fucking itunes blew away all my music

[bas_I_am]

APPLE SUCKS ASS...

One thing I "thought" itunes was good for was organizing music into folders by artist\album title.

so I installed itunes... set my library location to "c:\media files"

it created a folder "c:\Media Files\Automatically Add to iTunes"

I opened a command prompt, and typed:
cd c:\music
for /d %i in (*) do move "%i" "c:\Media Files\Automatically Add to iTunes"

I watched c:\Media Files\Automatically Add to iTunes fill folders that were in c:\music, and watch all the folders in c:\music go away.... I aslo observed the new folders in "c:\Media Files\Automatically Add to iTunes" disappear as I assumed itunes was organizing into the folders and their contents to "c:\Media Files\Music"

when complete. . . I looked in itunes -> library -> music. . . nothing there. . .
looked in "c:\Media Files\Automatically Add to iTunes". . . nothing there. . .
looked in c:\music.. . all folders are gone

huh?????

in command window. . . executed:
dir c:\*.mp3 /s/b

"no file found"

maybe they are copied as hidden???
"no file found"

mother fuck!

same thing if I cut and paste out of windows explorer


mac/apple fucking sucks balls.

anyone who uses their products is a fool. . . including me in this instance.

[Mike]

The way i did it was to move the files using the 'consolidate music library' function within iTunes itself, and it worked like a charm. In theory what you did should have worked, but i guess using a command prompt to move into the auto add folder might produce unexpected results (and the 'automatically add to itunes' folder has been plagued with instability anyway)....

I really hope you can find your library again... :)

[TheBang]

Really? You did "Move" instead of "Copy"?

Also, why didn't you just use File > Add to Library?

[bas_I_am]

Really? You did "Move" instead of "Copy"?
because I have 300GB of music on a 1/2 TB drive
Also, why didn't you just use File > Add to Library? because it only allows you to do one folder at a time

also. . . At one point, the auto add was working single file at a time on the folder "D:\Media Files"

but then it stopped... changed the folder name to "D:\MediaFiles" (no space) and it started working again...

At anyrate, almost 1/2 my stuff is on my ipod. wrote a batch file to get it off the pod and into the HD library....

save this to a file, copyipod.bat:

dir %1 /s/b > %temp%files.txt
for /f "tokens=3,4* delims=\" %%i in (%temp%files.txt) do copy %1\%%j\%%k %2\%%j%%k
del %temp%files.txt

execute from the command line:

copyipod "mounted path to ipod music folder" "path to auto add folder"

this worked on my ipod classic 160GB , mounted to drive letter I:

copyipod "I:\iPod_Control\Music" "D:\MediaFiles\Automatically Add to iTunes"

[TheBang]

because it only allows you to do one folder at a time
I'm pretty sure it scans recursively.

Edit: Yup, just tested and it does.

[bas_I_am]

The way i did it was to move the files using the 'consolidate music library' function within iTunes itself, and it worked like a charm. In theory what you did should have worked, but i guess using a command prompt to move into the auto add folder might produce unexpected results (and the 'automatically add to itunes' folder has been plagued with instability anyway)....

I really hope you can find your library again... :)

the funny thing is. . . it worked manually as I was testing. . .

copied a couple of folders to a temp location, and tested as massaged the command line to get it right.... it worked...
then cd'd to the actual folder. . . hit the up arrow to reload the command from DOSKEY and it pissed on me.

Has apple ever heard of unit testing?

I am kicking myself in the ass as I had written a C# program do do this using the Windows Media Play object library, but I shut down my computer at work and couldnt vpn into my code to get it. . . I got impatient searched the internet. . saw that iTunes addded the auto add as part of iTunes 10, and went against my better judgement and installed it.

Now to make things worse... it appears that iTunes hosed my Windows Server back up.

I did a system state backup right before installing - and now wbadmin wont start.

I know someone will think thats a windows issue. . . I assure you. . . crApple shit on my machine as it always does.

