How to change tag track numbers en masse?

I have nearly 8,000 tracks on my iPod, many of which are for audiobooks stored as music files. In general, the tracks from these audiobooks have useful tag data, with the exception of the track number field that is stored as part of the tag data. I am trying to find a way that will enable me to renumber many tracks at once without having to do it one file at a time.

When I rip audiobook wav files to mp3 the track number data field is automatically inserted according to which track it was on the source CD. However, since many audiobooks have more than one CD, the end result is that I have more than one track that is number 1, number 2, and so on. For example, if an audiobook has 10 CDs each with 10 tracks I end up with 100 tracks in total, but instead of tracks numbered 1 through 100, I get 10 tracks with track number 1, ten with track number 2, and so forth.

This causes a problem in the way the iPod arranges tracks. My iPod puts them in the correct order when I access a book using "playlist," but if I want to access the book by "artist" or "album" it does not put them in the proper order. It orders them not by track name, but by track number. This is a problem because there are multiple files with the number "1" in the track number tag field. Whereas I need to be able to go from disc 1/track 1 to disc 1/track 2, instead the iPod goes from disc 1/track 1 to disc 2/track 1.

I could, of course, create a separate "album" for each CD in a multi-CD audiobook, but then I would have way more "albums" than I really need to have listed.

Does anyone know of a method (or an application) that I can use to renumber tracks easily and quickly? I would be ideal to find something as easy as this would be to do in an Excel spreadsheet. But to renumber them one file at a time is simply overwhelming.

Please advise.

iPod Photo 60 with color screen (1 year old), Windows XP

Posted on Feb 6, 2006 9:31 AM

Reply
2 replies

Feb 6, 2006 11:13 AM in response to jamotter

Whereas I need to be
able to go from disc 1/track 1 to disc 1/track 2,
instead the iPod goes from disc 1/track 1 to disc
2/track 1.


Right click on any of these files and do a Get Info. Notice that there is, in fact, a Disc number field. So you can make disc numbers 1/10, 2/10 and so on.

iTunes and the iPod are both smart enough to recognize that there are disc numbers there and act correctly. So it'll start with Disc 1, play all that disc, then go to Disc 2, and so forth. It's just a matter of having correct disc number tags.

You can tag disc numbers for a whole disc at once. Simply select all the songs in a single disc (hold SHIFT or CTRL while selecting the songs), right click, Get Info, and you get the mass tag editor screen. Add the disc number info for this disc, and it'll tag that info to all those songs. Repeat for each disc.

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How to change tag track numbers en masse?

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