How do you name your songs in iTunes???

[jumpman25]

This is probably a retarded question, but I can't figure out how to assign my own names to songs in iTunes. I have a folder on my desktop with songs in it, and I have the songs in the folder named the way I want them to show up in iTunes. When I add the songs from the folder to iTunes, iTunes gives the song a name different from the ones in the folder. I like to name my songs like this (artist - song title). Is there any way to do this? Thanks

 

[reh]

iTunes uses the tags in the song, not the filename as it was imported. Edit the names in iTunes by s l o w l y doubleclicking on a song's artist, album, etc... Or you can edit multiple songs at once by selecting several and hitting command-I.

 

[Bubbasteve]

This is probably a retarded question, but I can't figure out how to assign my own names to songs in iTunes. I have a folder on my desktop with songs in it, and I have the songs in the folder named the way I want them to show up in iTunes. When I add the songs from the folder to iTunes, iTunes gives the song a name different from the ones in the folder. I like to name my songs like this (artist - song title). Is there any way to do this? Thanks

You just click on the song and "Get Info" and you should then see how to do it or the easier way is just to click on the text in the song section and the artist section and rename it from there... I THINK that's what you meant and if not then I just wasted a minute of your life.... and I'm sorry

 

[Bubbasteve]

Well reh you beat me to it

 

[vollspacken]

this is what I do:

first, make sure you have named the MP3-file this way "artist - track name"

an example would be: David Bowie - Young Americans

when this is done, you need these three applescripts for iTunes (you need to put them in the Scripts-folder in (your) User->Library->iTunes... if the folder is not there, create one):

1. Filenames to Song Names
2. Remove Extension From Song Name
3. Artist - Name Corrector

now, this is the way you do it...

- put the scripts in the iTunes Scripts-folder as described above...
- rename the scripts so they have the numbering at the beginning of the filename as I did above (1. Filenames... 2. Remove... 3. Artist...), so the scripts show up in this order in iTunes...
- open iTunes and import the Mp3-files
- select the songs you like to rename
- run the first script
- run the second script
- run the third script

voila, the songnames should be exactly as you named the file... (you might also convert the ID3-tags to v2.3 before running the scripts...)

vSpacken

 

[gekko513]

I would not recommend to put the artist name in the song name. Use the Artist column for the artist.

Unless I'm missing some good reason to put them together

 

[vollspacken]

I would not recommend to put the artist name in the song name. Use the Artist column for the artist.

Unless I'm missing some good reason to put them together

the first script grabs the filename, the second removes the .mp3/.m4a extension from the song name...

the (third) Artist - Name Corrector-script moves the Artist-information to the artist column...

you have to run ALL THREE SCRIPTS in the order as described above to end up with the exact information from the filename in the places where they belong... of course you will want the artist name in the artist-column, that's what the fuzz is about

vSpacken

 

[efoto]

the first script grabs the filename, the second removes the .mp3/.m4a extension from the song name...

the (third) Artist - Name Corrector-script moves the Artist-information to the artist column...

you have to run ALL THREE SCRIPTS in the order as described above to end up with the exact information from the filename in the places where they belong... of course you will want the artist name in the artist-column, that's what the fuzz is about

vSpacken

I understand the steps as well, but as gekko513 stated, what is the purpose of having the file named with the artist name in the Song Title column? There is a column set aside for Artist Name, but group them in a single place like this? Is there an advantage we are unaware of or simply your preference?

 

[Claudia]

I understand the steps as well, but as gekko513 stated, what is the purpose of having the file named with the artist name in the Song Title column? There is a column set aside for Artist Name, but group them in a single place like this? Is there an advantage we are unaware of or simply your preference?

Is there anyway that one can import music from a CD but have iTunes play the album in the correct order instead of alphabetically?

 

[gekko513]

Is there anyway that one can import music from a CD but have iTunes play the album in the correct order instead of alphabetically?

In View Options, check Track Number, then click the column header for Track Number to sort by that column.

 

[vollspacken]

I understand the steps as well, but as gekko513 stated, what is the purpose of having the file named with the artist name in the Song Title column? There is a column set aside for Artist Name, but group them in a single place like this? Is there an advantage we are unaware of or simply your preference?

again:

- the first script grabs the filename and puts it into the song title column
- the second script deletes the extension .mp3 from the song title
- the third script moves the artist part to the artist column and leaves only the song title (without the .mp3 extension which was deleted in step 2) in the song title column.

to sum it up: you start with the complete filename in the song title column but end up with name and artist in their correct columns

if you still don't understand it, take a look at this screenshot.

the first track is the original track with the uncorrected tag information
the second is a copy of the same track with the first script applied and so on... the last track has the corrected information after the scripts have been applied in the order mentioned...

vSpacken

 

[gekko513]

Actually, my reply was to the original poster, and as you can see he says that he wants to have both artist and song name together.

