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iTunes not saving info or keeping Media folder organized

I'm using iTunes Version 12.11.0.26 for Windows and having problems with song names and info. I have the "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized" box checked in my preferences, yet it's only adding track numbers to the beginning of some of my song titles after I enter the song number in the info. It's also not saving other info in the tags like the title, etc. It works for some songs but not for others and doesn't appear to have any rhyme or reason to it. How do I fix this?

Windows, Windows 10

Posted on Dec 29, 2020 6:07 PM

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14 replies

Dec 31, 2020 10:18 AM in response to turingtest2

Thanks for trying to help. Converting to ID3V2.3 didn't help when I tried it but I'll try it again. I'll look into those scripts, too. The Title tag is just blank. Just to give you a better idea of the problem, here's a screenshot of an album folder in Windows Explorer that shows tracks with the problem and a few that are fine.



So the three tracks that have the title tag filled in also have track numbers at the beginning. I downloaded the tracks for this album and imported them into iTunes. I first added album and artist tags for all the tracks using the Info window. Then I went through each song and filled in the track number field in the Info window. A few of the songs had incorrect titles, so I changed them at that time, too. So those few songs where I had to change the names were the only ones that filled in the title tag and changed the file name to include the track number at the beginning. The others where I only filled in the track number field and left the title field as is was ended up with blank title tags and no track number at the beginning.

Dec 30, 2020 9:01 PM in response to turingtest2

OK, I just realized what the problem is. First, I was wrong about a couple things. The only tag it's not adding is the title tag. The others are fine. So the two problems are that it's not adding the title tag and also not changing the name of the file to include the track number at the beginning. The second thing I was wrong about was that this problem has apparently been happening for quite a while. I just hadn't noticed it until recently.


What I finally discovered is that this problem is only happening with songs I have not changed the titles of in the Info window. If I change the title field in the info window, it will fill in the title tag and add the track number to the file name just fine. If I leave the title unchanged and only fill in other info fields (including the track number), the title tag will not be added and the file name won't change.


The way to fix this would then be to go back and find every file name in the iTunes Media folder that doesn't have a track number at the beginning, go into iTunes and change the title name in the Info window to something else and then change it back. Needless to say, this is going to be a real pain to do! I wish it would simply add the title tag and change the file name when I simply add the track number field in the info window.


Did that all make sense? Can you think of an easier way to fix this other than manually changing the info twice for each of the songs?

Dec 31, 2020 4:50 AM in response to cake247

Not one I recall seeing before. Does convert tag ID3V2.3 on its own do anything to repair things? You could mechanically modify each title using my KeywordsToName script, adding and then removing something that wouldn't otherwise appear in a track title, e.g. use it first with !FixMe and then again with -!FixMe. Backup the library first and test with a few tracks to be sure it has the desired effect. I'm sure I could write something a little more focused that fixes things in one pass, and only if they need fixing, but I'd need some files with this issue for testing and it isn't one I've ever seen before. What does Windows Explorer show as the tag for one of these tracks that won't update properly? Is it an issue I can recreate simply by clearing out the title field?


tt2

Jan 1, 2021 10:45 AM in response to turingtest2

Sorry, to answer your question. To recreate the problem take an mp3 song with no tags and import it into iTunes. Then select the Song Info command and fill in the Artist, Album and track number fields but leave the Title field alone. It should leave you with a song file in Windows Explorer that is sorted into the correct artist and album folders but with a blank Title tag and no track number at the beginning of the file. When I download songs, some of them have incorrect song titles and others have correct ones. It's the ones with the titles I don't have to change that are the problem. Why doesn't it add a Title tag automatically without having to change the song title? Why doesn't it add a track number to the beginning of the file if you enter a number into the Track Number field?

Jan 1, 2021 12:02 PM in response to cake247

With untagged files iTunes uses the filename less any extension as the track title. You would think that when creating a tag to store other details it would write this value into the tag too, but clearly not. I've no idea why changing the track number doesn't rename the file unless perhaps it is trying to avoid creating a two digit filename. Thanks for providing the details. I'll update the user tip with this additional information.


tt2

iTunes not saving info or keeping Media folder organized

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