[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.