[wlesieutre]

A complaint I've heard before is that this works fine for most modern music, but the Artist/Album/Track layout doesn't apply to a lot of classical collections.

In which case you can just turn off the folder organization, but there's not an easy way to undo it once iTunes has gone and dicked it up.

[rsync]

"A complaint I've heard before is that this works fine for most modern music, but the Artist/Album/Track layout doesn't apply to a lot of classical collections."

More importantly, and more generally: what if my music organization format predates OSX/iOS/iTunes and I am not interested in altering it for todays fad ?

This is not apple-specific, either - many devices and services (audi MMI, Sonos, etc.) assume certain naming and organizational practices - and work very awkwardly with any other layout.

Granted, my Sonos system has never deleted anything or reorganized directories ... but my music is mounted read-only just in case.

[Karunamon]

"Today's fad" has been the iTunes standard since the application existed.

Also, take your pick. If the files aren't organized to a consistent standard, that means a database has to be stored somewhere with that info so the app can do its job. In iTunes' case, that's an XML file.

[rsync]

"Also, take your pick. If the files aren't organized to a consistent standard"

Actually, that's not true - one alternative to an organizational structure or a database is to actually name the files verbosely, which is what I decided on in 1996 when I ripped my first CD:

Artist Name - Album Name - ## - Track Name - time.wav

For instance:

Ferry, Bryan - Taxi - 03 - Answer Me - 2m46s.wav

This file can now be dropped into place anywhere without losing information, requires no DB and gives you full "metadata" for wav files that don't actually contain metadata.