Music Organizing (traktor vs. Itunes)

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Music Organizing (traktor vs. Itunes)
Posted on: 01.09.2012 by Verdell Mulroney
I have read a few times now that Itunes is the preferred program to store and organize you're DJ music collection. I have been using traktor to organize my music but very often the files go missing and I have to take a good ten minutes to relocate them. This doesn't seem to happen in itunes. However, one time I accidently deleted a few hundred songs from my collection because Itunes has a prompt "delete from computer" which is in the spot I click by reflex. That pissed me off a lot!

People say Itunes has more power in tagging you're songs and sorting them. But doesn't traktor allow you to edit tags as well? PLus you can use you're mappings to sift through and load songs into you're deck. You can't do that in itunes?

ANyone care to share their experience with music organization?
Stanley Topoleski
03.09.2012
Originally Posted by SquireC
I've given up on trying to organise my music. It's beyond a evening mare.
I've got house music dating back to 2000. Started collecting around 2004 and had no organisation when doing so. It got downloaded into a "downloads" folder and left there. Whenever I felt it got too big I started a new one.
With well over 300 GB of music (each file between 8mb & 20mb) I just don't have the patience to go through it all and sort by genre, bpm, key etc. I've took all the files I used for my CD wallet and foldered them how my cd wallet was made.

A - Artists with over 10 releases worth playing (Angello, Axwell, Hatiras, Freemasons, Fuzzy Hair, etc)
B - Funky/Disco/Warmup
C - House/Progressive/Electro
D - Classics
E - Minimal/Tech/Deep
F - Music collected early 2012
G - Music collected so far

It's a mess.
Any tunes I find when looking through my hard drive get added to the later folders to keep them in my mind.. Thank God for spotlight on macbooks.
i have hundreds of gigs of music in different formats and genres on external harddrives... lol there is no way in hell i am gonna try to organize that... instead i copy of the music i am DJing with or listening to at the time and organize that.. hell i even buy the song agian sometimes instead of going through that massive collection
Desire Piedmont
03.09.2012
Originally Posted by Fraktionz
I use iTunes, its the most convenient for me and whatever I do in iTunes translates perfectly into Traktor.
The comments section, the star rating, and smart playlists really are efficient for me! I only wish there were more 'zones' such like album, artist, title
Try JRiver Media Jukebox, it's the free audio only version of their Media Center software and is extremely configurable in this respect. You can drag and drop into Traktor in the same way.

Although I believe you are confusing zones, which refers to devices and computers which you can use to stream audio, with categories that you might use to browse your music.
Stanley Topoleski
02.09.2012
Originally Posted by droxpopuli
I'd totally use RE3, but it never runs well (if at all) on my system :<
i use RE3 because my main system is linux... my windows system is for production and djing only
Mackenzie Weersing
02.09.2012
Originally Posted by calgarc
all my music is logged in RE3 (rapid evolution) and catogorized in traktor.

its easier for me in traktor i use the stars to organize when a song fits best in a set 1 star for intro 5 star for ending. seems to work well for me
I'd totally use RE3, but it never runs well (if at all) on my system :<
Ossie Pooley
02.09.2012
Originally Posted by Mike_08
Download track > ID3 Editor > Mixed In Key > iTunes (Playlist) > Rock n Roll with Traktor

This is my normal routine when organising my tracks, normally on a daily basis.
This
Georgina Schatzman
01.09.2012
Beat_Dead_Horse.jpg
Celine Surico
03.09.2012
One big reason I'm using MP3 more and more, actually AAC as they sound even better, is the meta tag data stored in the files so I could sort out info via iTunes or similar tools via the ID3 tag. Otherwise I agree managing lots and lots of digital files is painful, you need to invent a file naming and directory scheme... Now, iTunes could handle WAV files, but you need add the info for each imported WAV and its only stored in the database. But maybe that's better than nothing.

One positive thing for going through old files is that you suddenly find cool tracks you forgotten about and you could play again.
Stanley Topoleski
03.09.2012
Originally Posted by SquireC
I've given up on trying to organise my music. It's beyond a evening mare.
I've got house music dating back to 2000. Started collecting around 2004 and had no organisation when doing so. It got downloaded into a "downloads" folder and left there. Whenever I felt it got too big I started a new one.
With well over 300 GB of music (each file between 8mb & 20mb) I just don't have the patience to go through it all and sort by genre, bpm, key etc. I've took all the files I used for my CD wallet and foldered them how my cd wallet was made.

A - Artists with over 10 releases worth playing (Angello, Axwell, Hatiras, Freemasons, Fuzzy Hair, etc)
B - Funky/Disco/Warmup
C - House/Progressive/Electro
D - Classics
E - Minimal/Tech/Deep
F - Music collected early 2012
G - Music collected so far

It's a mess.
Any tunes I find when looking through my hard drive get added to the later folders to keep them in my mind.. Thank God for spotlight on macbooks.
i have hundreds of gigs of music in different formats and genres on external harddrives... lol there is no way in hell i am gonna try to organize that... instead i copy of the music i am DJing with or listening to at the time and organize that.. hell i even buy the song agian sometimes instead of going through that massive collection
Ethelene Acors
04.09.2012
I make iTunes playlists based on genre's, and whether or not they're "new" or "old". The definition of that is really up to myself as to how long I believe I can play a song from when they come out lol.

