How do I sort compilations in iTunes 12?

Question

Level 1

8 points

How do I sort compilations in iTunes 12?

Hi everybody. I just find out that if you mark the "compilation" checkbox and leave empty the Album artist tag, iTunes recognize the songs as "Various artists". This is great because knowing this I don't need to manually write "Various artists" any more, and so it doesn't appear as an artist on the artist view, which is correct.

The problem is that now all those albums, on the Albums view, appear at the end, and with a chaotic order. I use this function mainly for soundtracks and I would like to sort them by the name of the Album, so if I want to listen to the Forrest Gump soundtrack I look for it with the albums started by the letter F. I've tried to edit the Album artist sort option, but as the Album artist tag is empty it doesn't let me put anything.

And if this that I ask is not possible and all of the Various artists compilations have to appear at the end of my collection, at least I would like to keep them sorted by Album down there… I show you the strange order that shows iTunes with my soundtracks:

Anyone knows how it works or if I'm doing something wrong? Thank you very much.

Posted on Jan 28, 2016 9:37 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

rockmyplimsoul

Level 6

11,155 points

Jan 30, 2016 8:20 AM in response to Diecisiete

If you don't populate Album Artist, I suspect that when you have your library displaying in Album view the sort order will be based on the first artist name on each compilation. Does that seem to fit what you're seeing?

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Answer 2

Diecisiete Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 30, 2016 8:29 AM in response to rockmyplimsoul

When I saw your answer I thought it could be like you said, but actually no, there isn't any logical order in the first name of each album 😕

Any other idea? How do you guys order and manage compilations or soundtracks?

Thank you again 😀

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Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

272,927 points

Jan 30, 2016 8:43 AM in response to Diecisiete

I would explicitly fill in the album artist as Various Artists. With the library in the Songs view enable the Sort Album column and generally clear out any unnecessary values in that column. See Grouping tracks into albums for more.

tt2

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Answer 4

Diecisiete Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 31, 2016 6:20 AM in response to turingtest2

Yes, that's how I had it before. But I like the feature that without "Various Artists" as album artist now the tracks from soundtracks and other compilations appear on their own artist too and that's cool. I guess there's no satisfying solution to this problem, maybe in future updates…

Thank you for the suggestions anyway 😉

And if somebody find a solution pleas share it! 😀

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Answer 5

rkarpel

Level 1

4 points

Jul 24, 2016 11:42 AM in response to Diecisiete

Your albums should be listed alphabetically in the separate Compilations section. For the albums that aren't sorted alphabetically: Select the album. Go to Edit> Get Info> Sorting. Make sure the Album and Sort As fields on the top are correct. The should fix the problem.

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Answer 6

bcop81

Level 1

4 points

Aug 4, 2016 3:24 PM in response to Diecisiete

**Possible Solution**

I had a similar problem grouping compilations in iTunes 12. Using the GET INFO popup menu just wasn't working.

After an hour of faffing about, I checked the permissions on the files/folder in my iTunes Music folder and some of the MP3s were read-only. Once I unchecked "Read Only", it solved the problem. I could then select all the songs in iTunes and use the standard GET INFO menu to change the Album Artist to Various Artists, solving the problem.

Try this and I hope it helps.

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Answer 7

bcop81

Level 1

4 points

Aug 4, 2016 3:29 PM in response to Diecisiete

**Possible Solution**

I had a similar problem grouping compilations in iTunes 12. Using the GET INFO popup menu just wasn't working.

After an hour of faffing about, I checked the permissions on the files/folder in my iTunes Music folder and some of the MP3s were read-only. Once I unchecked "Read Only", it solved the problem. I could then select all the songs in iTunes and use the standard GET INFO menu to change the Album Artist to Various Artists, solving the problem.

Try this and I hope it helps.

Reply