elric_a

Q: Random play issue iTunes 12.5.1

I have upgraded iTunes to 12.5.1 version. The first day it was working fine but now all albums are played randomly. Whether I use the Artists, Albums or Songs view, If I click on Play, iTunes does not play the album in the correct order. I have tried restarting iTunes and even my computer which runs on Windows 10 with the latest updates but the issue persists. How can I fix the issue?

iPhone 6s Plus, iOS 9.2

Posted on Sep 25, 2016 5:41 AM

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Q: Random play issue iTunes 12.5.1

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  • by elric_a,

    elric_a elric_a Sep 25, 2016 10:36 AM in response to elric_a
    Level 1 (12 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 25, 2016 10:36 AM in response to elric_a

    I've tried to reinstall iTunes but the issue persists. So I must use another player if I want to listen to an album in the correct order.

  • by Marvin Rouge,

    Marvin Rouge Marvin Rouge Sep 26, 2016 2:13 AM in response to elric_a
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 26, 2016 2:13 AM in response to elric_a

    Exactly the same problem and it appeared just after the update. I noticed it first when it was playing an album in reverse (from the last song to the first), but for other albums, it's completely random (even though the random function is unticked). Hard to find an explanation to this behaviour.

     

    I use El Capitan.

  • by gb_eh,

    gb_eh gb_eh Sep 26, 2016 6:08 AM in response to elric_a
    Level 1 (24 points)
    Sep 26, 2016 6:08 AM in response to elric_a

      I have a similar problem with itunes on my Mac since I updated to the New OS or updated iTunes not sure which caused it... Try turning on Random in iTunes, I know that sounds dumb but once I did that, playing songs now appear in the order that I expected. It's as if the Random setting is reversed / flipped. On is Off and visa versa....

      If I want to play an album I select the song to start and it plays, at the end of the song it skips to some random song in my library or if I hit the next button it again skips to a random song instead of the next track in that album?  Turn random off and song order appears normal. Also the random doesn't appear to be exactly random however, it seems to be the next song that would be alphabetically next in the library?

  • by elric_a,Solvedanswer

    elric_a elric_a Sep 26, 2016 12:54 PM in response to elric_a
    Level 1 (12 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 26, 2016 12:54 PM in response to elric_a

    So I finally found the source of the issue. I went to 'Controls' > 'Shuffle' and discovered that it was set to on. So if you have at least to one album/playlist in Shuffle mode every albums will be played randomly if you don't change this. In previous iTunes versions you had several buttons that made it obvious if the album would be played in the correct order or in shuffle mode but with the new design there is absolutely no indication whatsoever if the shuffle mode is activated or not.

     

    It seems that for some obscure reasons Apple designers have decided that

    - If you want to activate/deactivate Shuffle mode

    - Create a playlist, a smart playlist or a folder

    - Change the display between Artists, Albums, Songs or Playlist

    You ALWAYS have to use the menu bar and its counter-intuitive sub-menus whereas in previous versions you could easily access these features with easy-to-use buttons.

     

    I'm really not sure why they consider this progress and it makes me wonder if they really use iTunes. They've removed absolutely everything that made iTunes the most ergonomic player on the market.

  • by elric_a,

    elric_a elric_a Sep 26, 2016 1:12 PM in response to elric_a
    Level 1 (12 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 26, 2016 1:12 PM in response to elric_a

    Missing in iTunes 12.5:

  • by lylefish,Helpful

    lylefish lylefish Sep 26, 2016 2:41 PM in response to gb_eh
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Sep 26, 2016 2:41 PM in response to gb_eh

    Gb... after much time with no success with tech support I figured this out!

    1) Make sure shuffle is off!

    2) Go to : controls > shuffle >off

    3) Go to : controls > repeat > off

    4)  Change your view to songs

    5) Go to : view > sort by >  check album

    6) go back to artist view and see if your songs play correctly

     

    Hope this helps!

  • by gb_eh,

    gb_eh gb_eh Sep 26, 2016 4:12 PM in response to lylefish
    Level 1 (24 points)
    Sep 26, 2016 4:12 PM in response to lylefish

    lylefish... Thanks that helps 99% of the time.. Still have one small issue however. But I think I'll have to attack this another way.

