iTunes Album Grouping

[Doju]

I downloaded the Watchmen Soundtrack (not from iTunes) and it imported into iTunes under all the same album art, same album name, but in coverflow each song shows up independently, and it shows an album for each song. (Like, there's ~10 songs, each one shows up on its own in coverflow with its own album cover, even though they're all the same album image.)

I guess it's because the artist differs? How can I make it so they all go under one album (like they should)?

 

[dantherevelator]

IIRC, you want to check "part of a collection" in the album's metadata.

 

[spice weasel]

IIRC, you want to check "part of a collection" in the album's metadata.

Yup, make sure the "Compilation" box is checked. Highlight all the songs, hit Cmd+I, and then check the box at the bottom.

 

[Makosuke]

With an album like this the "compilation" checkbox is correct.

However, in albums that are mostly one artist but have others (for example, an original soundtrack with an end theme song with a different artist, or if tracks are listed by performer rather than composer), then you can set the "Album Artist" as the same for the whole album. This will have the additional effect of grouping them all together in the list, even when the "compilation" box isn't checked (and in many cases it probably shouldn't be).

In fact, even when it's a compilation, I tend to set the album artist field to "Various Artists" so there's a second indicator that it's a collection that belongs together. I think that's what Apple does, in fact.

I use this heavily since I have a lot of soundtracks in my library, which often have mostly or entirely a single composer but an opening and end theme performed and possibly composed by a different artist. It's not a compilation, since those are original tracks entirely part of the same work, but it can legitimately be labeled as having a single album artist.