Mass change on track number for audio files

Factual Questions
1

Hi,
I recently spent about $60 on Atlas Shrugged on CD (audiobook) for my mom. I’m planning to put it onto a new iPod mini I’m getting her. It’s an unbelievable 40 some odd discs, but I finally got them onto the computer, but now I’ve got another problem.

Itunes puts them on the mini and sets up the playlist according to the track number embedded in the tag information. Every CD has multiple tracks, so I’ve got about 40 track 1, 40 track 2, etc.

Does anyone know of a way to change that track information in a mass change, or I suppose if necessary I could retransfer every single CD again (but it’s a pain in the butt!)

2

Itunes will let you edit the tags so you can renumber the tracks. It will be tedious as you will have to go through each track and enter the number.

http://www.softpointer.com/tr.htm
It a usefull program for editing tags but when you are done you will need to import the files into itunes again.

3

Rather than changing the track number, put in disk information, i.e., disk 1 of 40, disk 2 of 40, etc. All the tracks should then be ordered properly.

4

But either way, won’t I have to edit each indiviual track?

Looks like I’m in for a little work tonight.

5

No, you should be able to do it by discs. Highlighting them all and then editing the disc information should do the trick.

6

I highly recommend Softpointer’s Tag and Rename, linked by **gazpacho here. It’s not free, but it is awesome at working with large batches of mp3 tags and filenames.

7

I rather like Mp3tag. I’ve used it for batch renaming and it seems to work well. It’s also free.

8

Yes, select all the tracks you want to change then choose File -> Get Info. Click on the “Info” tab and change the disk number. The hitch is that the OP has already ripped the tracks, so I don’t know how he’ll be able to differentiate them within iTunes. This really should have been done before ripping. The ID3 editors that others have suggested may be better suited.

9

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I may have got it to work by selecting each disc and renaming the titles Atlas shrugges - Disc 1, Disc 2, etc…

I haven’t had time to re-sync the iPod, so I won’t know untill probably this evening, but I’ll report back when I find out.

I suppose if worse comes to worse, I can start over from the beginning.

10

Before you go messing with the tags try this:
In iTunes create a play list with all the tracks in it. You can do a smart play list and do this in about 30 seconds.
Click on the heading Disc until you see a triangle pointing up next to the word disc.
All of your tracks should now be in the following order
Disc 1 track 1
Disc 1 track 2
…
Disc 1 track last
Disc 2 track 1
…
Disc 2 track last
Disk 3 track 1

11

Just for a little closure for everyone. (I know it was keeping you up at nights not knowing!)

I ended up tagging each CD by group with the CD number, and then I set up a playlist just to be sure. That worked for me.

Mom says thank you (or would if she had the iPod yet)