iphoto's organisation
me again
i've imported all of my old photos into iphoto now, but for the time being i've kept the originals because i'm not sure if i like iphoto's organisation method. correct me if i'm wrong, but it seems to lump them all together in chronological order whereas i prefer to have them in small albums based on particular places/events where i took my camera, and then have the albums in chronological order.
if that makes sense!
iphoto doesn't seem to let me browse by album. am i missing something stunnigly obvious here?
i had the same problem when i first started using itunes - i like to have my tunes organised by genre/artist/album/track but itunes doesn't support genre ordering.
i like this because some of the file sharing i use is quite genre specific.
i've imported all of my old photos into iphoto now, but for the time being i've kept the originals because i'm not sure if i like iphoto's organisation method. correct me if i'm wrong, but it seems to lump them all together in chronological order whereas i prefer to have them in small albums based on particular places/events where i took my camera, and then have the albums in chronological order.
if that makes sense!
iphoto doesn't seem to let me browse by album. am i missing something stunnigly obvious here?
i had the same problem when i first started using itunes - i like to have my tunes organised by genre/artist/album/track but itunes doesn't support genre ordering.
i like this because some of the file sharing i use is quite genre specific.
Comments
As for iTunes, have you ever tried clicking the "Library" button at the top of the playlist panel? You can browse your music collection by genre, artist, album, song, etc. Only those songs that match the criteria you are browsing by will appear in the main window. You can also easily sort the contents of that main window by genre, artist, album, song name, etc. by clicking on any of those column headings.
re; itunes, i want the folder structure to be organised genre/artist/album. seems like i can't do that tho
I'm not quite sure that I see what the issue is on iTunes. Its browser allows you to do exactly Genre -> Artist -> Album (with tracks for the selected item in the bottom tableview). Unless you're meaning to have this logical organization in the filesystem to facilitate file sharing of those tracks to others (in which case:
seems no can do unless there's a hack?
gonna experiment more with iphoto. got a feeling i'll have to organise manually tho
anyhows, sorted out the initial iphoto issue. discovered the view by roll feature and made albums for all my rolls as well.
so i'm happy now
Originally posted by jonnyboy
'cos of filesharing!!!
...
Am i allowed to mention that i stand completely
in the dark
actually.
You do see the "genre" column on the left side,
even you have mounted another ones iTunes library (filesharing)
don't you? So maybe i am still missing something
very obvious. Enlighten me please.
iTunes doesn't do this by default. The whole philosophy of the iApps is to free you from having to muck about in the file system yourself. You let the program take care of the files, and you do the more elaborate organization possible within the programs. Usually, that's the far easier way to do it - for example, a song can only be physically in one folder, but can be on any number of playlists and sorted by any category. But for you, now I see why you'd prefer to keep the physical files organized.
The way to do that is to open iTunes Preferences/Advanced, and tell it to NOT organize your music and NOT copy files into the iTunes Music folder. Now, when you "import" songs into iTunes, it will leave them where they are. So after you uncheck that box, delete your Library*, make sure your songs are organized into folders the way you want, and re-import them all. That maintains your original folder structure, without duplicating files, while letting iTunes still do its magic in the program.
If you don't have your songs pre-organized like that, iTunes can still do most of the work for you. First, create the folders you want in the Finder. Now go into iTunes, and select all the songs you want to put into that folder. Drag them out of the iTunes window, and onto the folder. The Mac will make a copy of the original files and put the copies into the folder. To make grouping the songs easier, you can use the Library browse and column-sort functions. Then, once all your stuff is in your self-organized folders, delete your entire Library (as above)*, uncheck the two preferences, and re-import the songs from the new folders.
*(You need to delete all the songs in your old library, because otherwise iTunes will retain duplicate copies of every song you re-import. Very annoying. And you can't just throw out the iTunes Music Folder, because iTunes retains a memory of all the songs that were once there - it just can't find the file to associate with each of them. So delete all of the songs from within iTunes, from the main Library (not from playlists). It will ask you if you want to move them to the Trash. Go with it. Before you empty the Trash, of course, make sure that you aren't throwing away anything you don't have another copy of.)
Originally posted by Towel
[B]I get it. He means he wants to preserve his own folder structure in the Finder, so he can tell his file sharing client to share only certain folders, without having duplicate files all over.