 

[vollspacken]

this is useful, if you have the correct Artist - Song information in your filename and want to correct the tags on a large number of files... the ONE Shirley Bassey track is an example (of course, you would correct one or two files manually...)

vSpacken

 

[vollspacken]

Actually, my reply was to the original poster, and as you can see he says that he wants to have both artist and song name together.

hmm, I thought he wanted to extract the information for artist and song from the filenames...

but if he really wants both in one column (I guess that's how it is in WinAmp???), he can just skip step three...

vSpacken

 

[Capt Underpants]

Couldn't he jus uncheck "Create File Names with Track Number" in the preferences, then re-import his songs?

 

[jumpman25]

Wow, thanks for all the helpful replies. As far as why I like songs in that form, its is just personal preference. I've done most of my computing on windows and that naming scheme just seemed to work out best. Everything is in one colum, and you can sort by artist and then the names are sorted alphebetically once you get down to the artist your looking for. Doesn't seem much different from having seperate columns for title and artist. Anyway, thanks again for all your help. This is just what I was looking for.

 

[killuminati]

I wouldn't be able to stand my library being organized like that. It would be so confusing to find songs. But hey, its personal preference.

 

[efoto]

Couldn't he jus uncheck "Create File Names with Track Number" in the preferences, then re-import his songs?

I believe this shoudl work too as iTunes auto-apends the files if the box is selected however if you disable it, iTunes should just import exactly what it sees, so if you prefer to rename the files in Finder first (or if they are imported from PC already properly named) then you can just import them directly without worry.

C.Underpants - Your sig makes me sad and happy. The more I think about it the more its okay, but the shock is still there. Let me know how that new PB works out for you. My next Mac is most likely a Dual P4 PM or something like that ....why not AMD!?!?

 

[dant]

I have a few questions regarding this, I am having a problem with my Itunes. When I load a cd the name of the artist does not show up or any of the titles it just says audio cd. i have had a few cds that work perfectly but not all, why is this, is there something I am doing wrong? Also my sister has a Mac, is there any way I can copy her Itunes libary and download it on to my HP computer?

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

In iTunes preferences -> General make sure the box by "Connect to Internet when needed" is checked. This makes sure that whenever you insert a new CD with iTunes open (in System Preferences -> CDs & DVDs you can set your Mac to always open iTunes when a music CD is inserted), iTunes will contact CDDB online and gather all info about the tracks on that CD. (If you need to rip a CD when offline you can still mark all the anonymous tracks later when you're online again and choose get CD track names.)

Edit: To move songs from one machine to another, choose to Burn as Data CD in iTunes preferences -> Burning, then make a playlist of all the songs you want to copy and burn that playlist on one or more CDs (or DVDs if large numbers and you have access to a DVD writer), iTunes will automatically burn to multiple disks if your playlist exceeds the capacity on one CD (or DVD if you're using those). And burn, burn, burn...

Just remember she has to Authorize your computer if you're copying any iTunes purchases and you want to be able to play those.

 

[Sharewaredemon]

Wow, thanks for all the helpful replies. As far as why I like songs in that form, its is just personal preference. I've done most of my computing on windows and that naming scheme just seemed to work out best. Everything is in one colum, and you can sort by artist and then the names are sorted alphebetically once you get down to the artist your looking for. Doesn't seem much different from having seperate columns for title and artist. Anyway, thanks again for all your help. This is just what I was looking for.

Now I think I have a solution to how you like to browse your music.

In the top right of the screen when you are viewing your library there is a button called browse.

If you click on it pulls down menu type things, anyway look at my screen shot. Also, when you will do it, it will bring down three sections instead of the two I have, the get rid of Genre (I never browse by Genre) goto preferences (file preferences or  + , ) and in the first pane there is a selection to not show genre when browsing.

In View Options, check Track Number, then click the column header for Track Number to sort by that column.

Or you can just sort by album that's what I do it will do the same thing if your music is tagged correctly.

 

[dant]

That makes sense, when I got the cds to display the names I was online. When they were not displaying I was at my house with no internet. To clarify, I can just download all my cd as unknown, as soon as I am connected to the internet I can just choose get track names and it will atomaticly give artist names and track names? How many tracks can a cd hold, my sister libary has like a 100 cds on it. Can I use a program called Ipod rip?

 

[Sharewaredemon]

That makes sense, when I got the cds to display the names I was online. When they were not displaying I was at my house with no internet. To clarify, I can just download all my cd as unknown, as soon as I am connected to the internet I can just choose get track names and it will atomaticly give artist names and track names? How many tracks can a cd hold, my sister libary has like a 100 cds on it. Can I use a program called Ipod rip?

Well you could make playlist with all her songs on it, then hit burn and iTunes will burn as many songs that will fit on on, then it will ask for another disk. It will continue to do this until all the songs have been burned.


The get track names it supposed to work. It hasn't for me, but it has for other people.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

One ordinary Data CD should hold about 150-200 tracks (if most songs are ripped in 128 kbps bitrate). But, unless we're talking many tracks then you might be better off networking the two machines, but a few thousand tracks should be manageable since you can just ask iTunes to burn the (large) playlist, and feed the Mac with new blank CDs every few minutes...