Adding files to iTunes: iTunes adds them in no particular order

Make sure you update their ID3 tags with the track numbers, which will help iTunes decipher the order.

When you add them to a playlist, you can arrange them in the order you'd like, then r/click the playlist and choose "Copy to play order", which will ensure that the order shown is the order it'll play in

I'm not sure I completely understand your issue but let me try. In the iTunes library, you can only sort on one field at a time. So, you could either sort by date added or by album (which would then put the songs in order by track number assuming the tags were correct).

If you want the tracks in some kind of order, you have to sort them in iTunes. I find the list view quite easy to manage. Click on the column header "Album" and iTunes will sort your tracks by album and by track order within album.

The only other thing I can think of that you could be talking about it the order of the tracks while looking at the folder in Windows Explorer?

YesEtc wrote:
I have some cds that my laptop won't read. So I had to import them on my other pc, and later add them to my laptop's library (they are mp3 files now). No matter which way I add them (1: having windows explorer in a smaller window over maximized itunes window and dragging them to the library or 2: using Add Folder to library) iTunes will add them in disorder.

When I import a cd, it imports the songs in track listing order. I keep my library in "added" order.

Correct. When iTunes rips a CD, it works in order of the track numbers. When it adds a bunch of files from a folder, it processes them in the order Windows hands it in, which has nothing to do with track number.

If you want the Date Added sort to match the track number, don't add a folder at a time. Drag the files in one at a time in track # sequence.

Still no idea of what you think needs to be fixed.

YesEtc wrote:
apple should fix this problem instead of altering things that work fine.

You can provide feedback to Apple at this page: http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html

As Ed says, it works that way because when you add a folder of tracks into iTunes they arrive from the filing system in no particular order. If you'd be happy to have them arrive in increasing track order so they are correct when you list your library in *Date Added (Oldest > Newest)* then this is easily achievable by using iTunes Folder Watch to manage the import. However I've seen a number of users who want the most recently added album listed first, Date Added (Newest > Oldest) but in the correct track order. This normally has to be done by deleting the tracks and then painstakingly adding them back in, one at a time, from last track to first. I've recently been exploring what is & isn't feasible with iTunes scripts and I think I might be able to constuct something to automate this task if you'd be interested.

tt2

This is proving trickier than I first thought. The date added values are stored internally to 1 second precision. When in descending date added order tracks with identical date added values are further ordered by increasing values of track name or sort track name where present.

I have a test script that maintains the orginal date added values but reassigns each track in the correct order however this may fail when there are tracks with identical date added values. If I can work out how to delete the relevant tracks via the script I can then arrange to reimport them, at least 1 second apart, in the correct order.

tt2

This has always bothered me, too. My most common library view is also by "Date Added".


It takes me a long time to do anything like that, because I drag them in one by one, so they will be in the order I choose. If I had to do it more often, it would be intolerable....I know exactly what you mean about it being suicidal for 440 songs.



Interesting that you find it never adds them in the same order. I've never really checked - just been annoyed that there doesn't seem to be any pattern I can see. I am not disputing this, but I will point out, a computer program usually only works one way, over and over. Maybe it is something really bizarre such as a combination of 2 fields, perhaps title and file size, or Date Modified from windows.



With the itunes consolidate command, I finally figured out that it was copying files to the new location in order of itunes library Date Added. I kept looking for alphabetizing or track/disk numbering, when it turned out to be a date stamp that was doing it.



Anyway. iTunes now has Home Sharing, and I wonder if that would give you any better results? Nope. I take it back, I remember no joy there, as well. Next time I have something fairly large to copy over I'll see if I notice anything new.

A bit of experimenting has shown:

The date added values are stored internally to 1 second precision. When in descending date added order tracks with identical date added values are further ordered by increasing values of track name or sort track name where present.

Delete & reimport the same group of tracks and you may get different subsets with identical date added values, e.g. one time you get the first 3 tracks together, the next time only 2. Within each group they will then be ordered by track name (why not track no?!?!?) so different occasions can produce different results. One time when a really slow computer is probably a blessing.

I've just about worked out how to remove & reimport a set of tracks in the correct order, but I'm still looking to preserve as much iTunes specific meta-data (ratings, play counts etc.) as possible.

tt2

For anyone interested I've created a script called SortDateAdded that will take a selection of tracks, or the tracks of the current playlist, then remove & reimport those tracks in reverse Album by Artist order so that Date Added (Descending) lists the tracks in their natural album order.

It assumes that you either let iTunes organise your file and folder names or use an equivalent scheme such that ordering by path will put tracks in artist/album/track order. The script is limited to a max of 500 tracks to prevent accidents or hangs. As far as I can tell I've managed to preserve all iTunes specific meta-data (for tracks with tags) apart from the original Date Added & Date Modified values and track positions within playlists. Membership of non-smart playlists is preserved as are checked status, EQ settings, play & skipped counts & dates, album & track ratings and volume adjustments.

It's not the fastest script in the world, although in part that is down to how long iTunes takes to process the various calls. It may work slightly faster if you switch to a different source, e.g. Radio, while it is running so that iTunes isn't trying to update the screen with the newly added tracks. It could also be improved with additional tests for potential error conditions, e.g. it currently chokes on PDF files, but it has got to be easier than doing the same job by hand...

As ever ensure you have a backup of your library before running any script and test it on a few items until you are happy it works as you wish.

Hope someone finds it useful.

tt2