How do YOU organize your iTunes library?

I see all your points but I still think playlists for each individual album work best for me. There is a macro that creates a playlist from a selection. It even names it in the artist - album format automatically...SHIFT, COMMAND & N. You don't have to type any artist/album info.

Search doesn't always work for me because how does that filter out a group's self-titled album? By typing in "Boston" it will bring up all of their albums not just "Boston - Boston". Plus what if I can't remember exactly how to spell something or I don't remember an album title. I have over 7,000 cds.

Using the browser doesn't work for me either because once I find the album I want to listen to the artwork won't be there. With playlists the artwork will automatically be there.

As far as finding the album in my playlists it takes no time at all. Either start typing the name and it will automatically jump to that playlist(did anyone even know you can do that?) or just drag the bar. It isn't hard...they are in alphabetical order.

I also create the playlist at the same time as ripping the cd so it really only takes about 5 seconds extra to do.

All the other methods force you to remember which album got tagged with what genre. Is AC/DC under rock or metal?

I guess I'm an outcast.

"I don't follow. Anytime I select an album to play from the browser the art work is there."

The artwork can be shown in the browser...about 2" x 2" on my 42" widescreen. My way fills up the entire screen with the album cover. I'd rather stare at a full-screen artwork shot than the iTunes interface any day.

"If you have the browser sorted "album by artist" all of the artists are there in alphabetical order. I don't see where having all of that duplicated by playlists is any easier, or really different for that matter."

It's WAY easier to navigate the playlists because when trying to scroll up and down by artist in the browser only 6 artists are shown at any given time(by default) unless you then drag the bottom half of iTunes down revealing more choices. My way shows playlists from the top of the iTunes GUI all the way down to the bottom. I easily see 40 playlists at once this way.

"How does having playlists by album help if you can't remember the title?"

Because I can type 3 letters of an artist's name that I have dozens of albums of and see all of the albums in alphabetical order...instantly.

Maybe I can make a short video of how I use iTunes to help show how this makes a whole bunch of sense to me.

I'm going to make this the last post as I realize I'm very much in the minority here but the previous methods simply do not work.

"I can do that without playlists by
going to the iTunes search bar, choosing "Artist" in the pull down menu (next to the magnifying glass) and typing those same 3 letters in the iTunes box. "

This doesn't work because the search results will include artists sharing the same attributes. For example I just tried to find the band Japancakes in my library using this method. I had to type all the way to Japanc before I got the correct results because I was also getting music from the bands Casino Versus Japan(which starts with the letter C) and the band Japan in my search results. By typing "jap" in my playlists I am able to view my desired album much quicker and just click on it.

"Once I select an album, I click on 'cover flow' view, and then go to the View menu and select "Full Screen"."

When using this method all the artwork for everything in your search results shows up. I only want to see the album cover for the album that I'm listening to. Sure I can get to a point using search where the album I want to listen to is listed but there will also be other albums listed until I filter it down a bit more. I'd need to filter it down to the exact album anyway because when the last song would finish it would just run on to whatever is sitting behind that track in the search results and I don't want that. I still think it's faster using my method. When I initially create my playlist I choose Cover Flow right then & there so it automatically shows the artwork when clicking on any playlist.

"When I want to view my playlists, I don't have 300-3000 playlists of albums to sort through, only a few dozen unique playlists that are themes or smart playlists."

There's a simple solution for this. I create playlists like you guys as well. I make Christmas and Halloween mixes. I make compilations of recent faves, etc. The way to organize them is to simply place the numeral "1" before the name of your playlist and they will be kept at the very top of your playlists. They won't get lost in my 3000 playlists.

One last advantage is syncing albums to an iPod. After plugging in your iPod all of your playlists are available to click and add to make adding albums a total breeze. I can whiz through all of my playlists clicking what I want to add then hit apply when I'm done and come back a few minutes later and I'm all done.

I'm off...I got more playlists to create :-)

You're right...to each his own

Thomasedison you don't use the search field just click on the very first playlist(or any playlist) and just start typing.