files have art in them and which do not?
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LatteCoffee
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
 
2006-09-25, 13:27

Quote:
Is there any way to tell which files have art in them and which do not?
Yeah, I´d be very interested if someone answers that question

Last edited by LatteCoffee : 2006-09-25 at 13:38.
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Brad
Selfish Heathen
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2006-09-25, 15:09

I modified one of Doug's AppleScripts to do this.

This script examines the selection in iTunes and puts tracks that have album art that is not embedded into a new playlist for your viewing pleasure.

Code:
tell application "iTunes" set fx to fixed indexing set fixed indexing to true copy (a reference to (get view of front window)) to thisPlaylist if item 1 of selection exists then -- test if there is a selection... set using_selection to true copy (count selection's items) to idx else -- its the whole playlist set selectedTracks to (get a reference to thisPlaylist) set using_selection to false copy (count thisPlaylist's tracks) to idx end if set i to 0 repeat with j from 1 to idx if using_selection then set track_ref to (a reference to item j of selection) else set track_ref to (a reference to track j of selectedTracks) end if if (count of artworks of track_ref) > 0 then copy (count of artworks of track_ref) to idx2 repeat with k from 1 to idx2 set this_art to (a reference to artwork k of track_ref) if downloaded of this_art is true then if i = 0 then set this_playlist to make new playlist set the_date to current date set the name of this_playlist to "Art Not Embedded - " & month of the_date & " " & day of the_date & " " & time string of the_date end if duplicate track_ref to this_playlist set i to i + 1 end if end repeat end if end repeat if i > 0 then display dialog i & " songs have art that is not embedded. See the playlist called " & name of this_playlist as string else display dialog "No songs have art that is not embedded." end if set fixed indexing to fx end tell

The quality of this board depends on the quality of the posts. The only way to guarantee thoughtful, informative discussion is to write thoughtful, informative posts. AppleNova is not a real-time chat forum. You have time to compose messages and edit them before and after posting.
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LatteCoffee
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
 
2006-09-26, 13:54

Worked like a charm!. Thanks, Brad
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LatteCoffee
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
 
2006-09-26, 13:56

Thanks also to Doug. You guy do a great job with all your scripts
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