Keeping an updated iTunes playlist/collection in traktor on an external HD.
This question has been asked time and time again I know, but i never could get a super clear answer to my specific question so I figured I would ask.
I don't keep any of my music on my laptop, everything is on an external thunderbolt drive and I keep an extra backup of my music at home on another external dive. *knock on wood* I have had no problems doing this.
BUT...
When it comes to Traktor and keeping my track collection updated, its a complete nightmare.
I use smart playlists, and like most of you I am updating my music collection very regularly.
Normally when I get a new track I will run it though MIK, then through MP3Gain. Once that is done I will use Apple's "tag" feature and color the folder green showing that its key'd and the volume is normalized to 96dB.
After that I will drag and drop my new music into my external drive into the appropriate folder. Now my problem could lie in my OCD folder/track collection...
Quick explanation,
On my external drive I have a folder named "Collection" in that folder I have 27 folders, one for each letter of the alphabet and another for #'s. (Yes thats a bit much, its probably my OCD) inside each folder I have the names of the artists, then in each artists folder I have there EP's, Studio Albums, and/or remixes in there specific folders.
So for example, the structure would look like this..
Collection > B > Baauer > (2012) Dum Dum / My Nose / Swerve
Collection > R > RL Grime > (2012) Love Sosa
Collection > A > A-Trak > (2012) Money Makin' Remixes
Collection > # > 50 Cent > (2003) Get Rich or Die Tryin'
So you get the idea, each track I have is pretty much in its own separate folder inside its artists's folder.
Now to finish up my lengthy ass question,
Like I started I use smart playlists, I actually just started digging into them as of lately and they are extremely handy, yet still a pain in the butt because I think apple is missing some super key factors in there editor, but thats another posts for later.
When I add music to iTunes I do the File > Add to Library and its added, now I must say in my Advanced Options tab i DO NOT have the "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" checked, for the simple fact I do not want the audio files on my computer. (I'm not sure if this is part of my problem)
So, now I have my music in iTunes and I create my smart playlist,lets just say its a genre playlist for trap music, it searches for music with the genre "trap" with a rating between 2 and 5 star, since its a smart playlist its updated often.
Now so I am in trakor, normally I just gig out from the iTunes submenu and not worry about anything, I have my music analyzed in MIK and the comment shows the key. Normally I'm happy with this but I want to utilize traktors Open Key and keep a very up to date Track Collection and this is where, FINALLY, my question comes in to play.
Since I update my smart playlists so often I HATE always opening traktor, deleting the old playlist from traktors collection, add the new one, then analyze it.
Is there a way to keep traktor updated like a smart playlist? when I open tractor it will scan the playlists, see whats new, analyze those new tracks and be good to go. Do I need to make my iTunes library a folder on my external drive? Its more complicated than I thought. I read the DJTT blogs, I read the forums and its been so scattered that I can't get an answer.
I know there is going to be a few things I need to do, thanks DJTT.
