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itunes renamed filename as tracks?

Apple itunes cannot use filename to import songs, it uses tracks instead?

The field <file name>, for all my mp3 is apparently NOT used by iTunes, for sorting. As a conclusion my library is totally messed up. I need some help...

Here the details:

I have organized my audiobooks for years, in this way:
file-name: D01 T01.mp3 then D01 T02 then ....then Dn Tm.
No id3 tag.
D01 T01.mp3 means the first track on Disc 01

D05 T14 means the 14th track on Disc 05

Usually audio books contain from 1 to 5 or 6 CDs

Across the years, i ripped all my mp3 with the same structure.

I put album info only on the folder name. For example, my last audio-books set was from Brian Tracy.
For the folder name I chose "Brian Tracy - Psychology of Selling"

The content includes
file-name: D01 T01.mp3 up to D05 T10.mp3

The software I used (Media Monkey) also filled automatically these fields:
title: track 01 up to track 10 for disco 01, then again track 01 to track 10 for disc 02, etc.

I have started to use iTunes since November. But every time I try to import I see that:
- file names are TOTALLY ignored
- I end up having 4 (FOUR) mp3 files called track 01, then another 4 (FOUR) MP3 files called track 02...and so on until track 10...a completely mess!

Since <file name> field (D01 T01.mp3) is apparently NOT used by iTunes, the conclusion is that my library is totally messed up.

Additionally iTunes imports the folder WITHOUT Looking at folder name, so all folders, in iTunes, show as "unknown artist , unknown album". This second issue is solved by me by manually editing the folder name and artist name (using "getinfo" function)

Question:
can somebody explain to me how can I force iTunes to import and sort my file using the FILENAME field (D01 T01.mp3) ? Instead of title field (track 01) ?

Any help is heartily appreciated!
SA

Sony Laptop Z57, Windows 7, x64 bit

Posted on Dec 13, 2010 4:46 PM

62 replies

turingtest2

Level 10

278,263 points

Mar 13, 2011 1:26 AM in response to turingtest2

Addendum:

1. Continued...
I prefer the aesthetic look without the leading zero (and some of my books have proper chapter titles) which is why I wrote the AudiobookSortName script.

2. Continued...
As you suggested earlier you might prefer to keep these tracks registered as Music instead of Audiobooks.

tt2

allesim Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 13, 2011 8:23 AM in response to allesim

Dear Steve

about AudioBookSortName.
It works beautifully, but around 80% of times...

It worked without issues on most folders except two:

The 1st folder is "Arch Lustberg - How to sell yourself"
Here I have 37 tracks. Your script fills the column "Sort Name", which was empty originally, but it stops at the 9th line.

I then try again selecting all tracks, or I try selecting the
remaining (unfilled) tracks, but the script won't do anything...

For example: if I select track 10th to 27th and run then I get this message: "28 tracks were processed of which 0 were updated" At the end, the "sort Name" column is empty from 10th to 27th (while it is correctly filled from 1st to 9th)

Thanks
Simone

allesim Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 13, 2011 8:26 AM in response to allesim

The second issue I have with this Audiobook folder:

"Zig Ziglar - Better than good"
Here the script works from track 1st to track 99th.
It cannot reach the end (track 129th).

Of course I have also run with the reverse script: "ClearSortName.vbs", but it did not help.

Thanks a lot and waiting for your remarks
Simone

turingtest2

Level 10

278,263 points

Mar 13, 2011 8:55 AM in response to allesim

If the Sort Name would be exactly the same as the existing text in the Name field (or the auto-sort value for that Name) then it is left blank. When sorting iTunes effectively "fills in" any empty Sort fields with their corresponding field. If the script leaves the Sort Name field empty it should be because it "knows" they don't need changing.

Assuming the track names are in the form of *<Book>, Part X* then if there are more than 9 and less than 100 tracks then the first 9 tracks need their sort names padding out with an extra zero. If there are over 99 tracks then the first 9 need two zeros, the next 90 need one zero and the rest will be fine as they are. If the tracks have proper chapter titles, or as sometimes happens, are listed with the first few words spoken on each track, then all get modified sort names. One final "finese" is that iTunes auto-sorts names that begin with "a ", "an " or "the " by dropping the article, so the script follows the same rules when deciding what value needs to go in the Sort Name field or whether it can be left empty.

tt2

allesim Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 13, 2011 9:14 AM in response to turingtest2

dear Steve

You are absolutely right! I have changed a bit your "instruction", in the 2nd step. I used <Track#:2>, in the Auto-Organize Files step so that the later script "AudioBookSortNames" always returns zero updates, as it should be!

