How do I properly import a CD to my iPod classic using Apple Music and maintain album order?

Okay, there's a lot to discuss, but not too much that needs sorting out. I'll explain what is happening first, then I'll explain what needs changing, and how to change it.

The reason that the artist is not showing up is because the album artist field has the words Various Artists in it, which is taking priority over the artist field (with good reason), but don't go changing anything yet, we'll fix it in a minute. You did well to untick (uncheck) the compilation box, but there's something else that needs doing. However, it isn't shown on the CD Info panel that you have screenshot.

Also;

howeyroll wrote:

-In Songs, the order of the songs depends on whether I'm sorting by:

• -Artist ^ and ⌄ lists the songs out of order

-• Album ^ lists them in order

-Album • ⌄ lists them backwards.

Although you are looking in the Songs view, in every case the up/down arrows mean that you are sorting by either the album title or the artist name, and specifically not by track order. In other words, the arrow determines the sort order. However, since the album title is common to every track (and the artist name to almost every track), iTunes may decide which order to place the songs.

The reason that the artist name is causing an issue is because of a difference between the record industry and iTunes (which is insurmountable, so we just have to work round it with the remedy. It's the same issue with other CD (music) cataloguing software, not just iTunes):

• • • I can see that your album Blood Mountain has guest artists on some tracks. This means that the record industry regards the album as one by various artists and that it's a compilation (which I don't think it is). But crucially, iTunes regards a compilation album as one that is a compilation of songs by different artists. The remedy for this is to add the main artist name to the album artist field (more on this in a moment). In other words, each track has the artists involved, i.e. main & guest artist, but to keep the album together, the album artist field must contain the name of the main artist only
    • In addition, if an album is a collection of "greatest hits" by one artist, once again the record industry call it a compilation, but iTunes does not. So one-artist Greatest Hits albums should not have the compilation flag on

I think that's all the explanation that's needed for now, all the other points you've raised should become clear when I explain how to remedy this. Just note that I'm a Windows user, not Apple, so some of the menu options may be slightly different.

To save you importing the album again, you can fix the artist issue by:

• • looking at the album in Songs view and selecting all the tracks on the album
  • (and) choose Get Info from the secondary click or Control-click option (it's right-click/select from pop-up menu in Windows)
  • you should see a panel similar to this:

• • make sure that the compilation flag is off (yes, I know you turned it off, I'm just making sure)
  • now look in the box named album artist (not the artist box):
    • the album artist box will currently have the text Various Artists in it. Overtype this with the name of the main artist only (Mastodon) and tap OK
    • (note that the artist box will have "mixed" in light text). That is correct for the Blood Mountain album - because not every track on the album is by exactly the same artist)

One more thing regarding the sort order:

if the album is still in incorrect order, make sure that every track has the track number field completed. Check each track individually using Songs view and add or correct them if necessary.

Lastly, for now, if you have not yet imported an album, you can add the album artist field to the CD Info window, so that makes it easier to check. (In Windows, one right-clicks the column header and selects album artist from the pop-up menu. It must be similar in Mac.)

Your album details screenshot for Mastodon look good:

• • artist field says mixed
  • album artist says Mastodon
  • compilation is not ticked (checked)
  • track (number) has a dash (definitely correct as you have many tracks selected)

All good.

Second screenshot, track 3 of the Mastodon album looks good too. Note:

• that the track number is shown in this view because you have only one track selected. That is what would we expect
• that the artist field is now filled in, as excepted because as above, you have only one track selected. In addition, since that track does not have any guest artists, it shows only the main artist name

Your next screenshot, the Songs view:

• to display the track number column, right-click the header bar (I assume it's the same on a Mac as Windows), as indicated in your screenshot:

You should then see a pop-up menu. On that menu choose Track Number and that column should appear at the point where you clicked the bar. You can drag the Track Number column left or right to the position you want it

• Note that the Album by Artist column that we see in your screenshot is not the same field as the album artist field. It's not wrong, but it's important that you understand the difference:

• Album Artist (3.) shows the name of the main artist, as we have been discussing. But in the view above, the track number column (1.) is selected, so the tracks are shown in strict numerical order. Since there is more than one album selected, the list splits up the album Loose
• Album by Artist (2.) is a slightly confusing column. I don't use it. If you click on that column's header (on the wording, not on the arrow), you will see that it changes between Album by Artist, Album by Artist/Year and Artist. I don't find it useful, although other people may do

Sorry about my numbering. (reasons)

If I select the Album by Artist column (4.), notice how it changes from the screenshot above:

The songs on the Loose album are now shown in track number order.

To get music onto your device, you need to use Finder, the separate app on your Mac, not Music. I'm not familiar with Finder, so I I can't be precise, but I assume that there are options in Finder to either drag and drop music, or use Sync to add music.

Her's a screenshot of the Nelly Furtado album (Loose) on which several tracks have guest artists. Note the two columns, artist and then album artist. This is how one keeps the album correctly sorted and the artist will show up as Nelly Furtado.

The compilation flag is definitely off for this album.

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