I want to have my albums sorted alphabetically, then have it sorted by artist within the albums. Right now it seems like I can only get it to sort by track number within the albums. How can I change this? I must admit, I'm a bit flabbergasted as to why the sorting options are so limited.
MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.7.2)
Hi pnewcomb,
You can sort the albums the way you wish.
Click on the links below to customize your view.
iTunes 11: Frequently used features
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5649
Select Albums at the top of the iTunes window.
Click on the View command on the menu bar.
Click Show View Options
Choose Sort By > Artist
Here's a quick overview of the new iTunes 11:
iTunes 11: Introducing the New iTunes
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12276
Cheers,
Judy
Hi pnewcomb,
Thank you for using the Apple Support Community. Due to the nature of your issue or question you may find more information by using another one of Apple's support resources - https://expresslane.apple.com/GetproductgroupList.action.
- Judy
Thanks Judy, but that's not what I had in mind. I only use the "Songs" tab since it gives me all the details I need to see quickly and easily. The "Album" tab is just overly cumbersome to me. Plus, when I sort it that way, it divides the different artists from an album into separate albums - so if I have an album that contain 20 different artists, each artist will get their own album with one track each. That's pretty inefficient & confusing. I just want it to function the way it did in version 10. I wonder if there's a way to downgrade...
pnewcomb wrote:
I want to have my albums sorted alphabetically, then have it sorted by artist within the albums.
This will only make a difference if you have the same album name by different artists.
Else it will simply sort everything by Album.
Plus, when I sort it that way, it divides the different artists from an album into separate albums - so if I have an album that contain 20 different artists, each artist will get their own album with one track each.
Select all the songs on the same album.
Make sure Album & Album Artist is the same on all tracks.
This will only make a difference if you have the same album name by different artists.
Else it will simply sort everything by Album.
Yes, that's exactly what I need. I have many albums that have different artists. I had no problem doing this in itunes 10.
Select all the songs on the same album.
Make sure Album & Album Artist is the same on all tracks.
I don't have much data in my album artist column. I never use it.
pnewcomb wrote:
Yes, that's exactly what I need. I have many albums that have different artists.
You have many albums of the same name by different artists? Or there are differnt artists on teh same album?
I had no problem doing this in itunes 10.
It works exactly the same in iTunes 11.
You can also set the album as a Compilation.
Right click - get info.
Click the Options tab and tick Part of compilation.
You have many albums of the same name by different artists? Or there are differnt artists on teh same album?
Yes to both questions. Many compilations, but the main one I'm having trouble viewing is an album called "-" that contains all songs that don't have a home (named it that so it would come before/after all other albums). When I sort by album and come to this album, or any other album that has multiple artists, they seem to be scrambled all over the place.
It works exactly the same in iTunes 11.
I wish it did, otherwise I wouldn't be posting the question 😉
You can also set the album as a Compilation.
It's still not sorting.
Actually, I just noticed that it is sorted by album then by album artist for some reason. The album artist field is filled in pretty sporadically throughout my collection so that's why it seemed so random. Anyways, if I can't sort by album then artist, perhaps I can figure out a way to make the album artist column mirror the artist column.
You can sort Album by Artist.
This will sort by Artist and the the artist albums.
So AC/DC would come first with all their albums sorted alphabetically, then Backstreet boys with their albums sorted alpabetically, etc.
pnewcomb wrote:
Actually, I just noticed that it is sorted by album then by album artist for some reason. The album artist field is filled in pretty sporadically throughout my collection so that's why it seemed so random. Anyways, if I can't sort by album then artist, perhaps I can figure out a way to make the album artist column mirror the artist column.
When iTunes sorts as Album by Artist the value of artist that is shown is taken from Album Artist if filled in, otherwise from Artist. The order is controlled by the corresponding sort field if not blank, otherwise by the value itself. The upshot is copying the current values of Artist into Album Artist where Album Artist is blank won't change anything.
Album Artist should be used to link tracks of an album where guest/featured artists listed in the artist field would otherwise cause it to split up. It is good practice to fill it in always, but in many cases it won't change how things are displayed. For various artist type compilations also use Part of a compilation, particularly if your media will end up on a non-iOS device.
See Grouping tracks into albums for more details. I'm still not sure why you would want to sort by artist instead of track order within an album, unless you're suffering from the "Greatest Hits" problem. Your "-" album of odds & sods should probably have Album Artist as Various Artists and Part of a compilation as Yes.
tt2
I'm still not sure why you would want to sort by artist instead of track order within an album
As I mentioned above, these are random songs thrown into a misc album, so the track number is meaningless to me in these cases.
Album Artist should be used to link tracks of an album
Why not the artist column? That's the column that is always accurately populated whenever I burn a CD. The album artist field is either not filled in at all or contains info that isn't relevant to my sorting needs. I just need to sort by the artist. I don't understand why there would be a need for a "artist" field and also a "album artist" field. Shouldn't these be the exact same thing?
I think I've found a workaround though - I just deleted all the album artist and track number data from my "-" album, and now everything is showing up just fine! I'll just have to make sure to do this whenever I add new music to this album. Not as simple as itunes 10 made it, but at least I can sort my music properly now.
Artist is the artist or artists that perform on a particular track. Not necessarily the same for every track from a given album.
Album Artist is the name of the artist or group that released the album and must be the same for every track from the same album.
The first is usually populated from the CDDB database, the second isn't. The extra field was introduced to iTunes back in iTunes 7. Its absence was particularly noticable in the first build when cover flow started breaking up horribly if guest/featured artists were listed. It has yet to (and likely never will) be implemented in non-iOS devices, but iOS models can respect the Album Artist value for linking things together. In both iTunes and iOS this link can also be tunred off if desired.
Other media players include both Artist and Album Artist fields for the same purpose.
tt2
If that's the case, I personally think the album artist field is completely useless in most cases. That's just me though. In any case, if CDDB populates the most relevant info into the "artist" field, it seems like it should be an obvious sorting option in itunes. Sure, sorting by album artist may come in handy from time to time, but for the most part, the artist field should be the default, not the other way around.
When you buy a record CD in a physical store it is categorised by its album artist, not the performers on a specific track. That the CDDB database doesn't include this information is a shortcoming. The All Music Group online database where Windows Media Player gets its data from does, and frankly has a much better look up service all round. Much easier to change things if you've picked the wrong version of an album for example. I've grown used to using iTunes since I bought an iPod, but I do miss the great album reviews that WMP would serve up.
tt2
Can't Sort by Album, Then Artist
