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Original poster

iTunes question

31 replies

DoesntChristmasDragOn · 20/12/2009 13:35

I bought an album from PlayDigital but it's come through as separate songs rather than an album. How to I make it appear as an album or have I done something wrong at the play.com end?

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thelunar66 · 20/12/2009 13:40

I am not familiar with PlayDigital, only iTunes, but thought I'd bump for you.

I do however seem to recall a similar issue with compilation albums that i've copied straight from cd. But then they seem to have sorted themselves out once on my iTouch.

Hassled · 20/12/2009 13:41

If you just make a new playlist in iTunes and call it by the album name, then copy/move the tracks into that playlist, you'll have effectively done the same thing.

Nevergoogle · 20/12/2009 13:45

I think it does this if there are a lot of collaborations or the songs are written by lots of different people.
it usually plays as an album from the ipod though, just shows up split up on the itunes.

Original poster
DoesntChristmasDragOn · 20/12/2009 13:49

It's irritating - it was Now That's What I Cal Xmas and I don't want 84 or so embarrassing Christmas songs on my iPhone rather than one embarrassing album Perhaps it will sort itself out in the synch. I'm playing with DSs new iPod nanos at the moment (my word they're cute!)

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Original poster
DoesntChristmasDragOn · 20/12/2009 14:09

Grrr. They've all come through with the album name but appearing separately. In fact, its more complicated than that as each song has come through as an album, each with one less track than the preceding song. [weep] WTF have I done wrong??

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RubberDuck · 20/12/2009 14:27

Just go into Get Info on iTunes and edit the Meta Data. It's a pain, but fixes it quick - right click on all the songs when highlighted and click Get Info. There's also a check box somewhere in one of the tabs which says it's part of a compilation.

If you need to edit individually (to fix track number, eg) then just highlight one track at a time.

Original poster
DoesntChristmasDragOn · 20/12/2009 15:05

Meta Data?

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RubberDuck · 20/12/2009 15:06

The data attached to each mp3 - title, artist, album title etc.

RubberDuck · 20/12/2009 15:10

Right, to make it part of a compilation, the tab in question is "Options" and you want to make sure "Part of a Compilation" says YES.

Also edit the Album name to check it's formatted the same throughout all the tunes, and the album artist is listed as Various (or whatever) - each song will have a separate artist name but the Album Artist tag should have the same name for the whole album.

That should fix it

Original poster
DoesntChristmasDragOn · 20/12/2009 15:11

Oh FGS this is ridicuous! I've highlighted them all and said they're part of a compilation and they're all still separate.

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Original poster
DoesntChristmasDragOn · 20/12/2009 15:13

(the FGS was not directed at anyone here BTW )

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RubberDuck · 20/12/2009 15:15

Screenshot of my iTunes - like that. I'm on Mac but similar set up on Windows.

Original poster
DoesntChristmasDragOn · 20/12/2009 15:15

Is it because the track and disk numbers are missing?

[straws] [clutching]

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RubberDuck · 20/12/2009 15:15

No, I'd lay odds that they've got the individual artist name for each file in the Album Artist field - that's commonly the error I find.

RubberDuck · 20/12/2009 15:16

Try editing each one's track number and see if that helps? You'll have to go into each file individually though which is a pain in the arse.

This is generally why I only buy mp3 from iTunes or Amazon

Original poster
DoesntChristmasDragOn · 20/12/2009 15:17

I am pleased to see you have tacky christmas songs too. I just wanted some to sing along to and embarrass my children on the way to my parents on Christmas Eve. I didn't expect to be farting about with the album to get it to work properly! Should have bought from iTunes.

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RubberDuck · 20/12/2009 15:19

Ah... by the track number, is both sides blank? Stick in the number of tracks on the album after the "of" and make sure disk number is 1 of 1.

RubberDuck · 20/12/2009 15:19

Tacky christmas songs are compulsory this time of year

RubberDuck · 20/12/2009 15:21

Although I draw the line at Cliff Richard - dh put christmas songs on ds1's ipod (that he only plays with speakers and inflicts on all of us) - four fecking Cliff Richard christmas songs in a row!!!! I must have really pissed dh off this year...

Original poster
DoesntChristmasDragOn · 20/12/2009 15:22

The SpongeBob album I bought from Play works absolutely fine.

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RubberDuck · 20/12/2009 15:23

It's luck of the draw I think. I know most of my Now albums were screwed up, but they were CDs I ripped and then the iTunes database auto filled the data (which was mostly fucked up or capitalised which is my pet hate). Had to spend ages fixing it all.

RubberDuck · 20/12/2009 15:49

Any luck?

Original poster
DoesntChristmasDragOn · 20/12/2009 21:06

I got interrupted about 1/3 of the way through so I'm not sure yet

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Original poster
DoesntChristmasDragOn · 20/12/2009 21:16

Looking good so far, thanks Tedious but seems to be doing the job.

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RubberDuck · 20/12/2009 22:25

cheer Glad you got it sorted in the end