And then I access the playlists from Traktor.
I do that for the times I have to play on someone's Serato using my laptop.
Darren Teboe
03.09.2012
I use itunes to do all my playlists and tagging. I used to use Traktor, but frankly, I got tired of losing my playlists when I altered my traktor collection. Using itunes is a little more work, but worth it with not as many headaches as before. I do all my updates there initially, and then drag the updated itunes playlist into my traktor playlists. Then I just remove duplicates. Only bad part is that the cover art seems to disappear, but I run a consistency check on the folder, and it comes back.
Jonas Hanway
03.09.2012
I've given up on trying to organise my music. It's beyond a evening mare.
I've got house music dating back to 2000. Started collecting around 2004 and had no organisation when doing so. It got downloaded into a "downloads" folder and left there. Whenever I felt it got too big I started a new one.
With well over 300 GB of music (each file between 8mb & 20mb) I just don't have the patience to go through it all and sort by genre, bpm, key etc. I've took all the files I used for my CD wallet and foldered them how my cd wallet was made.

A - Artists with over 10 releases worth playing (Angello, Axwell, Hatiras, Freemasons, Fuzzy Hair, etc)
B - Funky/Disco/Warmup
C - House/Progressive/Electro
D - Classics
E - Minimal/Tech/Deep
F - Music collected early 2012
G - Music collected so far

It's a mess.
Any tunes I find when looking through my hard drive get added to the later folders to keep them in my mind.. Thank God for spotlight on macbooks.
Desire Piedmont
03.09.2012
Originally Posted by Fraktionz
I use iTunes, its the most convenient for me and whatever I do in iTunes translates perfectly into Traktor.
The comments section, the star rating, and smart playlists really are efficient for me! I only wish there were more 'zones' such like album, artist, title
Try JRiver Media Jukebox, it's the free audio only version of their Media Center software and is extremely configurable in this respect. You can drag and drop into Traktor in the same way.

Although I believe you are confusing zones, which refers to devices and computers which you can use to stream audio, with categories that you might use to browse your music.
Stanley Topoleski
02.09.2012
Originally Posted by droxpopuli
I'd totally use RE3, but it never runs well (if at all) on my system :<
i use RE3 because my main system is linux... my windows system is for production and djing only
Mackenzie Weersing
02.09.2012
Originally Posted by calgarc
all my music is logged in RE3 (rapid evolution) and catogorized in traktor.

its easier for me in traktor i use the stars to organize when a song fits best in a set 1 star for intro 5 star for ending. seems to work well for me
I'd totally use RE3, but it never runs well (if at all) on my system :<
Stanley Topoleski
02.09.2012
all my music is logged in RE3 (rapid evolution) and catogorized in traktor.

its easier for me in traktor i use the stars to organize when a song fits best in a set 1 star for intro 5 star for ending. seems to work well for me
Mackenzie Weersing
02.09.2012
Oh also I use Keyfinder. I do'nt use iTunes just cause I refuse to have that "managing" my library. I'm just picky :V
Ossie Pooley
02.09.2012
Originally Posted by Mike_08
Download track > ID3 Editor > Mixed In Key > iTunes (Playlist) > Rock n Roll with Traktor

This is my normal routine when organising my tracks, normally on a daily basis.
This
Mackenzie Weersing
01.09.2012
Get Tracks -> Picard for Meta Data (Fixes Data and organized folders) -> Album Art Downloader -> MP3Tag (To do Genres) -> Copy to Music Folder -> Use that as library root in Traktor
Elmer Kindinger
01.09.2012
Download track > ID3 Editor > Mixed In Key > iTunes (Playlist) > Rock n Roll with Traktor

This is my normal routine when organising my tracks, normally on a daily basis.
Georgina Schatzman
01.09.2012
Beat_Dead_Horse.jpg
Celine Surico
01.09.2012
iTunes + iMatch is the best that has happened concerning music organizations in my mind. Last evening I got a sudden temp bass + DJ gig. I just found some suitable stuff from iTunes Match that I downloaded to my DJ laptop an hour before leaving for the gig, using various play lists an personal tags. Job done. Plus I could organize my tracks from any of my five computers hooked to iTunes match, over at work, sitting here in my couch just now and so on... If the site has an open WiFi I could even download tracks minutes before the set starts.
Geri Jarra
02.09.2012
Originally Posted by Fraktionz
Oh I can definitely see how the bpm grouping is an advantage to doing it in Traktor!

My genre grouping from smart playlists though covers that fairly well. However they don't actually divulge the actual bpm, just luckily for my electronic playlists the bpms are similar...need to figure out a solution for my hip hop and rock.

