Classical music on iTunes: lack of proper gaps between movements

I have the latest generation iPod and am using the latest version of iTunes. I purchase primarily classical music on iTunes and am quite annoyed that the gaps between movements (or "tunes" of an "album") are not reproduced properly the way they are on any CD, including of course the original recordings that the digital tunes derive from. Specifically, one movement runs into the next with little or no silence in between. (I am not talking about crossfade, which I disabled.) I submitted a complaint to iTunes but got no human response, just a free "tune."
Does anyone know of this problem being addressed by the iTunes Store? Alternatively, does anyone know an easy way to add a few seconds of silence to the end of selected tunes?
Many thanks in advance for any help!

I don't know of any scripts that will do that or a program that will do that for you. But if you click on the composer and then hit Cmd i. You can mass change all of the information by that composer. You can do the same thing with Album and Genre.

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Organizing classical music with itunes

I am having trouble handling my classical music on itunes. I would like to be able to look up music by style and/or period (for example romantic, or renaissance) and then by composer, and then by instrument (for example oboe) and then by piece.
I listen to all kinds of music and am happy with the method itunes gives me with all but classical. I like to shuffle my music but shuffling classical is disasterous. How can I make sure that the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd movement are always played in correct order and kept together as a separate "song" en toto when I want my ipod to shuffle all music but classical?
I would also like at least two separate artist search lists. Although I don't mind coming across Beatles next to Beach Boys I don't particularly want to come across Beach Boys next to Brahms.
I have been struggling with this on my own for some time and coming up short so I figured to see if there was a better way by coming here. Any help is appreciated.

I am having trouble handling my classical music on itunes. I would like to be able to look up music by style and/or period (for example romantic, or renaissance) and then by composer, and then by instrument (for example oboe) and then by piece.
You could add thet information into the comments area and do a smart playlist, but this is a limitation of the tagging format.
I listen to all kinds of music and am happy with the method itunes gives me with all but classical. I like to shuffle my music but shuffling classical is disasterous. How can I make sure that the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd movement are always played in correct order
Shuffle by nature randomizes tracks. You can exclude tracks from being shuffled but short of importing the pieces as one big track, you cannot bring control to something random.
I would also like at least two separate artist search lists. Although I don't mind coming across Beatles next to Beach Boys I don't particularly want to come across Beach Boys next to Brahms.
Thats the nature of alphabetization. The problem of a second artist search is that it destroys the continuity of searches. That just won't happen.

Classical Music and iTunes (Story of Failure)

The iTunes store does a nice job of allowing you to separate a Piano Sonata into it's component parts without having to name each song of the Sonata "Piano Sonata #1 in F Major, Op.2 No. 1" "Piano Sonata #1 in F Major, Op. 2. No.2" etc. But this feature is completely missing inside the application itself. It seems peculiar that iTunes dislikes classical music so much (the difficulties of deciding who the "artist" of any classical album has already been discussed (is it the composer or the performer or the director?).
I'm curious if there is any way to solve this or if Apple is ever going to add the fixes that seem to exist in theory in the iTunes store to the application itself. These changes would help in all genres of music where different pieces are divided into movements.
Just thoughts...

There really needs to be the ability to add 'contributor' fields/tags, each with their own label (just like telephone and address fields in Address Book) so you can add a tag for as many contributors as you need. The Artist tag then becomes the one to which you want to associate the recording (the Primary Contributor) and the Album Artist only if that is different from the track data. That way, everyone could set things up however they want, but as has been pointed out the tagging structure of audio files was badly thought out at the start - well, not thought about at all really and it's had to be botched up ever since.
Ideally It should be possible to use an alias for a track to save duplication of music data files, so if a recording is used on multiple Albums, it only needs to be stored once. Which then suggests that there should be an Album container which apart from storing the actual track files (or aliases) could hold all the Album specific data and save repeating it in all the tracks, unless it is different for a track which therefore only holds data pertaining to that recording and hence could be used as an alias elsewhere, i.e. in a different album.
It IS possible to devise a structure that works for ANY music, but sadly, that's not what we've got.

Classical music on iTunes

Well,
now on the iTunes interface we have "Genre" "Artist" and "Album", but for classics records will be better "Author" or "Composer" in place of "Artist".
Think about it, and..... sorry for my english.

You are perfectly right.
The Artist is more like "interpreter".
The info window features a field for "composer", thus you can add an additional collumn for composers (press ctrl+j, check "composer").

