iTunes Organization & Labeling Question

[PGB1]

Hi All!
On my 2006 MacBook Pro, using OS X 10.11.6 the iTunes version is 12.8.2.3

I am trying to accomplish two tasks, the solutions for which are eluding me. I would imagine that the solutions are here somewhere, but I can't find them by serching the forum. On the internet, the solutions are for other versions of iTunes or the places one is told to click don't exist.
To my mind, iTunes is a power hungry control freak and won't let me "drive the bus". I'm sure it is a fine & powerful app for those who are, perhaps, two generations younger than myself.

Task One = Album Organization
Move Songs Into New Albums & Delete The Empty Albums
iTunes placed many songs into many, many random albums called "Unknown" with songs named "Unknown Artist". I've even got an "Anonymous" and a "Various".
Most have one song inside, some have more.
The source of the songs was when I had some loose songs in a folder on the computer. It was named "A". I imported it to iTunes & this mess is the result.

Goal- Move the songs into one album and name it. Then delete the empty albums.

Task Two = Re-Name The Album & Song
I can not figure out how to get iTunes to let me re-name the album(s) that I will keep and the songs inside. I simply can't do it, no matter how I try.

I apologize if this is simple stuff. Despite my hours of searching & trying, I finally gave up and am pestering you all with it. (Every time I try to use iTunes I end up sitting on the floor, facing the corner and rocking back and forth while muttering to myself. The experience has me so frustrated I'm afraid to open Photos app. It may take over!)

Thanks For Helping. It Is Appreciated!
Paul

 

[Slydude]

I feel your pain on this issue. I've got some music that's in the same situation and I suspect it's for the same reason. In essence, the problem is that something in the sound file is either tagged incorrectly or the information is missing entirely. The problem will persist until that is corrected. I used to have a very good article from the MacWorld site by Kirk, The iTunes Guy, McElhearn. I can't seem to find it at the moment. Kirk also has his own iTunes-related site which is a great place to ask questions.

Some things that might help solve some of your problems:

1. iTunes doesn't sort files based on the information that you see in a typical view. If you select a track and open the Get Info window in iTunes. Select the "Sorting" tab. Edit these fields as needed to make the information match to suit your needs. Two songs that are part of the same album, for example, must have the album title exactly the same for any tracks you want to be part of that album. Beware of things like extra spaces in one title but not another.

2. When you import tracks from a multi-CD album the tagging often adds disc number to the title (e.g. George Jones 50 Years of Hits.) followed by Disc 1, Disc 2, etc. This causes the discs to appear as three separate entries in the library. To get them together as one entry with three discs edit the titles to remove the disc numbers from the titles. If you leave the disc number in the separate disc number field iTunes puts the tracks under one entry but has them separated by which disc the tracks appear on.

3, Another source of trouble can be compilation albums. Albums that have tracks by multiple artists are often tagged as compilations when imported. That's usually fine if the entire album is a compilation. The problem arises when information in the various song databases follow a loose definition of compilation. Albums which, contain a duet with another artist, for example, are often tagged as compilations and listed as separate entries. Unchecking the compilation field usually fixes these problems.

In your case getting rid of the unnecessary albums will mean having to get the album titles corrected first. iTunes should then allo\ow you to remove the unnecessary ones. In fact, I believe the empty ones will be removed automatically.

It is possible to change tagging on multiple tracks at once.

It's possible you've tried these things and I've misunderstood what happens in your case. If so post back and I'll try again.

 

[PGB1]

Thank You VERY Much SlyDude!
Your instructions are far, far better than any of those I've found, including (especially) Apple's & iTunes Help.

I can't even count how many hours I've spent over the years trying to figure out iTunes- mostly the items you explained below. I almost had the old version that came with OS X 10.4 figured out and then Apple supercharged the application. All that I learned went out the window.

Your instructions for using Album Info to change names worked great. I added album names to many loose songs and they went straight away into the proper albums.
I couldn't figure out how to make an album for the loose songs, so I made an empty folder on the desktop, stuck one song in it and had iTunes import the folder.
Also, now I can fix the titles for the many, many songs that I have which start with a number. That will make using iTunes much easier.

Your information about Disc 1, Disc 2, etc. was something that I did not know I could do. It's great being able to group that type of collection together. I have some where the Disc 1 and Disc 2 have different names, so they get listed quite far apart in iTunes. Now they can go together! (Still working on that...)

I'm still experimenting with compilations. Unchecking "Compilation" worked for one, but not the others. Perhaps I can make a new album and manually move the songs into it, renaming when I'm done.

Thanks to your help and education, I'm well on my way to straightening out this library mess (and understanding how iTunes thinks). I suppose I'm one of those people who like things organized, including my music collections. My father was a (very)German engineer. Being organized is in the DNA. Thankfully my mother was from Italy, so there is some tempering to the need for perfection!

Thanks Again SlyDude!
Enjoy This Day,
Paul

 

[Slydude]

Sounds like you are on your way to sorting things out. I wish I could find the MacWorld article I learned that from. I think it had a few more tips that might be useful. I've learned a few of those lessons the hard way correcting disasters in my library.

Good thinking with that folder on the desktop. I'm going to have to remember that.

Here's a couple of other things I've noticed with iTunes.

1. For a long time there were three ways to add tracks to the iTunes library: Drag tracks into the open iTunes window, using the Add to Library command from the File menu, or dragging tracks onto the iTunes app icon. The drag tracks into the window method doesn't seem to work anymore but the other methods do.

2. I have some tracks with missing/incorrect artwork. II think it used to be possible to drag artwork from say a folder or the desktop into the Artwork pane of the iTunes Get Info window. That doesn't work and trying to cut/past into the window doesn't seem to work either. The solution is to find the artwork from somewhere on the web and save the image somewhere on your had drive. iTunes will let you place that file into the artwork pane. You could name the file something descriptive but you don't have to do that. The thumbnail presented n the dialog box is usually enough to identify the right file from others in the folder.

 

[PGB1]

Good thinking with that folder on the desktop.
I use the desktop so I don't lose the folder somewhere after I instantly forget the name I just gave it. And I do forget things instantly (age?).

1. For a long time there were three ways to add tracks to the iTunes library:
Thanks for that tip! I've spent a lot of time trying to fiugre out why dragging to the window doesn't work. I didn't know about dragging to the icon. That's a really neat trick.

2 ~~ The solution is to find the artwork from somewhere on the web and save the image somewhere on your had drive. ~~
That, too, is a helpful trick. It worked on most! I'm having trouble doing that successfully on a few albums, but I'll get it. If necessary, I'll delete the uncooperative albums & re-add them.

Thank You Again Slydude for helping & for teaching. I'm not scared of iTunes anymore! (Well, sometimes...)

Enjoy This Day!
Paul

 

[IWT]

Brilliant work, Sly. Not allowed to give Rep points, but you certainly deserve praise.

Ian

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Brilliant work, Sly. Not allowed to give Rep points, but you certainly deserve praise.

Ian

We can reset Sly back to zero so that he can take all the new rep that people want to give him.

 

[Slydude]

We can reset Sly back to zero so that he can take all the new rep that people want to give him.

ROTFL Any way to convert those points to hard cash? I need a new iPad and SWMBO says she has to get one first. I've cracked three screens over the years and for some reason she thinking's don't know how to take care of stuff.

 

[chscag]

We can reset Sly back to zero so that he can take all the new rep that people want to give him.

Nah Ashwin, we'll just procure a larger Sombrero for the Dude!

And BTW, I did give him a boost.

 

[Slydude]

And BTW, I did give him a boost.

I just saw that. Thanks for the kinds Words.