[bas_I_am]

I'm pretty sure it scans recursively.

Edit: Yup, just tested and it does.

it didnt for me...

I did add folder. . .

multi selected. . and it crapped

[bas_I_am]

I'm pretty sure it scans recursively.

Edit: Yup, just tested and it does.

you running the mac version?

[bas_I_am]

oh shit. . . I might have a disk error. . . that might be the root cause. (might have to eat my words. . but not conceding yet)

while it ran my ipod batch, the disk failed with 'not ready for access'

[TheBang]

it didnt for me...

I did add folder. . .

multi selected. . and it crapped

you running the mac version?

Yeah, Mac. Just tested on the PC version, and it works there too.

Not multi-select. Recursively down the directory tree. Put them all in one big enclosing folder and select that.

[bas_I_am]

Yeah, Mac. Just tested on the PC version, and it works there too.

Not multi-select. Recursively down the directory tree. Put them all in one big enclosing folder and select that.

I did. . . selected the IPodControl\Music folder and no love

[edit] crap. . . removed the readonly attribute and it work....

but have to move them to my c: drive as the 1/2 tb western digital caviar went tits up in all this...

btw. . . the 1/2 tb western digital caviars are crap drives.... this is the third one that hasnt lasted more than three years. didnt know they sucked at the time. bought four of them two years ago as I set up vm host.

they all were swapped out for hitachi 1tb after I lost the second one.

so I guess I cant place all the blame on crapple. but why is it, everytime i run itunes, my machine fucks up

[TheBang]

so I guess I cant place all the blame on crapple. but why is it, everytime i run itunes, my machine fucks up
Because it knows how you feel about it. :p

Shame about the hard drive. I've had good experiences with 1 and 2 TB Green and Black drives. I've had bad luck historically with Seagate drives. Nothing recently though, but I've still been steering clear of them since the firmware debacle last year.

[froopy seal]

Shame about the hard drive. I've had good experiences with 1 and 2 TB Green and Black drives.Me too. Except for that stupid Load Cycle Count problem (mostly on Unix machines), I've never been let down by a WD. Almost completely switched to those.

Only had HDD crashes with Quantum/Maxtor, so I've been staying clear of them ever since (do they still exist?).

[BrotherLovesDub]

i recently consolidated 800+gb of music from 2 drives onto a new 2TB drive using iTunes menus for consolidating library. It took about 7hrs or so but it worked flawlessly. This is a case of the user thinking he's smarter than he is and not using the recommended process then misplacing blame.

USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR. USER ERROR.

[TheBang]

Me too. Except for that stupid Load Cycle Count problem (mostly on Unix machines), I've never been let down by a WD. Almost completely switched to those.

Oh yeah, I did WDIDLE3 on all of them, especially as most of them are being used in a Drobo for RAID(-ish).

[Drix]

Still.. iTunes with that big music collection is slooow and unresponsive on a PC.
iTunes shouldn't be used on a PC at all imo. There are so many better alternatives.

[Mike]

Still.. iTunes with that big music collection is slooow and unresponsive on a PC.
iTunes shouldn't be used on a PC at all imo. There are so many better alternatives.

Not if you also want to manage your ipod and iphone library (without hacking shit).

[bas_I_am]

USER ERROR. USER ERROR.

no not user error. . . I used one of the recommended processes:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3832

[bas_I_am]

Still.. iTunes with that big music collection is slooow and unresponsive on a PC.
iTunes shouldn't be used on a PC at all imo. There are so many better alternatives.

For the most part I agree with you. . . except when it comes to organizing media on the drive.

Trust me. . their shit is off my machine now.

[bas_I_am]

This is a case of the user thinking he's smarter than he is and not using the recommended process then misplacing blame.

BTW. . .

"Consolidate" and "import folder" leave copies in the original place.
the point of the "Automatically Add" is that it doesn't.

The fact remains. crApple shItunes deleted my music


Don't be startled by the bright light and the loud pop. . . its just your head coming out of your ass!

