iPod plays CD discs in wrong order.

Question

Level 1

4 points

iPod plays CD discs in wrong order.

I have an album (Clockwork Angels Tour, by Rush) that came as 3 CDs. I have added it to my PC as one album with 3 discs. On iTunes they play in the right order, but on my iPod Classic it orders the album so that Disc 2 comes first, then Disc 1 then Disc 3.

When I originally ripped the album, I did it as 3 separate albums, Clockwork Angels Tour CD1, Clockwork Angels Tour CD2 etc, but I then changed it so as to have it as a 3 disc album.

The iPod shows all the tracks as one album, but in the wrong order

Any ideas as to how to rectify this?

iPod Classic 160 GB, Windows 7.

iTunes is up to date.

Thanks in advance

iPod classic, Other OS

Posted on Jan 6, 2014 2:17 PM

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Answer 1

the fiend

Level 7

22,476 points

Jan 7, 2014 2:18 AM in response to davegooch

I guess one method you could use is to change the track numbers so that they put the songs in the correct order. (I'm sure there is another way...)

When you originally imported the CDs, each disc would have a track 1, a track 2 etc. Now that you have combined the three discs, you probably have three track 1s and so on.

My research suggests that the album has a total of 32 tracks on the three discs. In your iTunes library, look at each song and make sure the track number is unique, from 1 to 32 in the correct order for each song and that the total number of tracks is listed as 32.

For neatness, make sure the disc numbering is correct as well. Then Sync these changes to the iPod.

Does that sort it out?

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Answer 2

davegooch Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 7, 2014 11:48 AM in response to the fiend

Thanks for the tip. It wasn't what I was hoping to hear in terms of an "easy" or elegant solution, and does not answer why the iPod has things in a different order to iTunes, but I thought I'd give it a go anyway.

I renumbered every track so they were unique, from 1 to 31, although I still kept them in their separate discs within the album, so Disc 1 of 3 had tracks 1-10 of 31, Disc 2 of 3 had tracks 11-20 of 31 and Disc 3 of 3 had tracks 21-31 of 31

I must confess I was VERY surprised when it didn't work! The album showed as expected on iTunes, but the iPod still had them in the original order, so all the tracks on Disc 2 - in order - came first, then all the tracks on Disc 1 then all the tracks on Disc 3.

When that happened I thought OK (and other words) and changed it again so there is no separation of discs within the album, just Tracks 1-31 - and it is STILL wrong. The order remains unchanged, so the iPod shows tracks 11-20, then 1-10, then 21-31.

It's not an alphabetical thing.

My next move will be to delete the album and then rip it again and see what happens then, unless anyone else has any ideas, please.................

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Answer 3

the fiend

Level 7

22,476 points

Jan 7, 2014 12:14 PM in response to davegooch

davegooch wrote:

I still kept them in their separate discs within the album, so Disc 1 of 3 had tracks 1-10 of 31, Disc 2 of 3 had tracks 11-20 of 31 and Disc 3 of 3 had tracks 21-31 of 31

That makes no sense, glad to hear you've abandoned that idea.

My suggestion should work, and not only is it easy, it is elegant. So let's have a check of one or two things.

Make all of the following changes with the iPod not connected to iTunes.
Make sure that the Disc Number x of x is the same for every single song on the album. The way to do that is highlight all the songs on the album and re-type 1 of 1 in the disc number boxes. Do not assume that a blank box is okay, in this situation, it definitely isn't.
Also make sure that the album title and artist name are exaclty the same. Again, the way to do this is as above, highlight all songs and re-type the information for album name and artist, and (as you are having a problem) Album Artist as well. Again, a blank box is bad news in your situation.
If you feel the need, you should check the Sort fields (on the Sorting tab) as well, but if you re-typed the information as I suggest, the Sort fields should self-adjust to your typing.
Now that you have made these changes, and only now, connect the iPod to iTunes and allow the Sync to copy those changes to your iPod.
On the iPod, in any Album view, the songs should now be in the correct order.

One thing, there have been several posts from people recently saying that iTunes has not been syncing all their changes/updates in iTunes to their iPods. There have been so many, that I think there may be a bug in iTunes that is still waiting to be fixed. So in the very remote chance that this latest attempt still doesn't show up correctly on your iPod, do one more Sync with changing anything. See what happens then.

Let me know what happens because this should work, there is no question about it.

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Answer 4

davegooch Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 7, 2014 3:50 PM in response to the fiend

I changed it so that all tracks think they are on Disc 1 of 1, and I also completed the Album Artist field as per your suggestion.

Whilst I don't agree that having to go in and change all the track numbers so they run consecurtively, instead of just keeping them as they came, is an elegant solution, I'm certainly not going to make an issue of it, as you have taken the time and effort to be helpful to a complete stranger.

I don't know which of your suggestions worked, whether it was the Disc numbering, or the Album Artist, or both, but either way it did the job, so thank you very much indeed for your help.

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Answer 5

turingtest2

Level 10

272,725 points

Jan 7, 2014 5:08 PM in response to davegooch

See my article on Grouping tracks into albums. My best guess from the above is inconsistent sort values are were affecting the order.

FWIW iPod classic doesn't obey album artist.

tt2

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Answer 6

KenH1

Level 1

0 points

Mar 15, 2015 7:56 PM in response to turingtest2

I had the same problem with Bruce Springsteen's The Promise. Disc 1 and Disc 2 were in the correct order in iTunes but not on my iPod Classic. After reading the above posts, I noticed that Disc 2 had Bruce Springsteen as the Album Artist while Disc 1 was blank in this area. After copying and pasting the information from Disc 2 into Disc 1 and then syncing my iPod the discs were in the correct order on the iPod as well. Thanks to all you who helped with this problem.

-Ken

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