Remove track numbers from filenames

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Level 4

3,284 points

Remove track numbers from filenames

I discovered iTunes has added track numbers to the front of my song files, thousands of them. How can I remove these numbers in bulk?

I disabled all newly addeed track numbers, so that is not my question.

Posted on May 27, 2011 8:57 PM

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Answer 1

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Chris CA

Level 10

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May 27, 2011 10:29 PM in response to Gnarlodious

Can't.

"I disabled all newly addeed track numbers, so that is not my question."

How did you do this?

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Answer 2

Gnarlodious Author

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May 27, 2011 10:33 PM in response to Chris CA

Terminal commands:

defaults write com.apple.iTunes create-filenames-with-tracknumber -bool FALSE

defaults write com.apple.iTunes create-filenames-with-disknumber -bool FALSE

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Answer 3

Chris CA

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May 27, 2011 10:35 PM in response to Gnarlodious

That no longer works in iTunes 10.

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Answer 4

Gnarlodious Author

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May 27, 2011 10:37 PM in response to Chris CA

Argh! I didn't test it on an import. Does Apple now force us to have numbers in front of our filenames?

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Answer 5

Chris CA

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May 27, 2011 10:41 PM in response to Gnarlodious

Seems like it.

It was disabled before. It may simply be a bug/oversight in this version.

Send suggestions here -> http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html

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Answer 6

Gnarlodious Author

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May 27, 2011 10:44 PM in response to Chris CA

Considering all the noise about Apple's Cloud Music Service, I doubt it iss a mere oversight. More likely they are trying to standardize filenames as they appeared on disk.

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Answer 7

Jun 16, 2011 6:31 PM in response to Gnarlodious

I hope not. I may need to look for another way to manage my audio files at work.

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Answer 8

ed2345

Level 9

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Jun 17, 2011 3:29 PM in response to Gnarlodious

Does Apple now force us to have numbers in front of our filenames?

Gnarlodious, iTunes does not require you to have the track number in front of the filename. It will put it there if you let iTunes do the rip or a conversion or the "Automatically add" thing or run "Consolidate," or any other misstep.

However, if you have the file named otherwise, iTunes will not force you to change.

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Answer 9

Gnarlodious Author

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Jun 17, 2011 3:32 PM in response to ed2345

I've verified that the track number can't be disabled for all CD imports. Guess we're going to have to live with it.

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Answer 10

ed2345

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Jun 17, 2011 3:36 PM in response to Gnarlodious

Gnarlodious wrote:

I've verified that the track number can't be disabled for all CD imports. Guess we're going to have to live with it.

Rip the CD in another program, and then add the resulting files to iTunes. Most ripping tools give you a good deal of flexibility in file naming.

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Answer 11

Jun 17, 2011 3:57 PM in response to ed2345

Care to recommend one?

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Answer 12

ed2345

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Jun 17, 2011 4:03 PM in response to Daniel Pinder

Daniel Pinder wrote:

Care to recommend one?

On Windows, CDex.

On Mac, Max.

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Answer 13

Gnarlodious Author

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Jun 17, 2011 5:25 PM in response to ed2345

The point I was making is that between remixes and various versions, the only reliable way to identify a song is by is album name and track number. It looks like this is setting us up for the iCloud music repository by standardizing filenames. If so, it would be a waste of time to force the filenames to be nonstandard.

That said, its fairly simple to whip up a script to strip the track numbers. So I think I will take the wait-and-see solution and re-evaluate this in a year or so.

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Answer 14

ed2345

Level 9

62,432 points

Jun 17, 2011 6:11 PM in response to Gnarlodious

Gnarlodious wrote:

The point I was making is that between remixes and various versions, the only reliable way to identify a song is by is album name and track number.

Yes, but hopefully your tracks have accurate tags, which as you know are independent of the file names.

It looks like this is setting us up for the iCloud music repository by standardizing filenames. If so, it would be a waste of time to force the filenames to be nonstandard.

Considering how aggressively iTunes is about putting the file names in "01 SongName" format, that is a good prediction.

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Answer 15

Nov 23, 2014 3:46 AM in response to Gnarlodious

You can remove the annoying track numbers from all your music files at once by:

selecting all your files (press command and a in your music folder);

bringing up the file menu, either with a two finger tap, or from the drop down menu at the top;

choosing 'get info' from the menu;

then entering a zero in the track number field and pressing 'OK'.

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