How do I change the order of songs on a playlist?

Reply to your question "What ver. of iTunes are you running?": 12.7.5.9.

Later.... Thanks. You provided the missing link, iTunes. I looked at iTunes--and there are the gear wheels, and right-click gives option Burn to Disc.

Quick looks and review of prev. emails but cannot re-arrange a playlist to burn in that new order. Songs jump back to

original spot. Here's screen shot. (This is great to have you helping. Appreciated.)

Frustration continues. Sorry to report that the tactic--right clicking on playlist name in sidebar--gives only the options New Tab, Remove....etc. Not the desired "Copy to Play Order"....

Music on CDs always comes out ignoring the onscreen order--alphabetical, date, size, etc. What am I missing, if something?

A related question: How to arrange items on playlist and NOT have Mac force them into Date or Size, etc., despite my setting in "Arrange by" to "None"? This Mac seems just fine except is recalcitrant/perverse/cursed(?) that way.

(I hope your reply/posting will come with an email notice it's up.)

Randy

Use the Songs view of a playlist in your library. Click the heading of the leftmost column of numbers to sort on that column. This is the current play order. You should be able to drag tracks up or down this list, they should stay where you drop them, and this is the order that should copy to a device or in which the tracks should burn to an audio CD.

tt2

Thanks for the response, but I had no luck. Even the "arrange by" option (under the gear icon) choosing "NONE" for the order does not break the rigidity. Only rearranging all by Date, Size, or so on has effect. Individual songs cannot be put here and there. It's an odd user-unfriendly situation unlike Mac/Apple.

Hmm. What version of iTunes are you running? I'm not sure where in the current version of iTunes you would get a gear icon for a playlist. In the songs layout sorting on the leftmost column of numbers, or in the Playlist view using View > Sort By > Playlist Order should both give lists you can rearrange. Can you post a screenshot showing the layout and the gear menu you refer to?

tt2

What? That's the first time anyone or anyplace mentioned iTunes. Simple and logical to use a Finder list to select recordings for a Burn Folder. Intuitive, sensible, logical and easy. Good old user-friendly, reliable, my pal, Mac. But, as I wrote, then CDs recorded don't come out with the original desired order. And no solution exists anywhere. Perhaps through you, talented user.

So must I use iTunes for selecting and CD burning? If so, how disappointing that Apple//Mac would make it tricky; and why is this knowledge not found anywhere, def. not in Help.

A large pizza will soon be in the mail if you have the solution.

Randy

randyfolsom wrote:

What? That's the first time anyone or anyplace mentioned iTunes.

Yes, this thread is all about iTunes (as evident by where you found it within Communities ... i.e. "iTunes for Mac").

I do not know how to burn a CD outside of iTunes, perhaps you ought to post your question in a different area of Communities to get the support you need (perhaps under "Mac OS & System Software" then whichever version is relevant to your case. Perhaps you'll find a pizza savior over there, good luck!

An obvious assumption for us to make given where you'd posted and that you neglected to provide any reference to Finder. If you burn a data CD you get the files any old way that the next device chooses to display them. You cannot force a particular order. I doubt Finder is capable of burning an audio CD, let alone in a preferred order.

tt2

There is no "arrange by" option related to those particular gear icons.

As noted, using exact the view shown above, select the menu option View > Sort By > Playlist Order. You can now manually rearrange items in the list.

tt2

Skipping ahead of several very kind helps....

Your advice worked once I found all had to be done in iTunes. Not intuitive, that requirement. Had I suspected it, no query would have come and your generous help would not have been enlisted.

I thank you for finally getting me in the proper ballpark.

Randy

After editing the order of the playlist, right-click on the playlist name in the sidebar and select "Copy to Play Order" to save the sorting.

Sorry, none of what you're saying makes sense in the context of managing a playlist in iTunes. What exactly are you trying to do, and how are you doing it?

You're welcome. 🙂

tt2