I need help putting Classical Music CDs into iTunes

I need help - this question has lots of subquestions, sorry.
I have found just a few discussions that deal with this but I am still confused. Forgive me if I get wordy and misuse technical terms - I am trying to learn this thing...
I'm an iPod newbie and haven't a clue on the best way to organize my many, many classical CDs that I'd like to put onto my iPod Classic 160G. I'd also like to do this with as little fussing around as possible since there are lots of CDs I've got to deal with.
If each CD is a separate entry [album?] in the playlist and titled with composer name first [ex Bach, Brandenburg Concertos, Titov conductor] I'll have several playlist entries with the same titles, but different contents. No problem really.
But, should I separate it further, by having each concerto [say] be a separate entry in the playlist - without having to download the CD again. [I've just practiced on a few CDs but I imagine it being a problem if I had to download each CD several times - once for each work] Does it make sense to leave gaps between movements? [I'm not finding a way to remove gaps, though I have seen that suggested somewhere]
And when I come to play the pieces, if I start playing a work in a playlist, will the iPod keep going from one movement to the next as it makes its way through the playlist - or will it stop at each movement and wait for me to tell it what to do next?
Advanced Settings - are these the best? I'll be listening to music on an airplane using noise cancelling headphones and at destination attaching iPod to portable speakers to listen to music in hotel rooms.
General: Keep iTunes Music folder organized - unchecked? [not sure what this means or does or doesn't do]
Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library - checked?
Importing: AAC encoder? High quality -128 kbps?
Thanks for all your help - I know this is a multiple set of questions and perhaps should have been broken up...
Mrs H
Message was edited by: Mrs H to fix typos
Message was edited by: Mrs H

Thank you so much for your help. You have sorted out a lot of problems for me. I've tried to go through what you wrote, add some more info and I have asked a few more questions below-
I re-ripped at 256. I too have the 160GB classic so it's good to know that it will take 10,000 tracks as lossless - now I have to re-rip again! I actually hadn't anticipated using the iPod with anything other than our high quality noise canceling airplane headphones, our cheap, portable travel speakers for hotel rooms and our Cambridge sound speakers for our cabin. It's that last set of speakers that makes me think I should follow you advice and go with lossless.
QUESTION #1 - When I re-rip and do an automatic sync, will the tracks at 256 automatically be replaced by the bigger lossless ones with the same name or should I delete everything from the iPod and begin anew?
"I create a playlist for each work, using a systematic naming convention..." What I did on my test was create a playlist for each composer breaking it down - ex- Bach:concertos, Bach:sonatas, etc. I have the Album column highlighted and it appears as if the movements stay together in the correct order. I fear that the task might be too large to create a playlist for each work, though that certainly is appealing.
QUESTION #2 If the Album column is highlighted and the movements are in the correct order in iTunes in the playlist, will they stay that way in the iPod?
"I tend to use just surnames for composers for example, or at least "surname, firstname"." I finally found in settings on the iPod the way to change sort by composer to last name, first name. In iTunes, the composer column which is imported from the internet search for info on the CDs gives composer with first name first and I can't find a place in iTunes to reverse this. Typing it or erasing the first name will be a huge chore.
QUESTION #3 Is there a place in iTunes to change the order of the composers' name in the composer column?
"For compilations etc I still create one for the whole CD or box set"
I figured this out on my own before you corroborated my idea - I think I'm getting the hang of this...
"The option iTunes has to "organise your music" is a good one"
QUESTION #4 - are you referring to the preferences > advanced check box "Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized" ? If not, what are you referring to?
"I have my library in its own dedicated disk. Wherever you put it, its important to then never change it or doing anything else with it: leave it for iTunes."
QUESTION #5 "dedicated disk"? as in hard drive? I have been using SuperDuper to back up my Mac to an external HD; I plan to put a copy of the iTunes folder onto yet another HD where I keep copies of all our photos as well.
"never change it"? I noticed a misspelling "Haendel" from the on-line CD/track info - no problem in fixing that - right? Since you later say you do change info, what is it you are never changing?
QUESTION #6 - "Disk N of M capability" - what? Where do I find this option? And when you say "for multiple CD albums, don't include the cd number in the album name." Where? when you put the CD into a playlist entry? or just in the list of music in the album column - do you change the listing?
ONE FINAL QUESTION - when I turn on the iPod when it's not attached to headphones or speakers, and I'm just looking at the screen to see settings or how the syncing worked, the iPod appears to begin playing something as soon as I turn it on. THIS IS A STUPID QUESTION, but I can't find the answer, how to I get it to stop playing without turning the iPod itself off???
"I hope that helps a little. " A little?? It helps a lot - and I'll award those points as soon as I get it all resolved.
Thanks again,
Mrs H

