Group by artist Only on ipod

The only way I can think of to achieve what you want is to create Smart Playlists for those artists. This will be impractical (and probably unnecessary) if you want to do it for every single artist, but if you wish to do it only for a few (such as those artists for which you have several albums), then you may consider it worth your while.

On your iPod you would then view the Playlist to see a list of the songs as songs, not albums. You can of course, play the list as well.

A Smart Playlist has rules that cause songs to be added to the Playlist if they meet the rules. In your iTunes Library the Playlist can be arranged to view in several different ways, one of which should suit you. But on the iPod, the Playlist appears as a list of songs, in just the way you want.

Here's an example of one of my Playlists (created in my iTunes Library and then synced to my iPod), designed to capture any song that has the artist Pete Namlook in the artist field (it may help to open the picture in a new window, it's bigger and easier to see):

This Playlist has captured all 13 songs that I have by Pete Namlook, including ones where he is credited alongside another artist. It's important that the rule states "contains / Namlook":

• if the rule stated "is / Namlook", the list would be empty (because the artist is not just Namlook).
• if the rule stated "is / Pete Namlook", it would have only the nine songs with him credited as the only artist.

Notice however, that one song (ringed in orange) is listed as Ritchie Hawtin & Pete Namlook (that is, with Pete Namlook listed second). If I look under the Artists View, or my preferred Songs View, that song is not immediately obvious, because Pete Namlook is not listed first. Here's the Songs View:

In this (Artists) view, Pete Namlook is correctly listed three times: first as a solo artist, second as a duo with Gabriel Le Mar and lastly with Klaus Schulze. In the highlighted list there are nine songs. The other two lists have three more songs, giving a total of only twelve songs. So where is the 13th song?

There it is, correctly listed under "artist = Richie Hawtin & Pete Namlook".

So my Smart Playlist captures songs that if I'm not careful, I forget about.

Oh and did I mention - if I add any further songs to my Library by Pete Namlook, they are automatically added to the Smart Playlist and the next Sync of my iPod with the Library modifies the list on the iPod too?

I have nothing to do...

You have tried:

nolanjamesxv wrote:

1. I was able to accomplish this using GetInfo in iTunes and setting all the album names to be the same as the artist
2. I also set the album artist to the artist name and
3. I even set the "grouping" to the artist but none of this has any effect after I sync to my ipod.
4. I tried resetting/purging my ipod and re-syncing but I cannot seem to be free from the album name.
5. I've also tried clearing the album field from iTunes but that just shows up as "Unknown Album" on my ipod.

But you're not prepared to try, as a test:

one Smart Playlist

You have a curious way of facilitating your laziness.

Perhaps if you re-read my post you may see just what I've proposed. Your choice, don't let me sway you.

I think I do understand what you want to see, the issue is how you want to see it.

You refer to being able to see the view you want in "earlier versions", but you don't specify whether you mean a earlier version of an iPod (an earlier model) or a earlier version of iOS on an existing iPod.

So let me explain what I have found:

• On a 2nd generation iPod Touch, running iOS 4.2.1 (the latest version it can run), the two views (when delving into an artist in the Artists menu) are as follows:
  • if the artist had only one album on the iPod, the Artist list would show the album artwork and album information, and underneath that was a list of all the songs on that album. So, one list, but only one album.
  • if the artist had two or more albums on the iPod, the Artist list shows the All Songs menu item on the top line, followed underneath by a list of the albums by that artist. If All Songs is selected, the next screen would show a list of all the songs on every album by that artist as one list. So, one list of all songs from all albums, just as you have stated.
  • This 2nd generation iPod Touch still shows all of the above today. I've just checked.
• On an iPod Touch 6th generation (the latest one available), running iOS 11.2, I have found no ready-made way to display all the songs by an artist. When looking at an artist in the artist menu, it simply has a list of the albums by that artist. Again, I've just this minute checked.

Therefore, assuming that you have the latest iPod Touch, the easiest way I have found, to show a list of all songs by one artist as one list (and without album sub headings) is to create and use a Smart Playlist, so that's why I have suggested you try it. You could have created and tested one by now - and spent less time doing so than you have discussing it with me.

Oh! and by the way...

Once again, it's still your choice, but in your first post you stated:

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

The way to show your appreciation is to try, with an open mind, my suggestion of a Smart Playlist.