How do I disable "up next" on itunes 11 (or at least make it play the next song in my playlist and not some random one)

I have found the definitive solution!!!

1. Select all songs in your library

2. Go to "Options", select "Skip when shuffling"

3. Click "OK"

iTunes 11 works fine on my computer... I think you need to check the "Shuffle" settings in all of your playlists, including the main library... It sounds like for whatever reason, iTunes is automatically shuffling your playlists...

Up Next is terrible and either needs to be adjusted, removed or given an option to turn off. I am a tv and film music supervisor who has relied on iTunes as my music media player since it's inception. I often am watching a video of my projects through Quicktime and want to play a song in iTunes against the video picture I am viewing to see how that song works against the cut. Now a horrible dialogue box keeps popping up asking if I want to play this song or the next one in Up Next?!? I want that song to immediately play when I click it because I am trying to sync the start of the song to the moment I want to view it against my video. And that dialogue box interruption is inhibiting this!!! Beyond frustrating. The iTunes engineers need to please see this and understand that we are not searching for iTunes to be our Pandora or Spotify. We just want the software to work!

I am having the same problem. Can anyone explain how to fix this? I checked the menu "Controls->Shuffle" and it is set to "off". Basically, I look at my library in the songs view (in this case sorted by artist). I choose a song to play, and when the song is over, it plays some other song from my library. The "up next' list is being automatically populated, and it is not entirely random, but I cannot see a pattern to it either. If I clear the "up next" list, then no songs are played after the current one finishes.

The behavior on my mac is as follows, and it would be great if it were consistent on windows. If I click on a song in the list view as above, the current song plays. When it finishes, the next song in the list plays and so on. The "up next" list is automatically populated with the songs in the order that they appear in the list. If I click on some other song in my library, the list is automatically updated with the next songs. In this way, I can easily listen to an entire album (or series of albums) from my library with no trouble.

In the Windows version, it is more difficult. My workaround right now is to manually select the next N songs from my list and add them to the "up next" queue. This works mostly, but the queue gets messed up and skips songs if you quit and restart iTunes.

Ok, so I figured out the solution to my problem (after about a year of dealing with this). Maybe this will help you, too. My problem was that only some of my songs have check marks next to them. In the song view, there is a column with a check mark at the top. For some reason, only a small subset had check marks next to them. It turns out that the songs with check marks are the ones that are considered for the up next list. So if you are having this problem, look at your check marks and make sure all of your songs have them. To check multiple songs, select them all, and then use control-click on any song.

Same problem here. I play a song in a playlist, expecting the next song in that playlist to play after. Instead, iTunes auto-populates the "Up Next" list with song titles in alphabetical order following the song I just played. I clear the Up Next list, and then iTunes plays nothing. So frustrating.

Yes, I am having the same annoying issue. I can't play an album anymore, after playing the first song it goes to the up next playlist. AND if I clear up next, and pick the same song at the start of the album again, it plays the song and populates a new up next playlist with the SAME MUSIC in the SAME ORDER. If I clear it, pick a different song, it get a new selection of songs I don't want to hear. (The behavior is always the same) I tried a clean install of my system and I am still having the same problem (or is it a feature). I don't have shuffle selected. I checked the different shuffle buttons and drop down menus and it is not selected anywhere. Any other ideas would be helpful.

Best,
John

John,

Double check that the checkbox on all your songs is checked. I assume you are doing this on a computer, not an ipad or pod or phone. You have to view the library in "songs" mode. You should see a list of songs at the bottom of the screen like the original iTunes used to show. This is the mode I use all the time. The first (or second) column is the one with the check boxes (though it is possible to manually move it). Double check that the songs in your album are all checked. The up next will only select from songs that are checked. If the next song in the album is not checked, it will pick something else. In any case, this is how I solved the problem with mine. I'm not sure how I got into the situation where only some of my songs were checked, though.

I have this same question (although I didn't have this problem til the last upgrade to Sierra) and I've been googling for 2 hours and no one has an answer for this that I have found. If I click on track 1 of an album, wanting to listen to the whole thing, I get the first song then "Up next" plays a random shuffle of after that. If I clear the Up Next list (annoying) it's stops playing after the 1rst song. Yes, all my songs are checked, (except the 4 songs I never want to hear but still want to keep) Shuffle control is also set to Off.

At this point Itunes is almost unusable for me as It literally won't play what I want it to play.

There has to be a simple answer... anyone?

Hi there,

I also have this problem only since updating to Sierra.

When I go search for a song and click play iTunes defaults to an Up Next shuffle once that song is finished.

If I go to album view and click play on the album iTunes at least just plays the album and you can see the next song in the album in the Up Next list.

However, this is very frustrating and only a problem for me since Sierra.

Would love to hear an answer for this too as I am seeing less and less reasons to continue with iTunes if niggles like this for users keep cropping up.

That was it dhuber, that was it!

Gary

Nocaster,

I have not yet upgraded my OS, but can you check my solution above and respond back as to whether it works for you? Several people have had the same problem that I did. If you find the solution works, please mark it as helpful so that others will see it, too.

Good luck,

Daniel

Hi,

I have not updated to Sierra yet, but I did test this behavior with my current version of iTunes. I am able to reproduce the seeming random up next by unchecking some songs in the library view. If some of your songs are not checked, it looks like they are randomly played. However, iTunes is actually playing the next checked song in whatever the last sort order you selected. So, for example, if you sort your songs in library view in order of last played, and if a bunch of your songs are not checked, you will get seemingly random songs in the up next list. Can you give my solution above a try and post a response as to whether it works? If enough people have this problem, and if they mark my solution as helpful, it can save many people the frustration that I (and apparently you) experienced.

Sincerely,

Daniel

Daniel, (Dhuber)

Well it turns out that was it. I went through my entire song list and there was 1 not checked. I guess you need 100% all songs checked for it to play straight and continually as a normal playing function. A little annoying for those few songs I don't want to hear but no where near as bad as it was before.

Quirky little problem but fixed. Thanks

I have the same issue. A right pain. Worse the system will play infinitum in this mode - really crazy. I finally got it to stop doing random 'Up Next' by this.

Look at the main screen in iTunes (this is the one where you have the Play/Forward/Stop and Volume Controls on it)

Select the 'Library' Blue Tag.

In 'Library' select 'Songs' (left column) you will see a song list in the main view and there should be a column showing a tick (or not) make sure that your whole list is checked (or at least check the songs you want played). All checked? Remain in iTunes then move to the top bar.

On the very top bar (the one with the apple sign in the upper left corner) go to 'View' and then select 'Sort By'. A list will appear, select 'Artist'.

So now when you select an album it will still show in 'up next' but at least that will be the next song on the same album by that Artist. You can still shuffle or randomise album tracks if you wish from the shuffle icon on the main iTunes menu.

If you want to go back to the irritating random 'up next' go to 'View'/SortBy/Ticked.

Hope that helps