Another Help Me with Itunes Q: Various Artists

[Acsenray]

I always use the “Album Artist” and “Sort Album Artist” fields in order to keep songs together when an album includes tracks by different artists, such as compilations and soundtrack albums.

This has resulted in two anomalies.

(1) On my Ipod, when I look at “Albums” view, instead of using the “Album Artist,” it apparently looks at all the “Artist” fields and if it notices that there are some variations, automatically assumes that the album should be credited to “Various Artists.” No, damn it! If it’s a “Crosby, Stills, and Nash” compilation with one song by “Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young,” I wanted it labeled as “Crosby, Stills, and Nash,” not “Various Artists.” That’s why I used the “Album Artist” field in the first place!

(2) On the “main board” in Itunes, if I sort by “Album Artist,” it jumbles up all the tracks from “Various Artist” albums. I want it to sort by (1) Album Artist (Various Artists) and then (2) Album title (or Sort Album, really), not by (1) Album Artist and then (2) Artist.

Anyone know how to get around these?

[Acsenray]

Okay, so no one else is as obsessive about sorting their music as I am?

[Terminus_Est]

1. My iPod doesn’t show Artist when in Album view; it’s just a list of albums in alphabetical order.

2. In iTunes, I sort by “Album by Artist”, which properly groups all songs in an album together, even if the individual songs are credited to different artists. You will need to activate it by clicking on the “Album” header. Click once to change “Album” to “Album by Artist”. Click again to change to “Album by Year”. Click a third time to change back to “Album”

Incidentally, I don’t think I’ve ever noticed a song being credited to “Various Artists”. A song is always credited to the proper artist.

[Acsenray]

@Terminus Est

1. My iPod doesn’t show Artist when in Album view; it’s just a list of albums in alphabetical order.

Ah, you must have an older Ipod then. In my Album view, the name of the artist is listed below the album title.

2. In iTunes, I sort by “Album by Artist”, which properly groups all songs in an album together, even if the individual songs are credited to different artists. You will need to activate it by clicking on the “Album” header. Click once to change “Album” to “Album by Artist”. Click again to change to “Album by Year”. Click a third time to change back to “Album”

Perfect! I wasn’t aware of the multiple clicks.

Incidentally, I don’t think I’ve ever noticed a song being credited to “Various Artists”. A song is always credited to the proper artist.

Neither have I. Is there something in my OP that gave the impression that I had individual tracks credited to “Various Artists”?

[Terminus_Est]

@acsenray

Neither have I. Is there something in my OP that gave the impression that I had individual tracks credited to “Various Artists”?

I may have misunderstood your first question. I can’t picture how the album listing would work with artist. Which version iPod do you have?

[Acsenray]

@Terminus Est

I may have misunderstood your first question. I can’t picture how the album listing would work with artist. Which version iPod do you have?

Classic 160

There’s a small image of the album cover art (or default icon) on the left. To the right is the name of the album in larger type. Just below is the name of the artist in smaller type.

[Terminus_Est]

@acsenray

Classic 160

There’s a small image of the album cover art (or default icon) on the left. To the right is the name of the album in larger type. Just below is the name of the artist in smaller type.

Shiny! With my 30 GB, I don’t get album art or anything else except for a plain list of album titles. (Maybe it’s time to upgrade.)

[Acsenray]

I don’t know Terminus. There are some things I miss about my 30. Like having the option to get the full screen for title/artist/album information. On the new ones, half the screen is always taken up by some kind of image. If you don’t have the album art, it sticks in a useless default icon.