     

    - This works in the case of a traditional album bought from iTunes or Rips from an owned CD.

    - Doesn't work in the case of a self created album from an online source... Let me explain maybe you can share some wisdom/ideas to resolve this too..

     

    - I have downloaded copyright / loyalty free music files from either Soundcloud or iTunes and created an album of 70+ tracks which happens to be sorted in the container album alphabetically by title (imported files into iTunes and this is how they ended up).

    - Some artist appear numerous times through out the album, again in order by song title.

    - If I start with Song 1) Aaa   Artist: Henry  and I hit skip instead of playing Song 2) Abb... Artist:Fred..  it instead plays song 23) Dddd  Artist:Henry and continues to plays out Artist: Henry's tracks alphabetically by title then moves on to Artist: Ivan and all his tracks. Then Artist: Jack etc etc etc...

    - To hear all tracks I would need to identify Artist: Adam for instance say Song: 65 and it would then play all tracks in this online sourced album.

    - I tested to see if the same problem exist with a commercial soundtrack album which would have a mix of artist and titles.. Your solution works here..

    - I noticed that the track #'s in the self created album are blank. I'll try populating them manually to see if that resolves the issue, otherwise I will build a playlist.

    - This isn't a huge problem but finding the 'A' artist to start all tracks is a pain, also I'd gotten use to the song order over time, even though alpha by title they flowed pretty good with one another...

     

    I wish apple would stop tweaking stuff for what appears to be the sole purpose of being able to tweak stuff... if the code works don't break it has always worked for me.. Thanks again for sorting this..

  • by Conyous,

    Conyous Conyous Oct 2, 2016 11:26 AM in response to gb_eh
    Level 1 (9 points)
    iPhone
    Oct 2, 2016 11:26 AM in response to gb_eh

    I still have this problem although I've tried everything mentioned here

  • by gb_eh,

    gb_eh gb_eh Oct 2, 2016 2:41 PM in response to Conyous
    Level 1 (24 points)
    Oct 2, 2016 2:41 PM in response to Conyous

    Sorry I can't help you... lylefish's solution worked for me 99% of the time. Problem I was having with self created album was resolved by numbering the tracks which were empty.

  • by Optionkey,

    Optionkey Optionkey Oct 10, 2016 2:25 AM in response to elric_a
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 10, 2016 2:25 AM in response to elric_a

    I've got this problem on my iMac as well.

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Oct 10, 2016 2:32 AM in response to Optionkey
    Level 10 (87,811 points)
    Apple TV
    Oct 10, 2016 2:32 AM in response to Optionkey

    In addition to making sure that Shuffle is off, if you experience tracks playing in the wrong order switch to the Songs view and click the heading of the Album column, a number of times if necessary, such that it reads Album by Artist and is in ascending order with the small triangle pointing upwards.

     

    tt2

  • by Optionkey,

    Optionkey Optionkey Oct 10, 2016 3:01 AM in response to Optionkey
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 10, 2016 3:01 AM in response to Optionkey

    I just figured out that iTunes only plays the songs on the album which are checked under 'songs'.

    Only these songs are put in the 'next' playlist in the top bar on the right side of the title of the song.

    So if you want to listen to the album in the right order make sure all the songs of the album are checked.

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Oct 10, 2016 3:09 AM in response to Optionkey
    Level 10 (87,811 points)
    Apple TV
    Oct 10, 2016 3:09 AM in response to Optionkey

    Yes, unchecked are skipped during normal track to track playback. This is one reason why using the check flag is a poor sync selection control. Much better to use playlists.

     

    tt2

  • by Herman_the_German,

    Herman_the_German Herman_the_German Oct 14, 2016 2:11 AM in response to lylefish
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 14, 2016 2:11 AM in response to lylefish

    Hello lylefish

    Thanks for these steps and sorted the issue out.

    I did notice that if I have my iPhone 6s with iOS 10.0.2 connected to my PC with Windows 8.1 that iTunes can sometimes play random songs from different albums even when shuffle is turned off and even when you click on the ">>" button for the next track.

    This may be a bug? Apple please resolve this.

    Many thanks.

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