You have an astonishing brilliant mind: your knowledge of iTunes is so deep, as is your understanding of those subtle tag-editing details.

Thanks a lot!
Simone

allesim Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 13, 2011 9:39 AM in response to allesim

Hallo Steve

I have a very minor issue: when applying your script AudiBookSortName to a folder with 81 tracks, it returned NOT empty (I was surprised, since I used <Track#:2> in step 2.
However the column is "greyed" not black.
Can you interpret what happened?

I have emailed the screens hot to you 5 minutes ago. Did you receive?

Thanks a lot!
SA

turingtest2

Level 10

278,263 points

Mar 13, 2011 10:21 AM in response to allesim

The greyed out text is the "auto-sort" version of the main field. As I said, iTunes drops leading articles so that, for example "The Beatles" get sorted under B as if it was just "Beatles". By the same token "The Power of Positive Thinking (4CDs)" becomes "Power of Positive Thinking (4CDs)" in the sort field unless you choose to override it with something else.

tt2

allesim Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 13, 2011 11:56 AM in response to turingtest2

Dear Steve

Track 44 out of "order"

I am now struggling with this folder "The Power of Positive Thinking (4CDs)". For some reasons I found track 44 was lacking Album field and artist field. These fields were empty. So I edited manually.

I re-run Auto Increment Track, to make sure.

Now no matter how many attempts, using your script (AudioBookSortName), re-doing all steps, even from scratch, this track always shows at the end...both in iTunes and in my iPhone (after syncing audiobooks).

Please see my screen-shot in my newly-sent emails
I sent 2 screenshots: one from PC (iTunes) and one from iPhone, using the iPod application.

This really made me crazy...everything seems in order, Track sorting is OK. why track 44 is not displayed and is not played between track 43 and track 45? Why this behavior is replicated into iPhone? I cannot understand

Thanks
Simone

turingtest2

Level 10

278,263 points

Mar 13, 2011 12:01 PM in response to allesim

See my article on Grouping Tracks Into Albums, in particular the topic Tracks out of sequence. Could be an inconsistency with Album, Artist, Album Artist or Disc #.

tt2

allesim Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 13, 2011 12:52 PM in response to turingtest2

you were right again.

there was a hidden field, disc #.
On track 43 and track 45 it was disc 3
On track 44, for some reasons, it was empty. I filled with Disc 3 and now the order sequence is correct!

Thanks again and good Sunday!
SA

turingtest2

Level 10

278,263 points

Mar 13, 2011 12:59 PM in response to allesim

You're welcome, enjoy listening.

tt2

allesim Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 13, 2011 1:31 PM in response to turingtest2

Dear Steve

I wish to transfer photo, wallpapers and ringtones, from iPhone to iTunes. Which application can do this?

I am googling now, I see a commercial program called PodToPc...I wonder if you have any suggestions

Thanks
SA

turingtest2

Level 10

278,263 points

Mar 13, 2011 1:55 PM in response to allesim

You can copy out your photos using Windows Explorer.
Purchased ringtones should come out with Transfer Purchases.
I don't think you can extract the built-in wallpapers or ringtones.

If you've lost the originals of some media then I've used Touch Copy 09 but having one product that works I've not had occasion to buy others to compare them. iPhone Explorer is however another useful tool that I've run across.

tt2

allesim Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 22, 2011 1:09 AM in response to allesim

Dear Steve

So far I have "modified" and imported successfully 22 Albums and everything is fine.

I have transformed them into "audiobooks"

Yesterday I run into an album made of 8 tracks.
I then used the "get info" feature to make the album a "audiobook"
With my surprise only 7 tracks changed status (from songs to audiobooks tracks). Track nr. 7 of 8 did NOT. It remained a song.

I checked any tags and attributes (genre, date, album, album artist, etc). There is absolutely no difference.

How can I "force" track nr. 7 from song to aufiobook track?

Thanks a lot!
SA

allesim Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 22, 2011 1:13 AM in response to allesim

Yesterday, by mistake, I have transformed a album (of songs) into iTunes U (instead of audiobooks)

When I synced I saw that my iPhone had a new folder, called iTunes U and it looked similar to Audiobooks. Except that there is no blue icon to signify that I have listened to that track (NO blue circle) or it is still un-listened (blue circle).

I wonder if you have spot the real differences between these two types: audiobooks and iTunes U tracks

Thanks a lot!
SA

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itunes renamed filename as tracks?