[BrotherLovesDub]

you deleted your music by using command line without know wtf you were doing. iTunes doesn't just delete shit. You were wrong in your syntax or steps. iTunes is the best media organizer/player available . You cannot name a better one. Since you're such a power user, i'm sure you had your music backed up anyway, so no big loss right?

[froopy seal]

You cannot name a better one.But I can, even multiply so: J.River Media Jukebox, Guayadeque, Rhythmbox, Amarok, Winamp... In fact, name any player with basic library functions that doesn't forcibly reorganise your music collection in a shitty way, and you have a 'better one'.

[bas_I_am]

you deleted your music by using command line without know wtf you were doing. iTunes doesn't just delete shit. You were wrong in your syntax or steps. iTunes is the best media organizer/player available . You cannot name a better one. Since you're such a power user, i'm sure you had your music backed up anyway, so no big loss right?

Hey asshole. . . fuck off. . my syntax was exact. Trust me. . I tested my command line before executing it. I watched it work in a test scenario with a couple of folders before I pointed it at my real library. And it worked appropriately. . . first I manually copied some folders from my library into the add to itunes folder, and it imported the folders just fine. Then I tested my command line against a temp folder and watched it work fine. Then I pointed the command line at my main library, I watched the folders move from one folder to the "Automatically Add To iTunes Folder" . . . and then watched as ITunes deleted them . .

It got in a state where it would delete them even if I manually copied to the folder (my intial test).

No. . I dont have my music backed up. . I only back up system state and my active directory. I've never had a drive fail in a manner that I couldn't get my data out of it.

I expected iTunes to work.

I am kicking myself in the ass because I forgot about winamp.

crApple sux as does shItunes

[BrotherLovesDub]

But I can, even multiply so: J.River Media Jukebox, Guayadeque, Rhythmbox, Amarok, Winamp... In fact, name any player with basic library functions that doesn't forcibly reorganise your music collection in a shitty way, and you have a 'better one'.

You have to check Keep Music Folder Organized for it to reorganize your music. User error again. If you don't want iTunes to organize your files, you don't have to.

[BrotherLovesDub]

Rhythmbox is an iTunes clone "inspired by iTunes" as they say on their website.

[bas_I_am]

shiTunes does a half assed job organizing files. . . half of the tracks I moved from my ipod were not renamed according to their tags.

Winamp plugin did it perfectly.
Now to clean crapples shit out of my machine.

[TheBang]

No. . I dont have my music backed up. . I only back up system state and my active directory. I've never had a drive fail in a manner that I couldn't get my data out of it.
Wow, that sounds incredibly dangerous. I've had several drives fail in manners where the data was unrecoverable, even by DriveSavers.

[bas_I_am]

ive got raid on my important stuff

[bas_I_am]

and just checked the drive that siTunes had an error writing to. nothing wrong with it.

I guess crapples developers don't know how to properly implement asynchronous IO.

[froopy seal]

You have to check Keep Music Folder Organized for it to reorganize your music. User error again. If you don't want iTunes to organize your files, you don't have to.I have to admit, the last time I tried iTunes was a few years back. Now, since I'm not adept at it, I always have trouble finding things when I use it on other people's machines. Just don't find it intuitive (which might be different for Mac users).

half of the tracks I moved from my ipod were not renamed according to their tags.That's one of the things meant: Last time I had a look at it, the synchronizing/copying from iTunes to iPod resulted in a massive disorganisation, which prevented me from finding certain music files on the iPod.

For clarification: I accept that Apple makes decent products - hardware as well as software - which 'just works'. Great for people who want that and nothing more. But for me as someone who likes to have control over small details of organisation, files and software, Apple usually is too restricting.

Wow, that sounds incredibly dangerous. I've had several drives fail in manners where the data was unrecoverable, even by DriveSavers.Totally agree. Same here. Luckily, mostly unimportant data was concerned. It was a shock, however, and made me reconsider my backup strategies regarding important data. Still haven't found the ultimate solution but my personal stuff is quite safe.

ive got raid on my important stuffRAID 1 (or 10), I hope?