No one is able to browse and buy Classical Music Works in iTunes 11 Store

Since the release of iTunes 11 no one is able to buy a specific work in Classical Music in iTunes Store. For example: in the following album https://itunes.apple.com/es/album/paganini-spohr-violin-concertos/id184747944 which one is the violin concerto from Paganini or Sphor? The problem which is new to this release of iTunes 11 Store is due the lack of composer column making iTunes Store completely useless.
By the way, if you search for the name of a composer who also are a musician the only albums which appears now listed at the store is the one in which the musician perform but not the ones which includes works performed by other artists. For example: if you search for Jorge Grundman you will see only one album listed but not "God' Sketches" performed by Brodsky Quartet (https://itunes.apple.com/es/album/gods-sketches/id512579127) which is an album completely written by me. Of course, I'm not the only one, every composer is suffering the same issue
I have written to Apple Feedback and Apple Customer Support to report this issue in order to be solved as soon as possible. Please, bump this thread to call the attention of Apple iTunes Store team.
Thanks in advance to all of you
Jorge Grundman
http://www.grundman.org
http://soundcloud.com/jorge-grundman/clich-music-for-string-quartet

This issue is getting more and more attraction....
http://www.mcelhearn.com/2012/12/07/itunes-11-and-classical-music/
Apple Support does not have any solution for this issue and recognize the problem. I have send a feedback also to Apple. But what it is absolutely true is that the people behind the iTunes team does not match with the classical music.
So if you wish to buy piano trios in classical music from several composers at the same time and in the same disc you need to know that Apple kidnapped Beethoven!: you never see his name toogether with his works.
Is it culture? Is it a bug? Is it intentional?
Jorge Grundman
http://www.grundman.org
http://soundcloud.com/jorge-grundman/clich-music-for-string-quartet

ITunes for classical music

iTunes' structures are for "songs" (one song, one track). A CD of classical music contains one or more "works", each consisting of one or more "movements" (usually one track, one movement). How can I store and manage classical music with iTunes, or are there any alternative applications?

Obviously, different users will have different approaches to this problem.
I too am an avid fan of classical music (my iTunes library is over 90% classical). I'm not a great fan of a multiplicity of playlists, though, so I adopt a different approach. I have separate genres for different types of musical pieces — Chamber, Instrumental, Vocal, Operatic and so on. I then have one enclosing folder in my Source list (I call it Classical Categories), within which I have a number of smart playlists (Chamber Music, Concerto, Instrumental, Orchestral, Symphonic). I view these smart playlists as lists grouped with artwork and sort these lists by composer. This has the effect of neatly dealing with those situations where the original CD contains works by different composers, since it separates these out and displays them separately. CDs devoted to music by a single composer still remain grouped as a single item, but viewing as a list grouped with artwork helps make each CD stand out from its neighbours and aids clarity.
Using the search field within any of my smart playlists gives me instant access, for example, to all symphonies or all concertos (or whatever) by any single composer. In many ways, indeed, iTunes has proved to be a better way to access music in my library than was ever possible with physical CDs on shelves — I've lost track of the number of times I've found it frustratingly difficult to find a particular piece of music 'in the old days' because it was part of a CD which I'd filed under a different composer's name because music by that composer was what I bought the CD for originally.
As I say, we'll all find different solutions to the problem of using iTunes for classical music, but I'm happy with mine. What would be wonderfully helpful would be for Apple to introduce into iTunes the grouping by 'Work' which they use in the iTunes Store. I also wish they'd drop the use of that word 'song', which is so frustratingly inappropriate in a classical context, and replace it with 'track'. I've submitted feedback about these points on numerous occasions. Perhaps Apple will address the needs of classical collectors at some time in the future.

Listening to classical music

I just got my Blackberry curve and it is great - except for the issues I am having with music downloads. I bought two full albums of classical music on iTunes. I had no problem synching the current music I bought through iTunes. But, when I tried to synch the classical music I bought using the Media Synch app, they will not synch - Proteched (Digital Rights Management).
I am very confused. I don't understand how to figure out in iTunes whether things are going to synch or not synch (protected or not protected). Also, I could care less where I buy my music. Is there a better place to buy music to avoid this issue? I assumed that since the blackberry software referenced iTunes, it would be fully compatable. Obviously, it is not.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. I need to learn this music for my church choir and I bought this blackberry to replace my phone AND my ipod - so the music aspect is a priority for me!
Thanks!
Solved!
Go to Solution.

