How do I stop iTunes from automatically sorting by Album Artist? Driving me crazy.
I listen to primarily classical music
All of my music was very deliberatley titled by composers "Last Name, First Name" as the artist.
iTunes is changing it to the Album Artist. I have to go in and delete that information - AND THEN IT LATER REVERTS IT BACK!!!
Hours have been wasted and I am feeling so ticked.
Any help?
Windows 7
iTunes gives preference to Album Artist over Artist when sorting and grouping albums. There also the sort fields that can further modify the display order.
iTunes does not, in general, automatically populate tags, although if the items have been purchased from the iTunes Store you may in some cases see the store version of the metadata rather than any changes that you've made. If adversely affected use Edit > Preferences > Store and untick Show iTunes in the Cloud purchases.
iTunes may reveal tag changes made by other software. Windows Media Player is the usual culprit for mystery updates.
You can delete the album artist values for as many tracks as you like in one go. Make a selection, press CTRL+I to Get Info, place a tick in the empty box next to the Album Artist field (or delete what is in that field) and press OK. It is a good idea to backup before making widespread changes.
tt2
Yep. I did as recomended, selected the entire catologue and ensured that Album Artist was deleted.
Just happened again. About 40 albums reverted to previous Album Artist categorizations and it had to be done again.
So, so frustrating.
Purchased or ripped media?
If these are ripped mp3s then another possibility is multiple embedded tags. iTunes works best with a single ID3v2.3 tag. Some software creates both an ID3v1.0 and IDv2.x tag. With multiple tags it is not certain which iTunes reads or which it updates, and any device may choose differently. Once songs have the correct info. in iTunes you can use Convert ID3 Tags... None several times, then Convert ID3 Tags... v2.3. The process removes any embedded art but otherwise preserves the data that iTunes knows. You could use my script CreateFolderArt before and after to save and then restore the artwork.
In the long run you may be better off populating Album Artist properly with a copy of whatever is currently in Artist. My script CopyArtistToAlbumArtist can do this effectively.
tt2
I may try these...
It seems ridiculous to me that these sophisticated script changes are the most effective way to deal with this issue...
A simple choice to sort by Artist, Album Artist, or both would be simple and logical.
iTunes? Hello?
And yes, to answer you question... It is all ripped media (mp3) from my personal collection.
Selby George wrote:
It seems ridiculous to me that these sophisticated script changes are the most effective way to deal with this issue...
Me too, but since iTunes isn't going to automatically retag my media exactly the way I want it or the way that works best with iTunes, or some acceptable compromise, I found myself first having to work out exactly what the rules were, and then writing scripts to make it easier to make multiple changes.
If you want to try the first approach you can use a smart playlist with the rules Album Artist is not <empty box> and Media Kind is MPEG Audio File to focus only on the tracks that might need fixing.
iTunes has used Album Artist as a key sorting/grouping field for over seven years. The iPod classic still hasn't caught up. 😮
If you go to the Songs view and enable the column browser with View > Column Browser > Show Column Browser there is an option under View > Column Broswer > Use Album Artists. Turning this off (if it is on) may work better for you. (This option has effects in other views so I've no idea why it isn't more accessible).
See also my article on Grouping tracks into albums for more information.
tt2
How do I stop iTunes from automatically sorting by Album Artist? Driving me crazy.
