Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Level 1

0 points

Unknown Album - problem following update to 9.2

Just updated iTunes to 9.2 (all other software is latest versions)

Following error found

In Music folder

1. Select an existing track
2. Get Info
3. Info displayed (all as should be Track Name Album name etc and Artwork all ok)
4. Amend the Artist name (I just took a . out)
5. Click OK

That track is now displayed as Unknown Album with no Album Artwork

You can check the Get Info pop up for the amended track and all the information is shown correctly including the amended Artist Name Album Name and Artwork)

This procedure always worked before I upgraded to iTunes 9.2

If you have 9.1 or 9.2 can you try it too and post results here?

This is the very first problem I've encountered with any Apple product since I got my Mac Book 18 months ago 😟

Many Thanks

Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on Jun 20, 2010 8:35 AM

28 replies

Sep 23, 2010 4:56 PM in response to dynapop

Since updating to iTunes 10, some of my albums are suddenly titled "Unknown Album", and also albums with multiple CD's do not sort themselves sequentially anymore? So I get all three track 1's together, even tho the CD numbers are right.
What an annoying iTunes update!!

Sep 24, 2010 2:29 AM in response to beanbagdan

I assume you have you tried renaming the Album and Album Artist and making sure each batch of songs in an album has the album number set to 1 of 3 or 2 of 3 or 3 of 3.

If it still says unknown album, restart iTunes, if it still says unknown album, write an email to Steve Jobs.

Oct 16, 2010 8:35 AM in response to theotherkiwi

I have the 'unknown album' problem since updating to Tunes 10 (and on different machines). Yes, I can fix it by re-starting iTunes but that's an unacceptable solution.

Nov 30, 2010 8:49 AM in response to Franc Chamberlain

I am also experiencing this bug on iTunes 10.1.0.54 (and previous versions). It took me a long time to realise it was a bug however, I spent a long time trying to correct the tags to make sure they were the same and correctly configured before finding this thread and realising I just had to close iTunes and relaunch to correct the "unkown album" display and no album art.

it's nice that there is a work around but as above, it's not really a long term acceptable solution - I am currently updating a lot of albums, so closing and relaunching constantly is a major annoyance.

Nov 30, 2010 1:20 PM in response to Portgordon

As a bit of an update, so far for me this only appears to be happening with Albums which have multiple CD's, and are labelled as part of a compilation along with having an album artist such "Various Artists". For single CD albums for the same artist there doesn't appear to be an issue.

fyysh

Level 1

0 points

Dec 3, 2010 2:06 AM in response to Portgordon

Without having read all of the posts here:

This issue happens to me when I have a compilation with Album Artist = Various Artists

My workaround for this issue:
1. Edit Album
2. Set Album Artist to "" (=> nothing)
3. Apply Changes => Artwork and Album Name appears in the list
4. Edit Album again, set Album Artist back to "Various Artists"
=> Artwork and album name are still shown, Album Artist is still "Various Artists"

Annoying bug though... ^^

Message was edited by: fyysh

Message was edited by: fyysh

Dec 5, 2010 3:51 AM in response to fyysh

Excellent - the above work around does indeed work, and although not ideal, it is far better than having to close and relaunch iTunes continually.

Thanks fyysh!

DewBert

Level 1

0 points

Dec 16, 2010 6:58 PM in response to Portgordon

This is definitely a bug. I have a script that fixes title case and adds information into the Album Artist and Sort Album fields to correctly sort my "Compilations." On the latest version of iTunes, when I run this script, it produces the "Unknown Error" in my listings. So I played around with my script and noticed that if I cleared the field and then applied the variable to the field, it would work properly, albeit very slow.

Example:
Current.AlbumArtist = Empty
Current.AlbumArtist = strAlbumArtist

iTunes developers, please fix this problem soon.

May 6, 2011 11:09 PM in response to dynapop

I'm using the latest version 10 iTunes and this issue still exists: the tracks are there, the artist is there but the album is 'unknown album'. I deleted all my music from iTunes and reimported but it's still the same.

Any suggestions on how to sort this? Weird thing is that album info ok on iPod. Help!

turingtest2

Level 10

272,795 points

May 7, 2011 12:28 AM in response to clanpatrick

clanpatrick wrote:

I'm using the latest version 10 iTunes and this issue still exists: the tracks are there, the artist is there but the album is 'unknown album'. I deleted all my music from iTunes and reimported but it's still the same.

Any suggestions on how to sort this? Weird thing is that album info ok on iPod. Help!

The issue with some albums appearing as "Unknown Album" after you make an edit should be a temporary anomaly that resolves itself if you close and then restart iTunes. Removing and reimporting all music is a bit drastic.

tt2

May 7, 2011 12:58 AM in response to turingtest2

Re-starting iTunes makes no difference................the albums are all correct via windows explorer but Itunes still not picking them up. Grrr

turingtest2

Level 10

272,795 points

May 7, 2011 1:51 AM in response to clanpatrick

That may be a different issue then. iTunes doesn't cope well with files that have multiple tags, e.g. both an ID3v1 and a V2.x tag. Also there can be issues if tracks with different Album values, for example, have the same Sort Album value. There are a number of prgrams that can be used to inspect tags and check for internal file errors. Personally mp3tag and mp3val are the tools I use most often.

tt2

xefned

Level 1

8 points

May 3, 2016 7:49 AM in response to turingtest2

This is the most useful suggestion I've heard. In my case, the Finder knows the album name (via get info,) Media Rage shows the album title correctly, but no amount of refreshing, deleting, re-adding, and restarting iTunes made any difference.

After your post, I UNchecked ID3v1 and only used ID3v2 (in Media Rage) and problem solved. Thank you!

Unknown Album - problem following update to 9.2