The problem lies within the song files themselves. Partly to blame is Apple and iTunes also. When you say "current" and "classical" music, are you talking about the time they were purchased thru iTunes? That's probably why your current songs are able to sync, and the older ones not.
Basically what it comes down to is the difference in the types of song files that you purchased. iTunes only until just recently embedded a form of "copy protection" called Digital Rights Management (DRM) into the songs you purchase/download that would only let you play/sync those songs on matched Apple branded software and devices, thus preventing you from simply copying the file and giving it to a friend for free to play on their iPod or other player without paying for it themselves. It's much like how you can't just simply pop a DVD into your computer and copy it to another disc. You will never, through legal means, be able to play those copy-protected files on your BlackBerry.
The way to tell if an iTunes song is copy-protected is to either look at the song's info/properties option in iTunes, or check the file's extension. If the extension is ".m4p" it's protected
To avoid this issue in the future you can either illegally remove the DRM from the song files using decryption software, buy only songs in iTunes that are designated "iTunes Plus" (which are not copy protected and is supposed to be the new standard for all songs in the iTunes store as of now, and may cost extra), or use another digital music store such as Amazon, eMusic, Napster, etc. - where they do not apply copy protection to any of their files (although sometimes sacrificing hardly-noticeable sound quality). I personally recommend Amazon since the quality is above standard, and usually songs are a full 10 cents cheaper than the iTunes store. The only obstacle that you sometimes will run into is that the selection on those other sites may not be as vast as iTunes.
DRM and iTunes is considered by some consumers as a marketing scheme and infringement of ownership rights - iTunes software is free, but if you want to play purchased music outside of that program, you are forced to use/buy an iPod. When you purchase a CD, it is phsically yours to own and you can do whatever you want with it - play it on any CD player, sell it, lend it to someone to listen to, etc. With DRM encrypted music that is not the case and you can't do any of those things, but you're still paying the same money for it as if you were buying a CD, so many feel you should have the same capabilities/rights.

Classical Music podcasts anyone

Anyone recommend well-produced, up-to-date, informative and frequent podcasts for Classical music, both 'early' (1000 - 1750) and contemporary (1945 and after), please?

Here are some classical podcasts including a couple with an early music/contemporary focus:
*Harmonia Early Music Podcast*. A weekly podcast produced by WFIU/Indiana University (6-8 min. episodes)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/harmonia-early-music-podcast/id264352216
*BBC Music Magazine* Podcast. Editors discuss best new CD releases (August episode includes music by Panufnik & Dutilleux among others):
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bbc-music-magazine/id209135475
*BBC Radio 3 Lebrecht Interview*. In-depth interviews with classical musicians. Last episode: interview with French Director Patrice Chéreau (Janácek's House of the Dead, Wagner's The Ring, etc)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lebrecht-interview/id260191910
*London Sinfonietta Podcast*
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-london-sinfonietta-podcast/id325392545
*WNYC New Sounds*. Wide range of performers and styles not limited to classical music.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-latest-stories-from-new/id291245419
James

Classical music newsletter

I read in NYT today that iTunes sends a classical music e-newsletter to people who buy classical music through iTunes. Can't find a way to subscribe to it. Anyone know how?

Thanks, but this is apparently something different from the New Music Weekly. It's targeted just at classical music. I'll keep looking.

How do I get rid of gaps between songs??

Hi,
I am trying to record a mix CD into iTunes but there are gaps between songs.
I know that you can take these gaps out by making the CD into one long track on your ipod, but is there anyway I can get rid of the gaps and keep them as seperate tracks, like on the CD?

In the burning options, change the time between tracks from two seconds to zero seconds.

How do I stop iTunes from re-altering my sorting info for classical music?

