How these two applications encode and import will affect what to keep. Windows Media Player (WMP) supports encoding to WAV, MP3 (depending on version), and WMA audio formats, but iTunes supports WAV, MP3, AAC, and AIFF audio formats.

 

By default, WMP imports/rips and encodes to WMA media, while iTunes defaults to AAC format, which is preferred format for iPod and is incompatible with WMP, so if you look at files kept by iTunes, you may find it has been duplicated as AAC format.

 

WMP puts media files from same album in one folder under My Music folder in My Documents. iTunes also puts files from same album under one folder but it is under a subfolder called iTunes in My Music, i.e.,

If you have decided to keep only files for iTunes, then delete all folders except anything under iTunes folder (re above) in My Music folder, but please note WMP will not be able to read any of your iTunes music if AAC is the default iTunes encoding format.

 

If you want to maintain format compatibility between the two applications in the future so you don't duplicate the same song/album in different formats, reconfigure both to encode using MP3 by editing options/preferences:

 

WMP:  Tools > Options > Rip Music

 

iTunes: Edit > Preferences > Advanced

(this will also affect the audio format being imported into your iPod)

Correct, at least in general term - since we can't see what's under your My Music. 

 

How much space it frees up of course will depend on your music collection configuration.  For example, I encode with MP3 and as one single collection under My Music for both WMP and iTunes, and if I were to delete this collection then there would be nothing for either to play.  You should check your media files format and check your application options/preferences before deleting your collection, so if you have separate collections of the same CDs for WMP and iTunes, then yes, you should be able to delete the WMP collection to free up space without affecting your iTunes one.

 

The recommendation to switch to MP3 is for converting your music CD to media files on your computer (a.k.a. rip or ripping).  Any existing AAC media on your hard drive and iPod remain unaffected unless you manually re-encode them.

 

You need to edit your iTunes preference to sync to a folder of choice in order to sync to media files on an external drive - iTunes will also encode/rip CDs to the same folder.

Thanks for that information. What you are telling me is if I delete everything in My Music except for the iTunes folder, my iTunes will have all of its music and Windows Media Player 10 will be empty? correct? Will that free up the space? I have 10GB in Windows Media Player and 10GB in iTunes. Will I have 10GB free when I delete WMP music?

 

     What did you mean before when you said (this will also effect the audio format going into the iPod)?

 

        And I will still beable to play all of the ACC files in my iTunes on my computer?

 

    Also, I have only a few Gigs left on my 60GB hard drive. Do you know anything I can do to save space. And in the future I am going to buy an external hard drive. Will I beable to put all of my music on the external drive and still sync to my iPod?

 

   - I am doing all of this on my Inspiron E1505. Soon I want to move all of my music to my new 531 Vista system. Is iTunes and the iPod capable with Vista and am I able to use my iPod to move all of my songs, videos etc. to my new computer?      Thanks for all of your help

 

                   Rinkerwolf

 

 My Computers:
Desktops:
-Dell Inspiron 531 - AMD Dual Core 4400 - Windows Vista Home Premium
Notebooks:
-Dell Inspiron 1000 - Intel Celeron - Windows XP Home Edition
-Dell Inspiron E1505 - Intel Centrino Duo - Windows XP Media Center Edition

Okay, I have Windows Media Player music in wma. My iTunes is in ACC (I belevie). Is it okay to delete my wma files and just leave my ACC? Can I play my ACC on iTunes on my computer and iPod?

 

  Also, I just checked my music, My Windows Media Player music is in wma, my iTunes library is telling me M4A. Whats that? If I delete my wma files and just leave my M4A or ACC will I free up space?

 

*Also, How can I convert my iTunes library into Mp3. Is that an hard task to do?

 

  Thanks, Rinkerwolf

 

 My Computers:
Desktops:
-Dell Inspiron 531 - AMD Dual Core 4400 - Windows Vista Home Premium
Notebooks:
-Dell Inspiron 1000 - Intel Celeron - Windows XP Home Edition
-Dell Inspiron E1505 - Intel Centrino Duo - Windows XP Media Center Edition

Yes, you should be remove your WMA files to free up space.

