What purpose does "Disc Number" serve?

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What purpose does "Disc Number" serve?

I want my albums to play in chronological order, when I select an artist, but iTunes (and my iPod) wants them in alphabetical order. It would seem, if you have filled in the Disc Number info, it would sort chronologically.
Am I missing something? Or is inputting the Disc Number just a waste of time? I mean, what good is the info if it can't be read as data?

(I mentioned this in another thread... sorry for the dupe question.)

iMac G5, iPod [video] 60Gb, Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Posted on Dec 18, 2005 5:55 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 18, 2005 7:04 PM in response to ron325ic

Well, I use it when I have an album that is more than one disc. For example for Pink Floyd's the wall, if I have the album for all of the songs as The Wall, and all the track numbers the way they are on each disc, and not using the disc number tag, then they would show up in the list as track 1 "in the flesh" then next song that would play would be track 1 "Hey You" because they are both considered track 1 of The Wall, so disc number allows all of the first disc's songs to be in order, then disc 2's afterwards.

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Answer 2

Chris CA

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Dec 18, 2005 7:07 PM in response to ron325ic

I want my albums to play in chronological order,
Doesn't do that. What chronological order do you want? Date ripped, date of album?

As previously stated, the disc number indicates the disc number in a multiple CD package.

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Answer 3

ron325ic Author

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Dec 18, 2005 7:14 PM in response to Chris CA

Well, I'd always want them in the order the band recorded them. You know, it only makes sense to listen to Led Zep 1 prior to 2.
If I have a "double cd" (don't have many), I make the first song of the second album a consecutive number after the last song of the first. If the first disc has 10 songs, the disc 2 would start with song 11. But, if I did that with all my artists, I'd have some crazy song numbers, if a band has a lot of albums. That's an idea, as a patch. But, it's too bad Disc Number isn't read per artist.
Thanks, though.

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Answer 4

ron325ic Author

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Dec 18, 2005 8:12 PM in response to ron325ic

I figured out a way to do it, although this is a TON of work (I have about 6000 songs in iTunes)...

Make every album title by the same artist the same (like, every Black Sabbath album is called "Black Sabbath").

Make every album part of a compilation.

Input the correct Disc Number (so they play in chronological order).

Then, so I don't "lose" the album title, I'll put that in the Composer field. I wasn't using that anyway.

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Answer 5

Chris CA

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Dec 18, 2005 9:00 PM in response to ron325ic

Why not just put the number of the album before the title?
For example; (Pink Floyd)
1 - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
2 - A Saucerful of Secrets
3 - Music from the Film Moire
4 - Ummagumma
5 - Atom Heart Mother
, etc.

Then sort on the album name.
The albums will be in order and the songs will still be in order as on the album.

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Answer 6

ron325ic Author

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Dec 19, 2005 5:21 AM in response to Chris CA

That's another option, but then you can't sort by album.

Like, if I'm looking for Atom Heart Mother, and I click the Album header to sort alphabetically, they are going to be sorted such that every band's first album will be in a row.

However, I guess I could do that, and put the real album title in the Composer field. (Obviously, I still want to be able to sort by album title, or I wouldn't bother.)

Thanks-
I may try that. Then everything would not need to be a "compilation"

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Answer 7

Chris CA

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Dec 19, 2005 7:53 AM in response to ron325ic

Then, so I don't "lose" the album title, I'll put that in the Composer field. I wasn't using that anyway.
If you browse by artist, the albums will be listed under that in order.

After all, you did say, "Then, so I don't "lose" the album title, I'll put that in the Composer field. I wasn't using that anyway."

PLay around with it and see what works.

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Answer 8

ron325ic Author

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Dec 19, 2005 8:04 AM in response to Chris CA

Well, if I changed every album title to be the same as the artist name, I would no longer be able to see the actual title. Unless, I entered it into another fild (like, Composer). The reason for doing this is so I can play albums by the same artist consecutively (without stopping between each one). Like I said, I would be calling every album a "compilation", so basically each artist would have 1 album, as per iTunes. But, I could see the breakdown of each album by sorting the Composer field.
This is a lot of work, so I'm not to thrilled about doing it.

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Answer 9

Truth42

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Dec 19, 2005 8:32 AM in response to ron325ic

I always prefix album names with a number (i.e. 01-Please Please Me; 02-With The Beatles; 03-Hard Day's Night, etc.)

It's a little time-consuming but the most successful compromise that I know of.

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Answer 10

Chris CA

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Dec 19, 2005 8:39 AM in response to ron325ic

The reason for doing this is so I can play albums by the same artist consecutively (without stopping between each one).

Try this.
Name the albums as I have suggested; 1 - Album 1, 2 - Album 2, etc)

In iTunes, click & sort by Artist.
Sync the iPod.

On the iPod, select Music -> Artist -> All and press Play.
The songs should play in order of album and track order.

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Answer 11

ron325ic Author

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Dec 19, 2005 9:32 PM in response to Chris CA

Yeah, Chris, your method definitely worked better than mine. Making everything a compilation was a mess in my Music folder. Heh, everything was all crammed in one folder!

So, I'm renaming almost all my albums as 1_album one, 2_second, etc.

thanks for the input

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