Smart playlists in iTunes is basically an automatic generated playlist based on your selection criteria for what you want to be included in your new smart playlist. So how it differs from a regular playlist where you have to drag each song you want into it, the smart playlist just automatically groups anything in that playlist that you've chosen in your criteria. ie. Genre: Rock, the smart playlist will group all songs with that genre together into one playlist. Of course smart playlists are only useful if you've done your homework to label things properly, like your genres, groups, comments, etc. They can be used for much more advanced things that just genre sorting...

Give it a try yourself! In iTunes Ctrl + Alt + N (windows)
it was there all along. Not sure if the smart playlists will actually help, but its a cool feature i'll be messing around with for awhile. sooo thanks!

Phloston - Yes I use the itunes tab in traktor. And yes I have missing files occasionally, couldn't tell you why
Verdell Mulroney
01.09.2012
I've spent a lot of the morning learning about itunes and organizing my music with it. It has some good functions such as localizing all you're music in one folder and the ability to "batch" tag many files at once. For example, I imported a couple hundred dubstep tracks I had on my computer and batch named the genre "Dubstep" so that they would all come up. (some had dubstep-electronic, or even electronic) so that helps.

I notice that traktor has its own itunes tab in the browser. I assume that many of you guys do not use that? Because although you can find the songs they are not officially in traktors collection and so don't have cue points, beatgrid, bpm labeling?

Do you ever have any problems with the collection coming up with missing tracks? Or does the fact that itunes localizes all songs to the itunes music folder solve that problem?
Francis Leckliter
01.09.2012
Originally Posted by Emery
I use playlists in itunes that are sorted by date, normally by month/year ie. May,12

In traktor I made playlists based on BPM and genre, and when I import songs to traktor, I set bpm, key and cue points

I found this is useful because If I am looking for a particular genre or bpm I use traktor (75% of the time) and use itunes if I am looking for new tunes, or tunes from last semester, over the summer or whatever (25% of the time)

@Fraktionz - could you elaborate on smart playlists? I assume its different than genius
Oh I can definitely see how the bpm grouping is an advantage to doing it in Traktor!

My genre grouping from smart playlists though covers that fairly well. However they don't actually divulge the actual bpm, just luckily for my electronic playlists the bpms are similar...need to figure out a solution for my hip hop and rock.

Smart playlists in iTunes is basically an automatic generated playlist based on your selection criteria for what you want to be included in your new smart playlist. So how it differs from a regular playlist where you have to drag each song you want into it, the smart playlist just automatically groups anything in that playlist that you've chosen in your criteria. ie. Genre: Rock, the smart playlist will group all songs with that genre together into one playlist. Of course smart playlists are only useful if you've done your homework to label things properly, like your genres, groups, comments, etc. They can be used for much more advanced things that just genre sorting...

Give it a try yourself! In iTunes Ctrl + Alt + N (windows)
Geri Jarra
01.09.2012
I use playlists in itunes that are sorted by date, normally by month/year ie. May,12

In traktor I made playlists based on BPM and genre, and when I import songs to traktor, I set bpm, key and cue points

I found this is useful because If I am looking for a particular genre or bpm I use traktor (75% of the time) and use itunes if I am looking for new tunes, or tunes from last semester, over the summer or whatever (25% of the time)

@Fraktionz - could you elaborate on smart playlists? I assume its different than genius
Francis Leckliter
01.09.2012
Originally Posted by phloston
so you just drag the songs from itunes to traktor? you don't mind not having dedicated load buttons

also whats the best way to set up itunes. I have all my music in a big folder with sub folders for genre called "traktor music". i tried draggin it into itunes and it was a mess. It takes forever and it created dozens of playlists.
Noooo absolutely not. I do the library organization prior to using Traktor. Never simultaneously. My Traktor library is organized just like however my iTunes library is automatically.

Organizing does take SEVERAL hours. What makes it faster is making for sure is: 1. You delete all the songs you don't really enjoy anymore/never play, or at the very least put them in their own separate playlist. 2. Everytime you add a song you tag it appropriately right then and there to not let the mess accumulate.
Verdell Mulroney
01.09.2012
ah and i just learned something about itunes.

when it says "move to trash OR keep files" I thought it deleted the original file but it only deletes the duplicate file that itunes creates in the itunes music folder.

am I correct in this?
Masako Barcalow
01.09.2012
Some people here don't like the "Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized" option, but honestly it has saved my life, and I am a strong advocate of it. I import all my music into iTunes, and then go into Traktor and simply create playlists of the iTunes music. Hasn't been an issue for me so far, and it helps me go through a fresh batch of songs more in-depth, as I'm not scratching my head trying to pick out what is new from what is old.
Verdell Mulroney
01.09.2012
so you just drag the songs from itunes to traktor? you don't mind not having dedicated load buttons

also whats the best way to set up itunes. I have all my music in a big folder with sub folders for genre called "traktor music". i tried draggin it into itunes and it was a mess. It takes forever and it created dozens of playlists.
Francis Leckliter
01.09.2012
I use iTunes, its the most convenient for me and whatever I do in iTunes translates perfectly into Traktor.
The comments section, the star rating, and smart playlists really are efficient for me! I only wish there were more 'zones' such like album, artist, title - but for the following: mood, energy (some people use stars for energy, I like to use stars to rate how much I like the song though), other.

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