tracks in same album split into different "albums"

Question

Level 1

15 points

tracks in same album split into different "albums"

currently, I have a couple of different individual albums split into different albums.

examples: one track of Desertshore by Nico (which has only one disc) "belongs" to a different album, according to iTunes. (it also has a slightly different automatically retrieved album cover.) similarly, +The Madcap Laughs+ (which also has just one disc) by Syd Barrett has gotten split up into two albums. (again, with slightly different album covers.) other albums have the same problem.

I have tried going to Get Data and methodically making sure that the data matches and it still doesn't work. I have tried deleting all the info about individual tracks and still iTunes remembers the metadata. maddening! what can I do about this?

note that I have tried using iTunes 10's feature where you can edit all information in an album at once. a good feature, but it can't merge albums. manually dragging and dropping in and out of folders also does help, of course.

2.4 GHZ MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.4), using iTunes 10

Posted on Sep 2, 2010 4:13 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Nov 20, 2017 12:34 AM in response to Ria777

In my library it happens time to time with albums purchased in iTunes Store. Doesn't matter is it compilation or not. Editing album title usually helps but it's very annoying.

PS

According to this post it's more than 7 years Apple can't (or don't want to) solve this issue - just unbelievable...

Reply

Answer 2

turingtest2

Level 10

272,707 points

Jan 5, 2017 1:32 PM in response to Ben Keynobi

Sorry I missed this one. Adding an Album Artist will normally help when different tracks have different performers. Compilation should only be used when the Album Artist would be Various Artists. See this post above if you end up with multiple album covers or more than one instance of the same artist.

tt2

Reply

Answer 3

MAP35

Level 1

8 points

Jan 28, 2017 9:05 PM in response to Ria777

Hi,

This is the easiest solution I have found so far and it has worked for me every time.

1) Click on all the identical albums and go to get info (command I) and hit "edit items" make sure all the information between the albums is the same including the artwork. If for any category it says "mixed" enter the correct information.

2) Under the sorting tab, enter the artist's name for "album artist"

3) Hit ok.

Sometimes you may have to quit and reopen iTunes

Hope this helps!

Reply

Answer 4

Sep 2, 2010 4:18 PM in response to Ria777

I have the same problem. I don't know how to fix it.

Reply

Answer 5

Ria777 Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 2, 2010 4:20 PM in response to James Wall1

without meaning to sound rude but I wanted to hear from people who did know how to fix it.

incidentally, does Apple permit the discussion of third party apps on these boards? I thought perhaps the answer lay there.

Reply

Answer 6

turingtest2

Level 10

272,707 points

Sep 2, 2010 5:09 PM in response to Ria777

See http://samsoft.org.uk/iTunes/grouping.asp

tt2

Reply

Answer 7

Ria777 Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 2, 2010 5:18 PM in response to turingtest2

a slightly convoluted solution, but it still worked. thank you!

Reply

Answer 8

Ria777 Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 2, 2010 11:21 PM in response to Ria777

I haven't found the solution after all. the trick worked with a couple of albums but with others I found it tough as ever to merge "different" artists and albums into one.

Reply

Answer 9

Sep 2, 2010 11:34 PM in response to Ria777

This occurs when stored metadata differs between songs.

You can usually fix this by selecting every song in an album, select Get Info and place a checkbox next to every box except the Title of and Track number of the song.

Reply

Answer 10

turingtest2

Level 10

272,707 points

Sep 2, 2010 11:59 PM in response to Ria777

Ria777 wrote:
I haven't found the solution after all. the trick worked with a couple of albums but with others I found it tough as ever to merge "different" artists and albums into one.

Just to be clear you shouldn't be trying to merge "different" things but removing the inconsistencies that make what should be the same thing appear as more than one. The article I pointed you towards earlier is not a simple solution but rather an exploration of the different triggers for multiple covers or repeating menu values and the methods to resolve them. The correct fix in each case depends on what is causing the problem. In general, consistency is the key factor but even then iTunes can stubbonly refuse to link objects together. The section One album, still too many covers often does the trick here.

If you're still having trouble post up specific details or a screenshot.

tt2

Reply

Answer 11

Sep 3, 2010 11:46 AM in response to Ria777

I'm sure you have tried these so please don't think I'm being rude and insulting your intelligence but have you checked that:

1. Are you sorting your library by Artist name / Album title as opposed to Genre or anything else which may differ from song to song? (For example half an album by one artist may be categorised as Indie and the other half Rock, or sometimes on compilations different tracks have different years).
2. Are all spellings, punctuation, years etc are 100% identical? (The best way is to select all the tracks at once, right click, Get Info, Info pane. If the box has the artist name / album name / year / genre filled in then you are good. If it's blank then some of the info is different between tracks).
3. Also in Get Info, under the Info pane, is the 'Part of a Compilation' check box highlighted? (It's probably best to check each track individually here).
4. Just like point 2. but in Get Info, Sorting pane are all the details identical and showing when multiple items are selected.

That's all the help I can offer, I know it's only quite basic stuff (sorry) but I often forget some of it and the same problem drives me mad.

Reply

Answer 12

Ed91

Level 1

14 points

Sep 18, 2010 5:09 AM in response to Ria777

I had the same problem. After a bit of googling, I found this.. http://www.technipages.com/itunes-album-songs-split-up-in-grid-view.html

It's for iTunes 8, but it worked for me, so hopefully it'll work for you too.

Ed

Reply

Answer 13

turingtest2

Level 10

272,707 points

Sep 18, 2010 6:38 AM in response to Ed91

Hi, that's same technique as I give in the section One album, still too many covers but there are also plenty of alternative causes of split covers which that article also addresses.

tt2

Reply

Answer 14

Jan 6, 2011 4:56 AM in response to Ria777

Hi There

The other replies should address most common issues, but we had a continuing problem with one particular album 'Hotel Costes 5' that refused to be just one album, insisting on being 15, one for each track. No matter what we tried.

However if you click and hold "apple" then "i" and then select the "info" tab, click the "part of compilation" box in the bottom right hand corner it will fix the problem. I'm guessing its a problem that arises where there are different artists on one album.

You will have to do this for each individual track. But well worth the effort.

Best

Chris

Reply

Answer 15

Jan 23, 2011 11:49 AM in response to Ria777

Hi,

I've just read this stream to sort out the same problem.

I have solved it by ensuring that the Artist info is the same on all tracks (using the get info facility described by other contributors). If a track has a guest artist them this is recorded in the artist field which then is used to file the track in its own album.

It looks like both the Artist and Album fields need to be identical for all tracks to be grouped into one album,

Reply