[BrotherLovesDub]

But I can, even multiply so: J.River Media Jukebox, Guayadeque, Rhythmbox, Amarok, Winamp... In fact, name any player with basic library functions that doesn't forcibly reorganise your music collection in a shitty way, and you have a 'better one'.

Can you just briefly explain why each one of these are superior to iTunes. And why have you tried out 5 different apps? Seems like if the first one you tried was better than iTunes, you would have stuck with that.

[stimpee]

ive got raid on my important stuffhah music IS my important stuff. i think i have that and photos RAIDed. the rest i dont care about.

[BrotherLovesDub]

hah music IS my important stuff. i think i have that and photos RAIDed. the rest i dont care about.

Yeah, me too. I back up Music to an external and have my home folder backing up to CrashPlan throughout the day.

[froopy seal]

Can you just briefly explain why each one of these are superior to iTunes.
Just don't find it intuitive [...].

That's one of the things meant: Last time I had a look at it, the synchronizing/copying from iTunes to iPod resulted in a massive disorganisation, which prevented me from finding certain music files on the iPod.

But for me as someone who likes to have control over small details of organisation, files and software, Apple usually is too restricting. I'm generally a blockhead and control freak regarding my data. Additionally, I don't like the extremely closed, all-proprietary spirit of Apple (or other manufacturers).

And why have you tried out 5 different apps? Seems like if the first one you tried was better than iTunes, you would have stuck with that.Are you serious? Why should I stick with anything just for being better than one product I didn't like? Why should I assume that the second (or third...) product is serving my purposes best, especially when there are other, commonly used, highly recommended alternatives I haven't yet tried? What's more, I recently switched OSs, so I had to have a look around for compatible software.

hah music IS my important stuff. i think i have that and photos RAIDed. the rest i dont care about.I cherish my music, too. That's why I always have it in my backpack, stored encrypted on an external drive. Nonetheless, I do value my personal data (documents, e-mails, photos) even higher, largely because I have most of the important music on CDs sitting on a shelf.

[BrotherLovesDub]

How does iTunes control your data? Learn to use the application before you bitch about it. Uncheck 'Keep Library Organized' and you can control where your files live. Also, I use about 20 free, user created scripts for iTunes to manage metadata. If it were extremely closed, as you say, I wouldn't be able to do that. iTunes is the best media management / playing software available. Songbird had a shot but they failed.

[stimpee]

I must say that I dont use iTunes for my music library either. I just dont like it. But I know its a different beast on the mac. On the PC its bloated and overbearing, taking over everything media related on your machine (along with Quicktime). Also if you have multiple devices (iphone + ipod) you have to keep a separate library. Getting music OFF your ipod with itunes is also a pain in the ass (not possible with iTunes). Sharing libraries is also not possible I think (as in put the library on the network and have multiple devices read/write to it at the same time). Im sure there are hacks around it but from what Ive read theyre not that good. Windows users should check out Aethyr tho.

Songbird got some investment money from Philips and basically stopped all development on what they were doing to make a custom Philips Songbird (this included stopping Linux builds i think). Now theyre back on track and the amount of devices they support is rapidly increasing. v1.8 is out and its getting better. Still not ready for prime time tho.

Also when I add my NAS to the library it wants to calculate gapless playback for everything. Trying to make it stop just freezes my system. iTunes also takes about 100mb of ram, which is a lot for a music player (Winamp takes about 8-9mb).

I use Media Monkey. Its got a library if you want to use it, but if you dont, you can just browse your NAS and drag n drop to your ipod/iphone. You can also drag stuff out of your iphone. You can put your library on the network and share/add/delete/read/write to it. No need for syncing or authorizing.

