This is another post to add to my MP3 series…
Yesterday I tried to add/import a folder full of MP3 files to my iTunes library. Just after adding I opened iTunes and went check those MP3s. To my surprise the MP3s were not added to iTunes. I had a hard time trying to find those files since iTunes moved them from their initial location to a special folder called Not Added. My MP3s ended up here:
/Users/leniel/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Automatically Add to iTunes/Not Added/2012-01-16 14.34.38
Note that iTunes created a folder inside Not Added named with the date and time the import operation occurred. The folder Not Added also stores image files and whatever file iTunes doesn’t recognize as valid files to be imported.
Now I see that I have some folders like that one - that are being created since 2010-9-17 (when I bought my Mac mini) and some of those folders have MP3 files that I didn’t notice were missing in my library.
So as way to say thanks I decided to write a post to demonstrate how it works.
1 - Download MP3 Scan+Repair (it's in Beta and is free for the moment)
http://triq.net/articles/mp3-scan-repair-download
2 - Open the App and drag and drop the problematic folder (the one that lies within the Not Added folder) to the app screen:
3 - Select all the files using command+A and then click the hammer button (mouse button is over it) to repair the files:
See the Messages column with the description of what’s wrong with each file… even warnings prevent iTunes from adding the MP3 file to its library.
When repairing MP3 Scan+Repair will try to recreate the MP3s moving the old ones to the trash and writing the new ones to the current folder.
After following these easy steps you should be good to go and add those MP3s files to your iTunes media library.
The app is straightforward and does what it advertises… I’m really satisfied!
