# Is my (IBM version) iTunes misbehaving, or is this a common thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 17, 2012, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-ibm-version-itunes-misbehaving-or-is-this-a-common-thing/619076 "2012-04-17T19:13:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-ibm-version-itunes-misbehaving-or-is-this-a-common-thing/619076/21 "2012-04-18T18:06:37Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > After closer inspection I see your point. It does seem counter-intuitive. I wonder why Apple did that. > > However, this is a tiny problem. First, there’s few songs that have apostrophes in the first word. And for that remaining set of songs, it’s easy to remember how iTunes sorts and just work around it. Thought I’d count mine up: I have 21 songs beginning in _A_ with a contraction in the first word. I have 28 songs beginning in _c_ with a contraction in the first word. I have 73 songs beginning in _d_ with a contraction in the first word. I have 12 songs beginning in _e_ with a contraction in the first word. I have 6 songs beginning in _f_ with a contraction in the first word. I have 198songs beginning in _I_ (with a contraction in the first word. I have 29 songs beginning in _L_ (with a contraction in the first word. I have 12 songs beginning in \*R/I] (with a contraction in the first word. I have 35 songs beginning in _S_ with a contraction in the first word. I have 45 songs beginning in _T_ with a contraction in the first word. I have 62 songs beginning in _W_ with a contraction in the first word. I have 46 songs beginning in _Y_ (with a contraction in the first word. That’s more than 500 songs, about 7% of my entire library. (yeah, I have too much time on my hands today). ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-ibm-version-itunes-misbehaving-or-is-this-a-common-thing/619076/22 "2012-04-18T18:12:56Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > I… iTunes already strays from a strict character sort, because they ignore the initial “The” in titles. Not exactly. iTunes has “sort” fields which are usually empty, but if you add music with an artist or title name beginning in “A” or “The” the sort field is automatically fikked with the name minus the “A” or “The”. Then iTunes sorts from the sort fields instead of the “real fields”. So iTunes is still sorting alphabetically, but not necessarily by the words that are displayed on the screen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-ibm-version-itunes-misbehaving-or-is-this-a-common-thing/619076.md?page=1)