iTunes - Getting Track Names workaround?

[kirkbross]

I have a billion tracks in my iTunes with only the song title and length, but no artist. Is there a way to get artist names other than Advanced > Get Track Names to get track names? These are songs that were not imported using iTunes.

Other tracks don't even have track names, just "Track 12" (and the length naturally) -- I'm assuming there's no automatic way of getting that info and that I just have to manually go through and listen and label each one?

I bought Song Sergeant which is awesome for what it does, but doesn't access the CDDB.

 

[GGJstudios]

I have a billion tracks in my iTunes with only the song title and length, but no artist. Is there a way to get artist names other than Advanced > Get Track Names for tracks that were NOT imported using iTunes?

Other tracks don't even have track names, just "Track 12" (and the length naturally) -- I'm assuming there's no automatic way of getting that info and that I just have to manually go through and listen and label each one?

I bought Song Sergeant which is awesome for what it does, but doesn't access the CDDB.

First, I have a suspicion that you're exaggerating. I bet you don't have more than 800 million tracks in your iTunes library!

How did you get so many tracks with no info? When you rip CDs, it usually rips the track info along with the song.

 

[kirkbross]

Years ago I would never import using iTunes -- I would just insert a CD and drag the files from the disc into a folder on my desktop. When doing it this way, it just gives you Track 01, Track 02, etc..

Live and learn I suppose. There is no way I'm going to drag out of storage my ten trillion quintillion boxes of CDs and re-import them using iTunes

I guess I'm more interested getting the artist names for the ones WITH track names, but no artist name. I could certainly listen to the songs one by one.

 

[GGJstudios]

There is no way I'm going to drag out of storage my ten trillion quintillion boxes of CDs...

There you go exaggerating again! I bet it's no more than nine and a half trillion quintillion boxes. Sounds like you have a mess on your hands. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to automate the process. Seriously, how many songs are in your library?

 

[kirkbross]

.../Seriously, how many songs are in your library?

About 4,700 total and about 1,700 with label issues.

Someone should write an app that takes the limited information -- like "Track 08" plus the track length -- and does a CDDB query. I know it would bring back hundreds, if not thousands of matches, but in some cases it might be a fairly quick match. And maybe a separate internal search adding "Date Added" to find clusters of songs that might be on the same album if sequenced correctly.

 

[GGJstudios]

About 4,700 total and about 1,700 with label issues.

Oh, I thought you meant a LOT! 1,700 isn't too much to do it manually. It will take some time, but you can do a little each day and have it knocked out in a week or so. That's only about 100 albums, give or take.

Someone should write an app that takes the limited information -- like "Track 08" plus the track length -- and does a CDDB query.

The problem is, there could be dozens or hundreds of albums where Track 8 is the same length, but different songs. In the same way, Track 8 on the same album may be 3:24 in one library but 3:25 in another.

And maybe a separate internal search adding "Date Added" to find clusters of songs that might be on the same album if sequenced correctly.

As for the "date added", you should be able to see this information in Finder.

 

[iLog.Genius]

I currently have 3941 songs, about half that needed to be reorganized (full artists names w/ features, album artwork, etc.) and it's definitely doable but very time consuming. I had a few days off from school and worked or reorganizing my whole iTunes library including making sub-playlists for all the artists. If you really wanted to, you could probably be done in a week like GGJ said.

 

[GGJstudios]

... including making sub-playlists for all the artists.

Just curious. Why create playlists for each artist, when you can easily search, sort and select artists with the browser? That could be a LOT of playlists! (over 2,300 in my case).

 

[kirkbross]

Just curious. Why create playlists for each artist, when you can easily search, sort and select artists with the browser? That could be a LOT of playlists! (over 2,300 in my case).

Because it makes it easier to shuffle play a particular selection of songs.