If youre gonna use iTunes on the mac though, as BLD mentioned, Applescript is your friend. Check out Dougs Scripts http://dougscripts.com/itunes/
If youve got Windows, then I cant recommend iTunes at all. Try out Media Monkey instead. I actually just use MM for managing my tunes. I dont use it for playing. I still use Winamp. Some habits are hard to break i guess...

[34958hq439-qjw9v5jq298v5j]

not much to add here, but i have itunes and it works fine on my pc. I have used it 6 years and don't want to lose all the play count/rating data plus it syncs with my ipod obviously so I've kept it. I have tried other media players though and don't see why people complain so much about apple. I've never really had a problem with it, and my music library is huge. I have it automatically organize my folders and I don't see how that could be any better. I mean it's literally artist/album/song, whats the problem?

[froopy seal]

How does iTunes control your data? Learn to use the application before you bitch about it. Uncheck 'Keep Library Organized' and you can control where your files live. Also, I use about 20 free, user created scripts for iTunes to manage metadata. If it were extremely closed, as you say, I wouldn't be able to do that. iTunes is the best media management / playing software available.What Steve said. ^

Plus, as indicated before, I avoid Apple for closed-mindedness. I know this is an unreasonable, emotional argument so I don't attempt convincing you of my point of view. End of story, from my point of view.

[BrotherLovesDub]

Yeah, I know where you're coming from. I hate people who drive nice cars.

[froopy seal]

Just for the record: I don't generally hate people who use Apple products (or have nice cars).

[bas_I_am]

I don't hate people who use smacs...

I pat them on the head, give em a lollipop...

And then drive off in my brand new 2010 tech package rl paid for by writing distributed .net applications.

[stimpee]

Just for the record: I don't generally hate people who use Apple products (or have nice cars).ditto.

and iTunes is not a "nice car". Maybe its a nice american car that weighs a couple of tons, runs with automatic gears ,doesnt go round corners very well, and guzzles gas like its going out of fashion. Suitable for some people but not for all.

[34958hq439-qjw9v5jq298v5j]

ditto.

and iTunes is not a "nice car". Maybe its a nice american car that weighs a couple of tons, runs with automatic gears ,doesnt go round corners very well, and guzzles gas like its going out of fashion. Suitable for some people but not for all.

i don't get the analogy. does iTunes run too slow on your computer? which American cars are you referring to?

[kagenaki koe]

if you lost your data because you were too lazy to back up your files, it's not the PC or MAC that fucked up. seriously.

[bas_I_am]

if you lost your data because you were too lazy to back up your files, it's not the PC or MAC that fucked up. seriously.

no... its a fucked up program that deleted files with out confirming the move was done.

novice programming mistake. forgive me for thinking crapple developers could write a simple method:

move(src, dest);
if (exists(dest))
delete(src)
else
error

- my mom could write that code!

btw. . . have you ever done a restore of a [real] backup? probably not.

I don't back up my files before using applications. Is that stand. ops. for using crapple products?

"before you click a button in our application back up the file!" What a fucking joke!

I don't backup because I don't have to. . I raid and I don't use programs that delete files before confirming a move.

[TheBang]

Has this thread run its course yet?

[froopy seal]

- my mom could write that code!Achtung! MILF alert!!11ONelevenn!123!! Japanese school uniform breach imminent!

I don't backup because I don't have to. . I raid and I don't use programs that delete files before confirming a move.I know I'll regret investigating this point buuuuut... "A RAID is not a backup."

On an iTunes-related note: I just received an iChoc (http://www.ichoc.org/) from the Advent calendar my girlfriend made me. :D (Yes, she has an iPod and uses iTunes. :rolleyes: )

[bas_I_am]

I know I'll regret investigating this point buuuuut... "A RAID is not a backup."

no shit??? really????

I backup my system data.

my raid has a lower failure threshold than your backup strategy.

[froopy seal]

my raid has a lower failure threshold than your backup strategy.My backup has more letters than your RAID (although you have more capitals so I might have to re-evaluate that argument...).





This seems to be running more smoothly than I expected. No regrets so far.

