How do I stop i-tunes from changing the genres for my songs without my consent?

I tried that and something really bizarre happened.

When I'd click "Get Info" on the track itself it had my genre assignment. Within iTunes more generally, however, it was filed under something random.

Example- the track itself would be "Latin." The genre view in iTunes, however, would be "Baladas y Boleros."

I couldn't reconcile it, so I just deleted the entire library and added tracks back again after turning off match and the cloud. So far everything but "date added" and "album rating" is correct (it automatically assigns an album rating when I rate several tracks).

I may have figured this out. I am running iTunes 11 and experienced the changing genres, duplicating files, etc. too. What I have found is this:

1) Each iTunes entry must have accurate (matching) information between songs on an album, in these categories: artist, album, and genre. Sometimes album information gets a bit tweaked depending on how it get imported. You can change it, but all the songs much share exact information, including spelling and punctuation.

2) The iTunes big server in the sky is dealing with your information on the fly, and adjusting it. Don't expect an instantly perfect reflection of your information. It seems to work itself out as it goes and you will likely have to redo a few things.

3) After importing my CDs, I work in the Genre mode. Change genres, and deal with album content by right clicking and going into "Get Info". Make sure your stuff is correct there (rule 1 above). If you have to go back in and change any one of these later en masse, go into Song view, select a whole album, and then into Get Info. One change takes care of the whole album.

4) To change the genre of an album, I like to go into genre view, then click once on the main incorrect genre header on top, then again to select the type. Change it to what it should be (an already used or created genre) and it will meld in with its correct one.

5) If no artwork even after a bit of time has passed (the server may fill in some for you later), you can take care of this without scanning your disk cover. Go to the Get Info window, the open a browser and dial up Amazon.com. Search for your album title and copy out the artwork. Paste it into the album panel in the Get Info window.

6) I tried to sync things up by choosing "Update iTunes Match" in the Store dropdown. It messed everything up and a lot of corrections reverted. DON'T do it, at least not right away. I don't know if the effects of this will ease over time and the server will get more used to your arraingment. Still working this stuff out ...

Good Luck.

Thanks for this answers. It's too bad that iTunes makes things so difficult. But it works the way you say.

arealwiseguy wrote:

6) I tried to sync things up by choosing "Update iTunes Match" in the Store dropdown. It messed everything up and a lot of corrections reverted. DON'T do it, at least not right away. I don't know if the effects of this will ease over time and the server will get more used to your arraingment. Still working this stuff out ...

Good Luck.

I don't use iTunes Match, but elsewhere I've seen it suggested that "Update iTunes Match" makes your library match what you've previously uploaded to Match, not the other way around... That is supposed to take care of itself if you leave things alone for long enough.

tt2

I so agree with you, I am having the same problem. I to purchased a new Mac computer and the new ipod 5 touch. OMG so furstrated. when I go to my Genius I want to be able to chose if I want to listen to Rock or Country or 50s music...

are you refering to settings on your Ipod or on the computer ? refering to the below theory?

Okay - new theory (worked for me.....so far). Go to Settings and under "Store" uncheck" the "Show iTunes in the Cloud purchases"

No need to do anything else - it is the "version" in the cloud that is being displayed in iTunes (because if you look a the info for a single song the genre is correct). If you stop allowing iTunes to show the "cloud" version it should remain your custom genre.

I am having the exact same problem and it is driving me crazy - iTunes forces the genre on me time and time again. What's weirder is, if I select that track and ask it to display the info, my manually entered genre IS STILL THERE...if I click to the next track in then resets itself to the genre I chose. But next time I open iTunes, BAM, there it is, changed again. EXTREMELY annoying and very intrusive. Only does this on tracks I've downloaded from iTunes, not my own CD collection that I've ripped to my library.

In iTunes go to Edit > Preferences > Store and turn off

• Show iTunes in the Cloud purchases
• Share details about your library with Apple

On any iOS device go to Settings > Music and turn off

Show All Music

Close and reopen iTunes and/or reset the device and you should see your version of the metadata for each track rather than the original store data.

tt2

I'm still having this problem in iTunes 11.2.2. To maintain my library, I change information on songs purchased -- moving "feat." artists to the artist field from the song title, spelling artist's names consistently, changing genres, and so on. But eventually I come back and iTunes is reflecting the information formatted the way it was when the song was purchased, before it was changed by me. Once I play the song, it changes back to the way I want it, so I know that my changes were saved somewhere. But if I sync my iPod or iPad in the meantime without replaying every changed file (which isn't a possibility), it messes up and syncs the files based on the originally formatted version. I'm a DJ and I'm trying to keep things organized so that I can easily find songs. So frustrating.

Thanks for that tip!

I'm trying that right now....it's been driving me NUTS!! lol

🙂