itunesmusic
I've been putting all my music into a folder 'Music' then going to itunes and importing into library. The copy to itunes/media setting is enabled.
Does that mean after the music is copied I can delete the original? So all it needs is the music files it copies into home > music > itunes > itunesmedia > music. Or are they still used?
In iTunes > Preferences > Advanced
Uncheck Keep iTunes Media folder organised and Copy Files to iTunes Media folder when adding to Library
Screen shot provided by @Wheat Williams:
Whether to copy is a setting in iTunes. On the OS-X version of iTunes, under preferences -> Advanced, make sure "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding..." is not checked.
Best Answer
Yes - unless there is something wrong with iTunes and it didn't copy the song, you can delete these second copies of songs.
I would use spotlight to check before you delete things until you gain confidence that the copy is working as designed. In the long run, it will be faster to let iTunes move the files so you don't need to clean things up.
Also, a good Time Machine backup can help if you accidentally delete too much.