Can I edit the list of Genres?

Question

Level 1

115 points

Can I edit the list of Genres?

I have a LOT of music on my Mac, and use iTunes to manage it.

Over several years, the Genre List has grown incredibly bloated, including many duplicates w/ spelling errors and variations.

Is there a way to edit this list?

 G5 Dual 2.0G, 3.5 G RAM, 22" Samsung LCD, KensingtonExpertMouse, Mac OS X (10.5.4), GarageBand'08, Griffin iMic, M-Audio Keystation49e, 1Gb and 2Gb 2ndGen Shuffles

Posted on Dec 2, 2010 2:16 PM

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Answer 1

Chris CA

Level 10

82,513 points

Dec 2, 2010 3:54 PM in response to kbeartx

iTunes menu View > Column Browser.
Select an incoorect Genre at top.
Go to the bottom, select all the songs, right click - Get info.
Set the Info tab and set the correct Genre. The incorrect Genre will be removed.

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Answer 2

kbeartx Author

Level 1

115 points

Dec 2, 2010 6:19 PM in response to Chris CA

Let me make sure I understand your suggestion. I don't want or need to remove an incorrect Genre from any single or combination of songs. I want to prune the erroneous Genres from whatever internal database iTunes uses to generate the list of Genres that appears when you click the blue arrow to the right of the Genre field - that list is absurdly long and contains many duplicates - e.g., Rock and Roll, Rock'n'Roll, Rocknroll, rock an roll, etc! Can I use the method you proposed to eliminate the spurious entries on that list?

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Answer 3

Limnos

Level 10

428,171 points

Dec 2, 2010 6:49 PM in response to kbeartx

I believe ChrisCA is saying that if you eliminate a genre from being used for any of your tunes then it will not appear. If you select all your 6 rock and roll genres and set the genre on all those tracks to the same in a Get Info window then only that genre will appear.

I don't have the inside on how iTunes works. I know it has certain set genres that when you start typing one it will suggest them. I don't know if by getting rid of any added genre if that disappears permanently when you get rid of all other references to it or if it will appear as a suggestion if you start typing Rock... again. Let us know how it works out. At least by setting all your rock genres to one kid you will only get one in your list of genres in the cokumn window. 🙂

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Answer 4

kbeartx Author

Level 1

115 points

Dec 3, 2010 2:29 PM in response to Limnos

Thank you both for your input.

I have tried your suggestion and can see that it will work.

It's quite hands-on and time-consuming, so for now I'm gonna live with the bloated Genre list and fix it little-by-little over time.

Thanks again.

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Answer 5

Chris CA

Level 10

82,513 points

Dec 3, 2010 2:37 PM in response to kbeartx

It's quite hands-on and time-consuming

Really?
Shouldn't take more than about 30 seconds to...
1 - Select an incorrect Genre (or multiple)
2 - Select all the songs below (Cmd A)
3 - Right click - get info
4 - Click the Info tab
5 - Change the Genre.

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Answer 6

kbeartx Author

Level 1

115 points

Dec 3, 2010 6:45 PM in response to Chris CA

"Shouldn't take more than about 30 seconds to..."

Yes, but there are hundreds, perhaps more than a thousand such changes to be made.

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Answer 7

Limnos

Level 10

428,171 points

Dec 4, 2010 10:08 PM in response to kbeartx

How many genres do you want in the end? Let's say you have 10 rock and roll variants and you want just one. Select all the variants at the same time, then get info, etc. It would be more difficult if you were trying to split one genre into 10 because then you would have 10 batches to do.

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Answer 8

Dec 18, 2010 11:10 AM in response to Chris CA

I too am trying to do the same thing ..... eliminate BOTH duplicate genres in the pull down list, as well as eliminate genre's I don't use.
I tried the suggested course for duplicate genres but the duplicates remain; but again, would also like to remove genres on the "internal" / standard pull down list that I know I will never use.

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Answer 9

kbeartx Author

Level 1

115 points

Dec 18, 2010 6:02 PM in response to Chris CA

I guess "a lot" means different things to different ppl. What you suggest is a time-consuming exercise b/c there are more than 13,000 tunes in my iTunes library, and many are inappropriately genre-fied.

Thanks for your input.

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Answer 10

kbeartx Author

Level 1

115 points

Dec 18, 2010 6:09 PM in response to 3mstrrktek7

The method outlined above is effective, although with as large a library as mine, it takes awhile.

IDK if it's possible to remove the genres that are supplied by Apple, since the suggested method involves changing ALL instances of a genre that you wish to eliminate, and when there are NONE, then that custom genre is no longer shown on the drop-down genre list.

IMO, an imperfect and decidedly inelegant design.

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Answer 11

Nov 23, 2013 3:15 PM in response to kbeartx

3 years later, and this is still a problem. It's so clear that the primary use case for itunes is selling music, and not managing a music library (or at best passively accepting whatever genres the content providers wish to push).

For all its defects, Windows Media Player, circa 2005 was a great content management system for managing music - you could drag (or shift-select) and drop anything to shift genres, albums, artists. (WMP ***** now) All iTunes allows you to do is add to playlists, everything else is the tedious Get Info dialog.

And I just want a text list, I hate having to look at thumbnails for everything. I don't know or care what the album cover looks like, but clearly the marketing weasels at the record labels made it a requirement that you have to look at the stupid cover art even though that makes it incredibly difficult to scan a list or sort.

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Answer 12

Chris CA

Level 10

82,513 points

Nov 23, 2013 10:34 PM in response to jaybrogers

jaybrogers wrote:

And I just want a text list,

Select Songs tab at top of iTunes.

iTunes menu View > Show view options.

Uncheck Show artwork.

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