Sunday, 3 January 2010

Setting up iTunes for use with Traktor




If you are going to use iTunes to rip your CDs, and purchase the occasional track from iTunes, plus use it to compile playlists for either burning CDs, automated play or just because its easier than in Traktor then this guide may be for you.

If you've read my previous post, it covers how to setup a sensible music folder for iTunes, and reimport a clean (ie. duplicate free) iTunes library which we are now going to use to create our Traktor collection. There is one important point to consider when configuring iTunes (I'm using iTunes 9). It makes sense to move all your Traktor files (stripes, playlists, collections etc) onto the same drive as all your music to make backing ALL your iTunes, Traktor & music simpler.

Make sure that "Keep iTunes Media Folder organised" is unchecked. You can find this setting in Edit --> Preferences --> Advanced Tab (see picture). The reason for this is that as you edit tags in Traktor, iTunes will alter filenames and even locations. You'll find more detailed information on this here if you feel you need it.

Note the location of your iTunes media folder. You will need this in Traktor (especially if you have changed it from the default). If you create playlists in iTunes when you open Traktor, you should now find your iTunes playlists appearing under iTunes in your bottom left browser pane. If your playlists do not appear then make sure the path to your iTunes library in Traktor settings is correct. (See picture). Note that iTunes only saves it playlists and collection when you close it, and Traktor reads the disk when opening so you need to close iTunes before you open Traktor.

If your playlist has tracks which don't already appear in your Traktor collection then this in itself won't add them, you can right click on the playlist and select "add to collection" if you'd like to make them available in your collection.

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