Did you know that the average person listens to around 18 hours of music every single week? That measures out to around two and a half hours per day, and dozens of individual songs.
If you feel overwhelmed by your iTunes library (now referred to as Apple Music), you may wonder how you can clean it up so that you have the music and visual appeal that you want. Here are 8 top tips for organizing, deleting, and making your music library reflect your personal taste.
1. Look for Duplicate Music Files
The first thing you should look for when cleaning out your music library is duplicate music. Sometimes you may have purchased a song twice from two different albums, or forgotten that you uploaded it from your personal collection.
There are multiple ways to do this to make sure that you catch all duplicates in your library. The easiest method is sorting your entire song list in alphabetical order. You can scroll through and see if there are multiple copies of any song.
You can do the same technique with duplicate albums. That way, you can delete songs more quickly if you get rid of the entire album, rather than deleting one song at a time from your music library.
Deleting duplicates from your song library will free up space for new music. Even if there are only a few duplicates, that makes room for a few new songs that you can enjoy. There are many great articles and blog posts about weeding out duplicates from your Apple Music library or playlists.
2. Analyze Your Listening Habits
If you delete all duplicates and you still have an iTunes music library that is too full, then you may have to get picky about which songs you choose to keep. Luckily, iTunes has great statistics for how often you listen to certain songs, albums, and genres.
You can look at what you listen to in order to determine what type of music to keep. For instance, if you have country music but you don’t listen to it very often, then you may not miss it if it is no longer part of your library.
3. Pick Your Favorite Songs and Albums
Another way to clean out your library is to focus on albums, songs, and artists that you really enjoy. Once you analyze your listening habits, you can add all of your top tracks to your music library.
You can also denote your favorite music in your song library by rating individual songs. Give songs a star rating of one to five, and you will easily be able to see your preferred tracks in the future.
4. Make New Playlists
If you have too many genres of music or moods in your song library, then it may be a good idea to organize them by playlists. Playlists are a great way to capture a certain mood or activity in a series of songs and albums.
For example, you don’t want to listen to depressing music while you exercise. You want something upbeat, fun, and fast-paced. An easy way to navigate this problem is to create a playlist of tracks specifically for your workout.
You might find yourself with many different playlists for every mood. If your playlist collection gets overwhelming, you can simply use one of the techniques for paring down your music library.
5. Consider Streaming
If your main issue is a feeling of overwhelm from the sheer amount of iTunes music in your song library, then you may benefit from a switch to streaming. With streaming, you do not have to worry about running out of space because you can use Wi-Fi or data to stream any music you would like.
You can also create playlists through streaming, similar to how you would in your iTunes library. It is easy to update the playlists with new tracks you stream that you end up enjoying as well.
6. Give Yourself Room in Your Storage
If your song library is too overwhelming for your computer or phone, then you can easily solve this problem with more storage. Apple allows you to purchase more cloud memory for a low monthly fee, starting at under a dollar.
If your computer runs out of room, then you can purchase an external hard drive to back up your music library. These can be a bit costly, but they offer a huge amount of extra memory for your song files.
Additionally, you can save many other items on your external hard drive, such as photos, videos, and files that you don’t want to lose in case your computer crashes.
7. Check Spelling and Song Labels
Once you get rid of music and songs you don’t like, you should edit your library to make sure it looks seamless. Double-check the spelling of song titles, albums, and artists, especially on tracks you uploaded rather than purchased.
Nothing is more embarrassing than showing a friend one of your favorite songs, only for it to be misspelled. Your music library will be more professional with editing.
8. Download Album Artwork
If you frequently upload tracks from your CDs, then you may be missing album artwork from some of your favorite tracks. An easy way to fix this is by doing an internet search and downloading the appropriate album artwork.
Once you have the artwork, upload it to your blank iTunes albums for a more streamlined look. Make sure to get high-resolution pictures so that they don’t end up blurry when you listen to them later on in Apple Music.
Clean Out Your iTunes Library Today
If you want to get a fresh start with your iTunes music, you should not feel intimidated by your music library. With these tips on how to clean up your iTunes library, you can have your favorite music all in one place. It’s time to update and upgrade your iTunes library to a fresh new Apple music playlist machine!
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