In Get Info, in the new iTunes, the Release Date is not editable. However, when downloading books and importing into iTunes, the Release date is always 6/5/1905. Now I don't think either music or books or anything likely to be downloaded was released in 1905, so, why is the field not editable?
Thank you,
Laura
My recollection is that Release Date was one of the private fields that iTunes rarely shows and has never let you edit, but is sometimes filled in for purchases. I've no idea what the significance of June 5th 1905 might be. It isn't one of the typical epoch dates. Perhaps it was a test value used in the development of iTunes 12 and meant to be replaced with the actual release date if present. I have 7 audiobooks with real release date values and these are shown properly, the rest show 05/06/1905 (UK date order) in Get Info, but are blank in the release date column in the list view.
tt2
Actually I never noticed a field called "Release Date" in Get Info of previous versions, only Year. And there is no Release Date field shown in any of my music Get Info. If I try to access Get Info for albums, it asks me if I want to "edit information for multiple items." If I click on Edit Items, there is still no Release Date field - just Year.
However, not one of the Release Dates are correct in any of the books, i.e. those imported into iTunes both before and after the latest "upgrade." AND the Release Date column is blank for them all. So what is it for, anyway?
It is a pity that, if it isn't editable, it should be able to be removed or added depending on the need.
Just found out another weirdness. In the Audiobook List Genre is no longer there. It is in the Playlists, thank heaven, but not in the master list where it really should be. It IS in Music, but not in books. How weird. I hope that is an oversight and will be fixed.
Thank you for your response.
Good advice, turingtest2. One can hope that they pay attention to feedback. Heaven knows Apple pays little to no attention to the forums!
I was really unhappy with many of the changes to iTunes, although I'm getting used to it. The "release date" issue needs to be addressed--there is no good reason why people shouldn't be able to edit this field. Many of us have content in our libraries that wasn't purchased from iTunes, and we should be able to edit/manage our content as we see fit.
We should all send feedback through the link provided by tt2.
I have a theory (*Ahem* 🙂). I have a feeling that the reason you can't edit the release date might be because that bit of data is 'embedded' in the file that you purchase from itunes. Because you can't edit the actual song file, you can't change that bit of information. It's like how the date of a photo is sometimes embedded in an image file. I think they call it 'embedded metadata'? For images they can also embed info about what camera it was taken on, etc. My guess on the 1905 date is that it's a copyright date of some sort. There was a Copyright Act of 1905, so for books, perhaps that's where it's coming from. I hope this helps with understanding why this field can't be edited and why it often doesn't contain sensible data. You're stuck with whatever was put there by whoever created the original media (song or book) file.
I too, like to have the year of each song as the year it came out, rather than the year the album was released. This happens especially with 'Best Of' compilations. I had edited this for most of the songs in my library but recently lost all that info because I had a crash and had to create a new itunes library file. Wish me luck! Or patience!
BP
bpalmerau wrote:
I have a theory (*Ahem* 🙂).
Good one...
I guess you must be Anne Elk in real life
Release Date in Get Info always 6/5/1905 and not editable?
