Keeping an updated iTunes playlist/collection in traktor on an external HD.

[.saint]

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.

[Jester]

If you don't copy your tracks to the iTunes folder, when you drag 'n drop your smart playlists from iTunes into traktor, you would have to relocate those files (i think)
There are no smart playlists in Traktor.

[.saint]

I don't have to relocate the files, they are found no problem, everything works.
My problem is, every time I add 1 new track or 1000 new tracks to a smart playlist, when I open traktor I need to delete the original playlist, add the new one then analyze. It would then analyze ALL the tracks in the playlist, even the ones that were previously analyzed, granted it would do the older ones quicker.

Maybe I'm just asking traktor of to much?

[Jester]

just drag n drop the new tracks over. no reanalysis needed.