How can I stop itunes arranging and playing album tracks alphabetically?

after you open itunes click the library icon in the source field to your left.
click on edit in the menu bar of itunes,
click view options .
place a check mark in the box marked track number.
now there should be a column heading that says "Track#" click that heading.
your library is now sorted by track number but all the first tracks of every album are first, if the last song on the album are first click the triangle in the track # column again this will reverse the order.
next click the Album column heading you will now have the albums in alphabetical order with original track order in the library.
just remember sort by track# first then by Album.
hope this helps.


PowerMac G5 1.8x2 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Yes it's OK I wasn't going to correct you 😉

Simply put, you don't need to have the Track Number column displayed but it's useful if you want to confirm songs are in album order. Just sorting with the album column can list all albums in alphabetical order and the songs in each album will be in track number order.

You can also sort by 'Album by Artist' or 'Album by Year' by clicking more than once on the Album column title (not the little triangle) and again all songs in each album will be in track number order. I particularly like the Album by Artist option as it sorts by artists first then albums so that all albums for each artist are grouped together.

When you import a CD, sort on the leftmost column and be sure the tracks are in the correct order.
If not, drag them to the desired position.
Then click the import button.
The tracks will then have the correct track numbers associated to them.

hope this helps.

M

If you click on the Album column name to sort by album then you should see the songs within the album are in track order. It certainly works for me.

In case you don't know, you can add the track number column to the browse window by pressing the apple and J keys and selecting 'Track Number'. This will allow you to confirm the running order of tracks and if you click on title of that column this will also sort by track number.

I suspect your tracks were in alphabetical order because you had the track Name column selected which sorts the songs by their names.

You're welcome.

I haven't tried those services yet but may look at emusic. I looked into using allofmp3 once but didn't fancy using a legally dodgy Russian site.

I use the iTunes store to get a few songs here and there, particularly some older ones. I don't get albums from iTunes because CDs are a similar price or even a lot cheaper for older albums.

emusic.com is interesting but I have to hand over my card details for the free trial and then subscribe after that's up if I want to. I'd probably rather find out what music I like for free and pick tracks individually. I've got most of the music I could want and it's just a case of finding good new stuff as it comes along.

I see others picked up the thread where I left of and gave you the solution.
Good job.

By the way, you aren't the Menno from long ago on Radio AmsterdamFM are you?

No, I am not. I am from long ago, but not from Radio AmsterdamFM 🙂

BTW. I came up with my suggestion about sorting tracks on a CD, because you mentioned importing albums.
The term Importing is used for CDs and playlists. What you were talking about is Adding. Never mind. Your problem is solved.

M

yes Flynn is correct you don't have to click track #first sorry for the confusion


PowerMac G5 1.8x2 Mac OS X (10.4.3)