 

It has been a long while since I played with WMA on iTunes so I can't be certain about this but I believe you get M4A media (a form of MP4 format) because iTunes does not support WMA files directly (for obvious reason) so it's encoded as M4A when being imported into iTunes.

 

You can change your future ripping/encoding to MP3 (re my first reply) but I do not recommend converting your existing library to MP3.  I can think of a few reasons for this.

 

1.  It is a lengthy process since you have to remove the songs from your library then get iTunes to re-import your media - iTunes does not convert media already in its library.

2.  Encoding AAC to MP3 may case audio quality degradation - AAC claims to have better audio quality than that of MP3 at the same bitrate for 192Kbps bitrate or below

3.  If you re-encode to MP3 at a higher bitrate, audio quality will suffer definitely.

4.  Converting existing library to MP3 will also affect your media file format stored on your iPod since it will remove the AAC files stored and import the newly converted MP3 files.

 

Note: Encode using a higher bitrate also creates a larger file size

 

 

If you still want to convert your library to MP3, I suggest you delete your existing iTunes library and re-rip or re-import into iTunes as MP3 using your original CDs to maintain quality

Thanks for the information. I will try to delete a few CDs first and see if it still plays in iTunes. If it works fine I will delete everything in My Music folder expect iTunes folder. I will let you know how I make out.

 

   In the future I want to get an external hard drive. I have an Inspiron 531 I want to share files with. I want to add my music to the external drive. Will I still beable to sync my iPod if the music is on the external? Thanks

 

           Rinkerwolf

 

 My Computers:
Desktops:
-Dell Inspiron 531 - AMD Dual Core 4400 - Windows Vista Home Premium
Notebooks:
-Dell Inspiron 1000 - Intel Celeron - Windows XP Home Edition
-Dell Inspiron E1505 - Intel Centrino Duo - Windows XP Media Center Edition

You should be able to sync to external hard drive.  See the last paragraph of my 2nd reply.

Hi, I just deleted all of my music in My Music, Its gone. And it only gave me a little over a gig of space. Why when my Media Player shows 10GB? I would think I would have 10GB 0f free space. Did I do something wrong?

 

               Rinkerwolf

 

 My Computers:
Desktops:
-Dell Inspiron 531 - AMD Dual Core 4400 - Windows Vista Home Premium
Notebooks:
-Dell Inspiron 1000 - Intel Celeron - Windows XP Home Edition
-Dell Inspiron E1505 - Intel Centrino Duo - Windows XP Media Center Edition

By the way, forgot to ask which version WMP do you have.  Newer versions also import media files from other folders, such as My Pictures, My Videos, etc.  You can see which folders are being monitored by checking your Library settings under Options.

Have you cleared Recycle Bin?

 

Have you deleted all files as shown in your WMP Library?

I have Windows Media Player 10. I know theirs an 11 but was not sure to install that because a family member downloaded it on his computer and since can not burn CDs anymore. I was afraid to download it so I forgot about it. I deleted everything in My Music except iTunes music. I then had to delete everything in Windows Media Player. I cleared 6GB. It showed 10GB but only gave me 6GB.

 

    Thanks

 

          Rinkerwolf

 

 My Computers:
Desktops:
-Dell Inspiron 531 - AMD Dual Core 4400 - Windows Vista Home Premium
Notebooks:
-Dell Inspiron 1000 - Intel Celeron - Windows XP Home Edition
-Dell Inspiron E1505 - Intel Centrino Duo - Windows XP Media Center Edition

Just out of curiosity, where on WMP was telling you that there were 10GB of media files?

Hi, On Windows Media Player 10 it tells you haw many gigs and songs are on your Media Player on the bottom of the screen.

 

       Deleted everything on Windows Media Player. Still did not get my memory back.

 

 

        Rinkerwolf

 

 My Computers:
Desktops:
-Dell Inspiron 531 - AMD Dual Core 4400 - Windows Vista Home Premium
Notebooks:
-Dell Inspiron 1000 - Intel Celeron - Windows XP Home Edition
-Dell Inspiron E1505 - Intel Centrino Duo - Windows XP Media Center Edition