[dubman]

i love this thread
here's a guy condescending to apple users while he's just lost all of his music because he's a moron

LOL

[34958hq439-qjw9v5jq298v5j]

I know I'll regret investigating this point buuuuut... "A RAID is not a backup."


Could you explain? Like, if your house sets on fire or your computer randomly blows up you're right. But for 99% of harddrive failures, RAID is probably better than a backup.

[TheBang]

Could you explain? Like, if your house sets on fire or your computer randomly blows up you're right. But for 99% of harddrive failures, RAID is probably better than a backup.
As you illustrated, the problem is that RAID only protects against hard drive failures. There are many other reasons for data loss that RAID cannot protect against. A prime example being this thread. User error (or rogue program?) deletes whole folder of music. I'm assuming that if bas had not had the music (essentially backed up) on his iPod, that the data loss would have been permanent.

Another example is, files you intentionally delete, but find you later need/want. A couple months ago, I processed some audio files and burned some of them to audio CD for my wife for a court case, and then promptly deleted them, because I thought that was it. A few weeks later she came back to me and said, oh, can you burn some of the ones to CD that I didn't ask you to initially, because I didn't think I needed them, but now I do? Instead of having to go back and recreate all the work, I just pulled all the files out of backup, and burned the new ones she wanted.

[bas_I_am]

As you illustrated, the problem is that RAID only protects against hard drive failures. There are many other reasons for data loss that RAID cannot protect against. A prime example being this thread. User error (or rogue program?) deletes whole folder of music. I'm assuming that if bas had not had the music (essentially backed up) on his iPod, that the data loss would have been permanent.

Another example is, files you intentionally delete, but find you later need/want. A couple months ago, I processed some audio files and burned some of them to audio CD for my wife for a court case, and then promptly deleted them, because I thought that was it. A few weeks later she came back to me and said, oh, can you burn some of the ones to CD that I didn't ask you to initially, because I didn't think I needed them, but now I do? Instead of having to go back and recreate all the work, I just pulled all the files out of backup, and burned the new ones she wanted.

Thats what I use TFS and Sharepoint for;

My tfs and sharepoint servers are in my raid. my docs are under source control and I can get any revision from any date time.

I don't run 'rogue' programs. . . at least not any more, since I got rid of crapple siTunes.

[bas_I_am]

i love this thread
here's a guy condescending to apple users while he's just lost all of his music because he's a moron

LOL


Hey asshole. . . I used a commercial product that failed to work

[BrotherLovesDub]

You used it improperly. Show me the Apple Support doc that says to run that copy/move command you did. I'll wait.

[froopy seal]

Could you explain? Like, if your house sets on fire or your computer randomly blows up you're right. But for 99% of harddrive failures, RAID is probably better than a backup.

As you illustrated, the problem is that RAID only protects against hard drive failures. There are many other reasons for data loss that RAID cannot protect against. A prime example being this thread. User error (or rogue program?) deletes whole folder of music. I'm assuming that if bas had not had the music (essentially backed up) on his iPod, that the data loss would have been permanent.

Another example is, files you intentionally delete, but find you later need/want. A couple months ago, I processed some audio files and burned some of them to audio CD for my wife for a court case, and then promptly deleted them, because I thought that was it. A few weeks later she came back to me and said, oh, can you burn some of the ones to CD that I didn't ask you to initially, because I didn't think I needed them, but now I do? Instead of having to go back and recreate all the work, I just pulled all the files out of backup, and burned the new ones she wanted.Thanks for the descriptive explanation, Bang. Faulty/unintentional user behaviour was the main issue I had in mind. If you thoughtlessly delete something on a RAID10, it's gone (omitting recovery efforts here). If you have incremental backups for the last few months, chances are you can restore your data. This is especially helpful if you don't immediately recognise the loss.

A double strategy like bas's should be even more safe, of course. But you simply cannot provide 100% protection against every contingency/catastrophe/mistake, I guess.