Album View Still Wonky ... Splits a Six Song "Album" Into Three

Question

Level 1

71 points

Album View Still Wonky ... Splits a Six Song "Album" Into Three

I'm trying to get my head around the iTunes 11 and not be too cranky in the process.

I had an issue with things not showing up when I searched and iTunes having trouble with compliations I'd made -- perhaps something to do with the "various artists" in the "album artist" field.

Here was a recent discussion:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4604992?answerId=20620345022#20620345022

Now I'm having a (perhaps) related issue.

Every week I make a little mix -- I call them sixpacks. Rather than just make a playlist I make AAC copies of the songs, edit the info so they are called "[this week's] Sixpack," I change the tracks to 6 and I add artwork. I'm sure my behavious might indicate many phychological shortcoomings -- can you spell OCD? :-) -- but for these purposes let's stick to my technical issues.

I made this week's sixpack and it displays just fine in the song view:

And in the Playlist view:

But when I go to the album view it shows as three different albums

The first album has one song, the second two and the final three -- but of course not in track order.

When I edited the info I did not include "Various artists" in the "Album artist" filed (that worked perfectly in iTunes 10) and went to the options and indicated it was part of a compliation.

This ain't a big deal as I just won't use the Album view but my OCD and need for order have me typing this post.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Posted on Dec 24, 2012 8:12 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Chris CA

Level 10

82,440 points

Dec 24, 2012 8:49 AM in response to jayessemm

jayessemm wrote:

When I edited the info I did not include "Various artists" in the "Album artist" filed

Why not?

Set Album Artist to Various Artist and set them as a Compilation.

Reply

Answer 2

jayessemm Author

Level 1

71 points

Dec 24, 2012 9:16 AM in response to Chris CA

Hi Chris,

That various artists was my saviour in iTunes 10 but seemed the start of my iTunes 11 troubles. It seemed when Various Artists was in the album artist field the search thing was really wonky.

See my previous post and the suggested solution.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4604992?answerId=20620345022#20620345022

I removed all the "various artists" from all my songs compliations.

Reply

Answer 3

Brij011

Level 2

166 points

Dec 24, 2012 10:22 AM in response to jayessemm

I have a similar issue. Some regular albums ripped from CD onto a PC and later transferred to my Mac were split into two or three albums in album view, all with identical data so there was no apparent reason. This thread prompted me to go back and look at this again and, almost miraculously, they are now showing as one album!

The only explanation I can think of is that this was a bug that's recently been corrected by an update?

Coerrection: Some have corrected themselves but for example i have about 10 albums by Blue Oyster Cult and every one has track 1 as one album and the remaining tracks as a seperate album. All data is identical. Does anyone have any ideas?

Reply

Answer 4

Chris CA

Level 10

82,440 points

Dec 24, 2012 7:28 PM in response to jayessemm

See this -> http://samsoft.org.uk/iTunes/grouping.asp

Reply

Answer 5

jayessemm Author

Level 1

71 points

Dec 26, 2012 1:16 PM in response to Chris CA

Thanks Chris,

I wonder if the linked article addresses issues in iTunes 11 even as it uses illustartions for iTunes 10. Before I made the mistake of downloading 11 I could manage my iTunes pretty well.

Just playing around with that one recent sixpack that caused me the troubles I wrote about above ...

I checked the "part of a compliation" box and it had no impact.

Then I went back and added the "various artists" in the Album artist field and -- good news the three albums now show as one. But when I look at that album in the album view the songs don't appear in 1,2,3, ... track order. Which is where I believe is where I was at when I started and posted the previous question.

Like I say ... I'm not sure if this is a bug but it sure bugs me!

Reply

Answer 6

kilima

Level 3

589 points

Dec 26, 2012 1:22 PM in response to jayessemm

You should have a look at the "Disc x of y" field. These should all be the same. All blank or all "1 of 1" whatever.

Reply

Answer 7

jayessemm Author

Level 1

71 points

Dec 26, 2012 1:35 PM in response to kilima

Got it -- thanks!

Now the only funny thing is iTunes assigns a date to the album that doesn't have any relationship to the songs but I figure I'll quit while I still can!

So ... to recap

I'll leave the album artist field blank (even though it was my salvation in iTunes 10).

I'll make sure the "part of a compliation" box is checked yes

I'll remove any "disk 1 of 1" or "...1 of 2"

I'll have to think how anal I want to get and how many of these mixes / compliations / ... I go back and fix.

And I won't worry about this stuff any more! :-)

Many thanks.

Reply

Answer 8

kilima

Level 3

589 points

Dec 26, 2012 1:44 PM in response to jayessemm

YW 🙂

Reply

Answer 9

Chris CA

Level 10

82,440 points

Dec 26, 2012 2:00 PM in response to jayessemm

Are you using Group Compilations and View > Use album artists (or wherever it is located in the View menu now)?

Reply

Answer 10

jayessemm Author

Level 1

71 points

Dec 26, 2012 2:13 PM in response to Chris CA

Hey Chris,

By this point I'm not 100% sure what my name is let alone what options I have (or haven't) checked. :-)

As best I can figure ... in the Artists View I have Group Compliations checked and "Sort Albums by: Title"

Reply

Answer 11

jayessemm Author

Level 1

71 points

Dec 26, 2012 3:28 PM in response to jayessemm

Sorry ... I meant to say Group Compliations UNCHECKED

Reply

Answer 12

turingtest2

Level 10

272,881 points

Dec 26, 2012 4:02 PM in response to jayessemm

I haven't had time to revise the images as yet, but with the exception of the changes in the display modes the Grouping tracks into albums article remains relevant to iTunes 11. Generally a common Album Artist will fix most split album issues. Deeper problems are discussed in the article.

tt2

Reply