Hi there. Hope someone can help. This is really irritating me now.
I have a lot of classical music in my iTunes library. Since very early on I have taken the decision to alter the Artist name in the sort field to the name of the composer rather than the performer as the listing of artists in classical music is so inconsistent (sometimes it's the orchestra, or the orchestra & conductor, or just the conductor, or the soloists, or it changes from track to track). I have kept the performer's details in the Comments box.
This has been absolutely fine until the last year or so, when I have noticed that music that I have downloaded from the iTunes store automatically reverts to the original sorting information even though I've changed it. So, for instance, I will have changed "Alfred Brendel" to "Mozart" as the Artist for a Mozart piano sonata. And even though I have changed the Artist, the Album Artist, the Sort Artist and the Sort Album Artist ALL to Mozart and synced that successfully to my iPhone, the next time that I launch iTunes or turn on my iPhone it will all mysteriously have reverted to the original sorting information. And I don't want that for classical music - fine for rock, pop etc., but classical music has a different set of priorities. I'm guessing this has something to do with iCloud, but how do I stop it happening? It is really tedious to keep altering these things. And some bizarre anomalies have appeared, such as some early Baroque music (Monteverdi) being labelled by iTunes as Electronic in the genre box!! Which it clearly isn't! But the same thing happens - I change the genre, but it changes back! Surely once I sort something it should stay sorted!
I'm sure there's a fantastically obvious explanation for this, and I apologise for missing it. But I don't know what to do . I have iTunes 11.3.1 and am running OS 10.9.4 (Mavericks).
Many thanks.

Yes, others are seeing this. Something in purchased media (I am pretty sure this has only happened with purchased media) is periodically checking back with the iTunes Store and resetting the tags in the iTunes library file but not in the actual media files (metadata are stored in both). I haven't seen a truly systematic diagnosis of the issue (I use an old iTunes and have no iTunes account so I can't test anything myself). There are temporary workarounds but tags will still revert after a time.
2014 discussion about edited tags for Store purchases reverting to originals - https://discussions.apple.com/message/26077896#26077896 - edited tags are still present in the media file but revert to the originals in the iTunes library file. Workaround is to refresh tags so media file tags are re-read and used in library file.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/26193185#26193185
https://discussions.apple.com/message/26335620#26335620 - user ended up rebuilding iTunes library from scratch
Send feedback to Apple about this so they know it is an issue they need to investigate:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html
Don't expect an immediate solution but maybe the next time they update the software it may be resolved.

TS4124 Hi, do you know how can I upload inelegible songs from itunes to Icloud. They are songs added from original CDs. Another question would be how can I transfer all the music I have in my Ipod Classic to my Itunes or ICloud as I want to back it up.

Hi, do you know how can I upload inelegible songs from itunes to Icloud. They are songs added from original CDs. Another question would be how can I transfer all the music I have in my Ipod Classic to my Itunes or ICloud as I want to back it up.

Depends on why it's ineligible. If it's under 96 Kpbs, try right-clicking on the file and choosing Create AAC Version. (If you don't see this option, go to iTunes>Preferences, click "Import Settings..." then choose "Import Using: AAC Encoder" and "Setting: iTunes Plus".) Then rescan your library to see if this version will add to iTunes Match. Or, after changing your import setting, just re-import the song to your iTunes library.
If the song is over 200 MB you would have to reduce it's size to make it eligible.

My ipod classic will dowload any music from itunes it says corrupt, and it will not restore the device

My ipod classic will not dowload any music from itunes it says corrupt, and it will not restore the device

What happens when you try to restore the device to factory settings? Any error messages? If so, what is the exact wording of the error message(s)?
B-rock

Some of my tracks in my iTunes library (eg: audiobooks, lengthy classical music pieces) only play for either 6 or 8 minutes then halt. Why?

So if there is a track that would last longer than 6 or 8 minutes, the track simply stops playing.
My library has been built over 6 or 7 years, contains no illegal music, 85% bought from iTunes, rest is ripped CDs. I have transferred my library at least three times from laptop to laptop as I have upgraded machines, and used different account names and passwords as I have moved around in my job. As an aside, every time I transfer the library it screws up, always the audiobooks and always the classical music and how I have it all catalogued.
I am asuming it's a iTunes library problem, not a problem with my iPod classic?
All help and advice gratefully received; thanks.

Actually I think that its a problem with either the gapless data or the song volume settings that has been brought by itunes 7. When adding new files to the library, iTunes takes a while to determine volume/gapless information. I have replaced files and itunes didn't check the volume and info again, that is why every song stops playing at the last 40 seconds only on the iPod.
I re-added one of the bad files and it played perfectly, but I don't want to lose the data on the other 60 odd files, so is there a way of forcing iTunes to recheck these files? (otherwise i'd have to re-rate and play the songs to the level they are right now)

Classical music on iTunes: lack of proper gaps between movements

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