NAIL ON HEAD!!
in some sharing clients i only want to share certain genres.
yes, i sorted the iphoto's prob by dragging each folder separately into the left albums pane. took a little while but it's how i want it now.
Originally posted by Towel
I get it. He means he wants to preserve his own folder structure in the Finder, so he can tell his file sharing client to share only certain folders, without having duplicate files all over.
Originally posted by jonnyboy
NAIL ON HEAD!!
Now i get it too
But one more little question still remains:
Why treat an easy thing in such a complicated manner?
First of all do you mean by "filesharing" sharing
songs via finder, so other clients will have access via
finder to your "sorted" iTunes library? If so, than your
approach would make a little sense.
Or else, do you mean "filesharing" as sharing within iTunes,
so other clients have access to your Tunes within iTunes?
Than of course i'd say it doesn't make sense at all.
You do know, that iTunes allowes you to drag the entire
"Genres Column" to the left in order to make a "playlist", don't you?
Therefore you could check in iTunes pref pane, that only
some certain playlists (eg "Genre") are visible to other clients.
I do this a lot and it works perfectly fine.
Well iTunes organizes your stuff. No need to play around
in the "Finder iTunes library" any more.
my2cents
goes into the User/Library folder? I could swear i did.
Providing a mechanism to copy particular genres via the finder? Whew... that's a rather convoluted use scenario. If you just want to let people listen to particular genres, smart playlists of those genres can be chosen as one of the playlists to share.
Originally posted by dfiler
The library folder is not a good place for user created documents. It should contain settings, preferences, and other things used by programs. Things created by the user, as an end-product of a program, should never ever be in a library folder.
...
Yeah, but the iPhoto Library placed in the
User/Picture folder makes people believe they
"own" this folder (and its content). And this is not true,
particularily in the current state as it is right now.
At least the "iPhoto Library" should appear as a "bundle",
no editing allowed.
Originally posted by dfiler
...
Providing a mechanism to copy particular genres via the finder? Whew... that's a rather convoluted use scenario. If you just want to let people listen to particular genres, smart playlists of those genres can be chosen as one of the playlists to share.
Exactly.
Originally posted by Vox Barbara
Yeah, but the iPhoto Library placed in the
User/Picture folder makes people believe they
"own" this folder (and its content). And this is not true,
particularily in the current state as it is right now.
Good point, it isn't good for users to muck with the iPhoto folder directly. Hmmm, it seems that apple has gotten themselves into an interface dilemma. Break the folder organization rules or put the confusing folder out in plain sight. Hopefully... they can come up with a better, third option.
Originally posted by dfiler
Good point, it isn't good for users to muck with the iPhoto folder directly. Hmmm, it seems that apple has gotten themselves into an interface dilemma. Break the folder organization rules or put the confusing folder out in plain sight. Hopefully... they can come up with a better, third option.
I am watching this particular folder with fierce eyes.
This folder has have to disappear soon. I hate this
folder in my user/picture directory so much.
It violates my sense of aesthetics, usability and user friendly
and on and on every time i look into my picture folder.
It is ugly and very non mac-like. Period. *snip*
But well, the world doesn't just dissapear
when you close your eyes. Does it? Dilemma, so
you are right, dfiler.
Still, the one really important thing that people just never seem to get is that iPhoto is there expressly to help you organize your photos. That is its raison d'etre. If you're organizing your pictures in the Finder, then you don't need or want iPhoto; it just gets in the way.
Off to Apple's feedback page...
It really does seem like a good solution. If a user doesn't understand how to view the pkg contents, then it probably isn't a good idea for them to muck with the contents. On the other hand, power users can easily view the contents or even convert the bundle into a regular folder.
Is there a downside?
Originally posted by BuonRotto
They should just make the iPhoto Library folder a bundle,...
Good.
Still, the one really important thing that people just never seem to get is that iPhoto is there expressly to help you organize your photos. That is its raison d'etre. If you're organizing your pictures in the Finder, then you don't need or want iPhoto; it just gets in the way. [/B]
Let me add something: What about a similar
structur like, say, iTunes? You'd gain two of
both worlds: Organizing within iPhoto and
managing with Finder.app (copy, paste etc.).