Program to extract files from multiple folders

[Kenny202]

Hi all. Just migrated my music from my Macbook to my PC and all of the music is organised in Itunes folders per Artist. I want to get all of my music files together in one folder. What I would have to do now is go into every individual folder and copy files to somewhere else. Is there an easy way I can go into a folder with many sub folders / files within the sub folders and extract / copy individual files to one new folder? Many thanks in advance

[OneMoreFarang]

You don't need any tools or 3rd party software.

Search in the main folder for all or only music files (i.e. *.mp3). 

Then you will get a long list of files.

Move them to a new folder (somewhere else).

Problem solved.

 

Just to make sure the problem is really solved: Make sure all file names contain all the info you want. I.e. a file name like "Queen - We are the champions" and not a folder Queen and a file with the name "We are the champions".

Otherwise you will have a lot of work to rename lots of files.

[Bramley]

Open two explorer windows, and drag and drop. Otherwise use the search function to collect all the music file suffixes (*.mpeg etc), then cut and paste to your new directory.

[RichCor]

3 hours ago, Kenny202 said:

Just migrated my music from my Macbook to my PC and all of the music is organised in Itunes folders per Artist. I want to get all of my music files together in one folder.

Is there a REASON you want to mix all the files together in a single folder?

 

If you don't want to use the Windows version of iTunes then most music player apps will discover music files wherever they are on your system and auto-organize them in using its own in-program database, allowing you to view by Artist, Album, Song, etc. or build your own playlists.

[Kenny202]

1 hour ago, RichCor said:

Is there a REASON you want to mix all the files together in a single folder?

 

If you don't want to use the Windows version of iTunes then most music player apps will discover music files wherever they are on your system and auto-organize them in using its own in-program database, allowing you to view by Artist, Album, Song, etc. or build your own playlists.

Yes, they are all sorted per different versions of itunes and other programs. Some have for eg 1. 0r 2. before the name of the song. Some have an artist, some don't. Would like to sort them all out in one place. I know Music programs can sort them per artist, album etc but many aren't formatted that way and end up in unknown folder.

 

Itunes Windows version? Is there such a thing?

[Kenny202]

Actually think I worked it out. I searched in the parent directory for any files with .mp3 or .M4a and simply copied and pasted to one directory per someones advice. Job done. Thanks all

[timendres]

This is done very easily with the command line on the Mac, so perform the sort before you move to Windows (since Windows is not a real operating system ^_^).

 

For example:

cd iTunesFolder

destdir="path_to_destination"

find . -name \*.mp3 -exec cp {} $destdir \; -print

 

Edited August 16, 2020 by timendres

[RichCor]

8 hours ago, Kenny202 said:

Itunes Windows version? Is there such a thing?

Yes, iTunes is distributed and maintained on the Microsoft Store. Just open it and search for iTunes.

[kekalot]

I would have suggested using Musicbrainz Picard to sort your files but it's mostly of use if the names are screwed up or if's a bunch of albums.

the app can recognize most music from its "fingerprint" and you can rename them and folder them automatically (might need a bit of tinkering to get the format you like)

 

 

 

but if you are happy now, one thing you can do is upload all your MP3s to Google Play Music

up to 50,000 songs if i'm not mistaken and it's free. then you can listen to your music from anywhere

i don't think the feature works if you have a Thai created Google Account tho. i tried to help my friend do this once and it was a no go

 

https://support.google.com/googleplaymusic/answer/1075570?hl=en