Q: Compilation shows songs in separate albums
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Jun 22, 2016 10:51 AMby Starr.C,Hello Nick Scribner!
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities! As I understand it, you have a 3-disc album you got from a website that you have imported to iTunes. Everything went fine until you got to the third album, which iTunes separated into one 24-track album and one 1-track album. I can definitely see why you would want all the songs on that disc to show up as the same album, as they should. I like to keep my iTunes music organized as well, and having one track off on it's own like that is contrary to having an organized library for sure!
It looks like you're definitely on the right track checking to make sure the album name is the same for all those tracks. There are also a couple other factors that might have caused the issue you're describing. Take a look at this article, paying particular attention to the sections about "compilations" and "album artists" and see if that helps with your situation:
If you see unexpected groups of songs when you browse an album
Have a great rest of your week!
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Jun 22, 2016 11:11 AMby Limnos,Steve MacGuire a.k.a. turingtest2 - iTunes & iPod Hints & Tips - Grouping Tracks Into Albums - http://www.samsoft.org.uk/iTunes/grouping.asp (older post on Apple Discussions http://discussions.apple.com/message/9910895#9910895)
Quick answer: Select all the tracks on the album, File > get info (or right-click > get info > details), and either give them all a single "album artist", or check the "compilation" flag (as in ).
If these are from multiple-CD sets you may also need to enter the appropriate information in the disc number fields. If they are not a multiple CD set you still need to make sure the disc number fields are set correctly or all empty.
Another explanation by hhgttg27 August 2015 -
If they still really do not want to group check this Aug. 2008 post by turingtest2 about temporarily changing labels - or http://www.samsoft.org.uk/iTunes/merge.asp - Add a letter at the end of the artist name, close the Get Info window, then open it again and remove the letter. This often works but I have had cases where tracks grouped when a letter was added but ungrouped when it was removed again.
If they are mp3 files try changing the ID3 tag version which may cause iTunes to re-write the tags and clear up inconsistencies. I use iTunes 7.5 (yes, from 2007) so I can't tell you where this is in later versions.
I had one case of really stubborn grouping. The tracks would re-group in ways that didn't make sense when I changed metadata. Without going into detail, I deleted the tracks completely from iTunes, then re-added the files and they all grouped correctly.
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Jun 22, 2016 12:50 PMby Starr.C,Hey Nick!
I figured that was the case when I checked out the link you posted earlier. That's where the "compilation" checkbox comes in handy in the "Get Info" settings. It says "Album is a compilation of songs by various artists". Selecting all the songs from disc three, then doing a "Get Info" edit of all of them at once. Once that's done, then checking that box (make sure it has a check and not a dash - you might need to click it twice!), should do it.
Good luck, and happy listening!
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Jun 22, 2016 8:32 PMby Nick Scribner,Limnos wrote:
If they still really do not want to group check this Aug. 2008 post by turingtest2 about temporarily changing labels - or http://www.samsoft.org.uk/iTunes/merge.asp - Add a letter at the end of the artist name, close the Get Info window, then open it again and remove the letter. This often works but I have had cases where tracks grouped when a letter was added but ungrouped when it was removed again.Thanks! That almost fixed it! However, the final track on the compilation (ironically titled "I Don't Need You") still doesn't want to group with the others. At least the rest of disc 3 is now with the compilation! Any idea why that track doesn't want to group? That track was originally the only problem I had. But when I tried re-importing the disc into my computer, all of disc 3 also did not group.
