iTunes burns songs into folders - how to change that?

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fredman1 Author

Level 1

8 points

iTunes burns songs into folders - how to change that?

iTunes 12.7.3.46 on Windows 10.

When I burn an MP3 disk of about 140 songs to a CD, it puts them

into individual folders by artist order.

I don't want that, in my car it doesn't work well when I choose 'random play',

it seems to pick 'randomly' a song from the first folder, then it goes to a song

in the next folder, and then into the next folder after that, in alphabetical order.

Is there any way to just burn the songs themselves to the CD, and not into

folders on the CD?

Posted on Mar 1, 2018 4:32 PM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

Level 10

272,749 points

Mar 3, 2018 7:26 AM in response to fredman1

You've missed my point. I've been using iTunes for over 10 years and I've either not run across this feature before, or it just hadn't registered in my memory banks. I pride myself on knowing nearly all there is to know about iTunes so I was explaining why this was an area I might have overlooked, not questioning your need for it.

Here is the same playlist burned three times with different sort orders. It still works exactly as stated in the support document, even if Apple have retired it.

Playlist, viewed as songs, sorted by name:

Playlist, viewed as songs, sorted by album:

Playlist, viewed as songs, sorted by artist:

Back when I had a portable CD player that could read data CDs I would make them in the third layout, but using Nero. I think I've only ever used iTunes for recording audio CDs as opposed to MP3 or data discs, even though I knew the feature was there.

tt2

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Answer 2

ed2345

Level 9

62,492 points

Mar 2, 2018 7:02 PM in response to turingtest2

turingtest2 wrote:

Well that's something about iTunes I didn't know. 🙂

tt2

I guess it is slightly obscure knowledge at this point. 😁

At one time there was a support article about it, but the article has gone 404:

iTunes: How to set the play order of songs on an MP3 CD.

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Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

272,749 points

Mar 3, 2018 12:21 AM in response to fredman1

I all but stopped burning CDs years ago when I switched to iPod. It may well have been simply a matter of luck that your discs burnt the way you wanted them to until you happened to try to burn a particular list sorted in a specific order. See iTunes: How to set the play order of songs on an MP3 CD for an archived version of the support document that ed2345 mentioned. Hopefully that will give you the ability to make a flat structured MP3 CD.

tt2

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Answer 4

fredman1 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 3, 2018 6:26 AM in response to turingtest2

I realize listening to CD's is 'old' for some folks, but I like the fact I can

burn 150 MP3's to a CD, plug it into my car stereo, hit play, and be done

with it. No mess, no worry, don't have to plug and unplug a player into

separate wires tangled into things, to get in the way. Plus, it can get to

-30 here in the winter, I don't care to have my iPod to freeze.

(and I DO have an iPod)

And I highly doubt it was a matter of 'luck' that things have burned the

way I wanted them in the past, I have probably made 30-40 CD's over

the last 8-9 years, it all changed with an iTunes 'upgrade' on my PC.

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Answer 5

fredman1 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 5, 2018 5:44 PM in response to turingtest2

I do apologize, i was not saying you didn't know what you were doing,

all I was saying is I have NEVER had any CD burn into a folder before - ever,

even in the music I burn for others, and overall, I have probably burned

about 125 CD's. NEVER had this be an issue before.

And I don't know anything about 'support documents', all I know is what I have

done, how it has worked for me over the last 12 years, ever since I bought my

first iPod, a new Gen 2, long ago.

I consider this topic closed.

iTunes has changed, especially in how you view a Podcast list, it's nowhere

near like it used to be, or nearly as good. It's terrible.

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Answer 6

turingtest2

Level 10

272,749 points

Mar 1, 2018 5:04 PM in response to fredman1

I don't see any options for burning with or without some form of folder structure. It may be easier to drag all of the files out to a folder and then burn using something other than iTunes.

tt2

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