Songs on album separated into separate albums/artists even with the same name

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Level 1

9 points

Songs on album separated into separate albums/artists even with the same name

I have three songs from an album, all from the same artist, but for some reason they aren't grouping together under the same album or artist on iTunes. All the songs are listed separately under different artists even though the artist (and album) name is exactly the same:

The same artist and album has just duplicated three times.

I've made sure all the song info is exactly identical as here:

And the sorting is the same too:

So I'm not sure what else to do.

MacBook, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Jul 13, 2016 3:49 PM

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Answer 1

Limnos

Level 10

426,809 points

Jul 14, 2016 3:09 AM in response to audreyrkl

If you see unexpected groups of songs when you browse an album - https://support.apple.com/HT204538 - "Songs from the same album might not be grouped together as you expect when you view them in the Albums view in iTunes."

The next sections provide additional solutions.

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/thread/2099465?answerId=9910895022#9910895022)

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 https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3756735?answerId=17670085022#17670085022).

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 - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6864334?answerId=27784417022#27784417022

If they still really do not want to group check this Aug. 2008 post by turingtest2 about temporarily changing labels - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1670662?answerId=7904806022#7904806022 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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