HT204538: If you see unexpected groups of songs when you browse an album

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Matthew_McQ
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Songs with the same album title not grouped together

The issue I'm having is iTunes is the one changing the albums for separate tracks when they *used* to be grouped together in one album. I've got albums from five years ago that were fine, then suddenly iTunes recognizes one as a single and separates it into a separate album. All the tracks USED to have the same album name but iTunes is selecting tracks and renaming the associated album, which separates them. Why?? It's driving me insane.

 

(This article comes close but still fails to answer my question: Why aren't songs with the same album art grouped together? - Apple Support)

iPod classic 160GB (Late 2009)

Posted on May 13, 2015 1:08 PM

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Matthew_McQ

Q: Songs with the same album title not grouped together

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  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos May 13, 2015 1:13 PM in response to Matthew_McQ
    Level 9 (53,695 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 13, 2015 1:13 PM in response to Matthew_McQ

    Are these iTunes Store purchases? Do you use iTunes Match. For a while last summer people were having issues with tags reverting on tracks. Nobody really pinned down a cause and it seemed to clear up (at least few post about it anymore).

  • by Matthew_McQ,

    Matthew_McQ Matthew_McQ May 14, 2015 8:32 AM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 14, 2015 8:32 AM in response to Limnos

    I have long considered using iTunes Match, but am hesitant because frankly I expect it to exacerbate, not solve, this problem. I ripped my CDs manually and this never, ever happens with those; it's an issue exclusive to iTunes purchases -- on which it occurs randomly and without identifiable consistencies.

     

    Bearing in mind that this is a widespread problem, I'll give you just two examples: Madonna's MDNA album, purchased in its entirety, synced fine for a couple of years. Out of nowhere, iTunes extracted the album's lead single, "Give Me All Your Luvin," with its single-release as the album title, separating it from the rest of the tracks -- which of course I didn't notice until listening to the album and finding the track getting skipped. Because it was now listed as part of a separate album.

     

    The most recent, even weirder, example: I purchased Rihanna's album LOUD on iTunes in 2010. Again, no issues -- for years. Just yesterday, out of nowhere, I find the single (not even the lead single on that one) "What's My Name" listed as a separate album, with its "single" release as the album title. What the ****?

     

    The other reason I resist iTunes Match is because I also have purchased bonus or separate tracks to other albums, then manually gave them the "sort by" album name of the full album so they will be grouped together. A few extra tracks on Lily Allen's "It's Not Me, It's You" album, for instance. I used to be able to do this easily and with no problems. But over and over, iTunes re-separates them with their own track titles as the album name, separating them in my iPod. I fix them again; iTunes separates them again. Over and over. This issue made slightly more sense since these particular tracks were not originally part of the full album tracklist and I manually changed them. But this was not the case with albums like MDNA and LOUD; iTunes is starting now to separate tracks willy nilly from albums that should always have been complete, grouped track lists to full albums to begin with. I really don't get it.

  • by Arto123,

    Arto123 Arto123 Jun 24, 2015 12:00 PM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 24, 2015 12:00 PM in response to Limnos

    The answers from Apple suuport are all Rubbish. Besides if I downloaded an ALBUM from iTunes Store then surely it should display ALL THE TRACKS as an ALBUM. Also if my library lists them as an album, why can't the iPhone and iPad. All this is is a software problem, come on Apple, get it right. It's not rocket science..iTunes Match does not help.

  • by Kilgore-Trout,

    Kilgore-Trout Kilgore-Trout Jun 24, 2015 12:07 PM in response to Arto123
    Level 7 (32,546 points)
    iPad
    Jun 24, 2015 12:07 PM in response to Arto123

    The manner in which tracks are tagged, particularly the inclusion of bonus and special edition tracks, are up to the artist and label, not Apple. If you have a case where some are listed as separate albums, change the Alum Name and check the Album Artist (as opposed to just Artist - different field) in iTunes. Any track - including iTunes purchases, can be modified.

     

    And the above is also not rocket science.

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Jun 24, 2015 12:14 PM in response to Arto123
    Level 10 (85,388 points)
    iPod
    Jun 24, 2015 12:14 PM in response to Arto123

    iTunes Match is being considered as a possible cause of the issue, not a solution.

     

    I believe that either of these two options are turned on under the Preferences > Store tab

    • Show iTunes in the Cloud purchases
    • Share details about your library with Apple

     

    or on iOS devices

    • Settings > Music > Show all music

     

    iTunes may attempt to pull the original metadata for your store purchases from the iTunes store. It doesn't actually change the tag stored in the file, but it shows the original metadata in the library in preference to you edited version of the tags. If you turn both options off, and perhaps close and reopen iTunes, you should see your version of the info, if not playing should restore, and you should continue to see the correct data thereafter as long as you leave those options off.


    See Grouping tracks into albums for general advice.

     

    tt2