Tech Talk

[hawkingvsreeve]

there are columns in iTunes that allow you to see tracks in order alphabetically by song title, artist name, track number, etc. the only reasons I CAN THINK OF iTunes would be "arbitrarily" setting it in an order that doesn't make sense is:

for some reason the ID tags on the files are set to a strange order. in that case you might want to check the info of a couple tracks and see what number they are (like track 5 of 500, etc)

Another thing, would be that you had shuffle hit for the playlist and just didn't notice it

How are the .mp3 files labeled in the folder to keep them in that order? If the titles are literally "01artist-song," "02artist-song" etc in the file name, all you really need to do, despite what the tags might be is hit the "song" clolumn and arrange it alpha-numerically.

If these seem like stupid answers to you, i'm sorry, but it's what comes to mind without actually sitting in front of your iTunes

one thing I have found*, esp downloading compilations and playlists, is that sometimes some file tags have the Album Artist field filled in, and other files don't, and for some reason that fucks with the play order.


* - actually I think I learned this from yablonowitz.

I have cleared all the ID tags so that the only things on them are the artist, track name, and all of them have the same album name. No track numbers, no artwork, no album artists, etc. Still doesn't work.

And I did check to see if shuffle was checked and it isnt but I have run across that before.

The files in the folders are arranged as follows:

500 - The Big Pink - Velvet

But the 500 doesnt show up in itunes, as it is not part of the tag.

[menikmati]

itunes compresses video files for playing on the ipod, which makes sense to me since the screen is so small. does winamp do this?

I don't have an ipod video....so I never tired syncing videos up with it, but I don't think winamp has a built in .m4v converter....you would probably need to keep using itunes to convert the video files first.

[TomAz]

brandon:

itunes sorts based on tag data not file names.
"keep itunes folder organized" renames your files (and organizes your directories) to be consistent with the tag data.

neither of these solve your problems though sorry

[hawkingvsreeve]

Right. I was trying to homogenize the tags as much as I could and even then it seems like it is just adding them randomly. I dont understand it.



Also, Erik.

You dont have to update every three weeks.
Itunes runs a lot faster than the last time you used it.
It organizes things in a way that makes sense if you have a large library/number of full albums.
No, it still does not support flac, but that is a niche file format. It may not seem like it around here, but the average person has no clue what that is.

[menikmati]

No, it still does not support flac, but that is a niche file format. It may not seem like it around here, but the average person has no clue what that is.

That sounds like an excuse...pretty much every other media software and ipod competitors support Flac. Hell even WMP can play Flacs.

[hawkingvsreeve]

Then maybe apple will support it soon as well. My guess is that it isnt a priority for them because the ipod doesnt support flac, so they dont see the need to make the software that they package to interface with the ipod support it either.

[menikmati]

I think it's more along the lines they don't want ipod or itunes supporting it because they want to push their own lossless codec on people.

[hawkingvsreeve]

But you dont have to use that codec when importing songs into itunes or putting songs on an ipod.

[menikmati]

Right but if someone wants to import music and keep it as lossless in itunes and for ipod listening, they're forced to only use an apple codec, when all the competition allows for the open source flac. LAME.

[kreutz2112]

Brandon, iTunes not only uses ID3 tags to sort mp3 files, but it also uses what I think is its own tagging method. You can only manipulate these tags in iTunes, and only song by song. Right click on a single song in iTunes and then click the "sorting" tab at the top. You'll notice in the left column all the ID3 tags and in the right column the same tags, but with the word "sort" in front of them. The shitty thing about this is that you have to delete all the sort tags manually for every song. I would be willing to bet this is what is happening.

[TomAz]

are you saying that if you click on a group of songs the sorting tab disappears?

[kreutz2112]

The sorting tab does not disappear, but certain editing options under the sorting tab do. Single songs have more sorting options than groups of songs. And with the question at hand these are all individual songs that could potentially all have different info in the sorting fields.

[menikmati]

itunes does it again...

[kreutz2112]

and for the record I am die-hard iTunes. I have no need to play .flac files nor do I have access to speakers where you could hear a difference between a 320 kbps mp3 and .flac music file. Whenever I dl an album in .flac I immediately convert it to mp3. Plus I don't have the storage capacity for .flac.

[hawkingvsreeve]

Ok, so Adam I think we may be on the right track here, as some of the files have stuff in the sorting fields.

The new problem though is that the information wont delete. I highlight it, delete it, hit ok and when I recheck the sorting info, it is still there. Also the text in those fields is grey until I highlight it at which point it becomes black. Suggestions?

I do have read and write permissions for the files, fyi, so I dont think that is it.

[kreutz2112]

Are all the files mp3s (i.e. right click on a song that won't let you delete the sorting info and say "show file location" or something to that extent. Ensure it is an mp3 file and not an m4a file).

[hawkingvsreeve]

Every file except for one is an mp3. The ones I was trying to edit were all mp3s.


Who snuck a m4a in here?

[kreutz2112]

hmmm. Go to "View" > "View options" and make sure none of the sorting boxes are checked.

[hawkingvsreeve]

The view options box just shows me how I can sort them. I have a number of them checked (artist,track name, etc., bit rate, date added, play count, things like that).

[kreutz2112]

so I assume you have none of the "sort" boxes checked?

[kreutz2112]

also, just to reiterate, your goal is to arrange the p2k songs in a playlist in ascending numerical order, correct?

[miscorrections]

You should screenshot the problem and how you've been fixing it so someone might be able to spot what's wrong.

[hawkingvsreeve]

so I assume you have none of the "sort" boxes checked?

I'm sorry, I misunderstood. None of those are checked.

And yeah, I would like to have the list from 500 - 1 be in order. I mean it isn't a huge deal or anything, but this is an issue I would like to know how to fix. It's hard to screenshot it though because basically the problem is that I drag the files from the folder into the playlist and then when they are added, they are in the incorrect order. That is all I could take a picture of.

[miscorrections]

Bummer. Well, best of luck.

[hawkingvsreeve]

I bet part of it or even all of it is this sort information, but I cant delete it for some reason.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

i have had downloaded mp3s that simply couldn't allow me to edit any tag information or file names at all, and i couldn't find any reason why (no evidence of them being locked, or read-only, etc). The mp3s may just be corrupted

Anyone else try downloading those packages and had these problems?

[kreutz2112]

ah, I just reread your question. You want itunes to recognize the order the songs are arranged in the folder and present them accordingly. Where is the dl link for these songs? I'm assuming it's in the p2k thread. I'll dl it right now (assuming they arent rs links) and mess around with them. I am not sure if itunes can recognize how files are arranged in a particular file-system.

[kreutz2112]

when did I get a premium megaupload account? I have all of them going at once!? The rules still state you have to have a premium account to do this.

[TomAz]

same thing happened for me adam. maybe the person who posted them up has a premium account and that's enough?

[hawkingvsreeve]

ah, I just reread your question. You want itunes to recognize the order the songs are arranged in the folder and present them accordingly. Where is the dl link for these songs? I'm assuming it's in the p2k thread. I'll dl it right now (assuming they arent rs links) and mess around with them. I am not sure if itunes can recognize how files are arranged in a particular file-system.

Exactly. Is this an uncommon thing? It doesn't seem like this should be a problem.