Fix duplicate album art and order in iPod Cover Flow
SOLVED: The duplicate Album Art / order issue in Cover Flow on the iPod
I know this is probably not an issue for many people as most have moved on past the iPod with the advent of streaming services. However, for those who are nostalgic and still use their iPod (Classic, Nano, Touch, etc) there has been a persistant issue with the duplication of Album Art in Cover Flow, when an album is primarily by one Artist but contains tracks who's Artist value contains multiple Artists (and does not match the Album Artist). After much searching, I am yet to find a forum post where a complete solution is detailed - or maybe I just didn't search hard enough?
This issue has been detailed in multiple older threads, all of which are long since locked, such as:
- The "Cover Flow" / "Album Artist" duplica… - Apple Community
- Cover flow, album order wrong! - Apple Community
- Importing an album into ITunes - HowTo: Grouping Tracks Into Albums
- iPod - album artist in Cover Flow, all at interpret menu
As of writing there is a solution that solves this problem, without any workarounds, that allows Tracks / Albums to be properly tagged AND appear properly sorted AND de-duplicated in Cover Flow.
For reference, I am using the latest version of iTunes on Windows (Version 12.13.9.1) and have tested this on an iPod Nano 4th Gen running Firmware v 1.0.4 PC.
To illustrate this point and use and example, I will refer to latest album by my favourite artist - Above & Beyond : Bigger Than All Of Us
To begin, import the album into iTunes.
If the tracks have been tagged correctly* (while in the "Library -> Albums" view of iTunes), you will likely find that iTunes has split the Album into multiple Albums, based on the Track Artist tag.
Example: All Tracks where Artist = "Above & Beyond" appear as one album; all tracks where Artist = "Above & Beyond, Zoë Johnston" appear as another album, etc,
* For this example, the Artist tag for each Track in the Album should be labelled as follows: "[Main Artist], [Featured Artist 1], [Featured Artist 2], ... etc" (i.e. using a comma then a space after each artist).
To solve the multiple-Album problem both in iTunes and subsequently in Cover Flow on your iPod:
- Select all the copies of what is effectively the same Album.
- Right-click on one of them, and select "Album Info".
- iTunes will likely ask you if you "... want to edit information for multiple items?" - select "Edit Items".
- In the (default) "Details" tab, set the "album artist" field to the main Artist for the Album (in this example: "Above & Beyond".
- Leave the "artist" field as "Mixed" (in grey).
- Switch to the "Sorting" tab
- Leave the "artist" field as "Mixed" (in grey).
- Edit the "sort as" field directly under the "artist" field to reflect the "Album Artist".
- Sync your Album to your iPod.
Note: If you only complete up to and including Step 5, your Album will appear correctly in iTunes, but you will still see multiple copies of the Album Art in Cover Flow on your iPod - one copy for each different Artist combination on the Album. Editing the "artist - sort as" field to be the same, for all tracks on the same Album is the secret sauce!
I hope this helps out all the pedantic souls like me, which this issue has plauges for years.