Prevent iTunes from Mangling Your Music Folder

By default, iTunes will re-organize the music files that you have purchased into folder hierarchies based on artist directories containing album directories containing the music files. The default music folder is located at “C:\Documents and Settings\personal\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music”.

You can disable this function by doing the following:

1. Run iTunes.
2. Go to menu Edit->Preferences->Advanced->General.
3. Make sure that Keep iTunes Music folder organized is not checked. Hit OK.

You can add your existing non-purchased mp3 files to iTunes by doing the following:

1. Run iTunes.
2. To have iTunes leave your original mp3 files alone and not copy them into the default Music Folder, do the following:
   • Run iTunes.
   • Go to menu Edit->Preferences->Advanced->General.
   • Make sure that Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library is not checked. Hit OK.
3. Go to menu File->Add Folder to Library…, select the folder containing your music, hit OK.
4. iTunes will import all the music files under that folder without copying to the default Music Folder and reorganizing them. The songs will show up under LIBRARY->Music in the left-hand bar.