Compilations and Classical music CDs

I have always ignored 'Part of a Compilation' and now wonder if it can help.
TIA for any advice.
I have mostly classical tracks in iTunes 6 - and on my Nano. For example Bach's Art of Fugue 20 or so tracks from the CD I own.
Since this does mean a lot of scrolling and the chances are I listen track after track in succession on my Nano, if I select them all as 'Part of a Compilation', what do I gain?
Will one item only appear on the Nano?
If not, how?
Does Grouping (all with the same string) achieve the same effect?
G5 DP 2 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.7) No Haxies; permissions frequently repaired etc

Compliation does not join tracks. When you check the Compilation checkbox, iTunes reorganises all the songs with that tag into an album folder and puts the folder in a Compilations artist folder in your iTunes music folder. This means far fewer artist folders that might only have one or two songs each.
If you want all parts of a given work to appear as one single track, you have to use the "Join Tracks" function when you import from the CD.
Grouping is just a sorting/searching option, basically a user defined keyword field. Again, it will have no effect on the playback of the tracks themselves.
Hope this helps.

Similar Messages

ITunes and Classical Music

I've got a question about iTunes and classical-music playback. The symphonies, concertos, etc. that I've got are all properly tracked (1 of 4, 2 of 4, etc.) and albumed (1 of 1, etc.). The problem that's driving me nuts comes when I play them on the iPod. I'll select, for example, Beethoven's 6th symphony and playback will consist of ... Movement 1, Movement 3, Movement 2 and Movement 4. What have I done wrong. I've tried clicking "yes" for compilations and still nothing.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Powerbook G4 15w/SuperDrive Mac OS X (10.3.9)

This might seem obvious, but make sure "shuffle" is not selected under Settings. I shuffle when I play pop and often to forget to switch the setting off when I decide to listen to classical.

Shuffle, Grouping, and Classical Music

Okay, I've been struggling with advanced shuffles in iTunes. Here's the dilemma... most classical music has several movements.
This becomes troublesome when I try to shuffle my music. I'll often listen to iTunes for 6 hours running, and would like it to randomly pick music. However, I would also like it to pick the movements of my classical music in order.
I've successfully shuffled by album with my U2 collection, however I can't seem to shuffle by grouping with my classical collection. I assume this is because some tracks in a single grouping have different albums, but why would iTunes do this?
Example of desired behavior:
-randomly select Beethoven's 5th.
-play movements 1-4 of Beethoven's 5th in order
-randomly select something else, say Mozart's 21st Piano Concerto.
-play movements 1-3 of Mozart's 21st PC in order
-randomly select something else.
Now, is there a way to do this in iTunes? How about Party Shuffle? I use this feature all the time, and would love to use it for classical, too. And are there any ways to do shuffle like this on an iPod I'm considering for purchase?

Do you have the cds of the music?
If so, reimport the cd. Before importing, select the track which you want grouped together. I.e: 5-8. Select track 5, hold down the shift key and arrow down to track 8. Then, go to the advanced menu at the top of the menu bar and select "join cd tracks." Now import. This creates one long track including tracks 5-8.
Got it?
If this is already imported music, and you don't want to reimport it, there are applications that will let you join already imported music. It will not join protected AAC files. You would have to burn those to a disc and reimport.
iTunes Join 3 is one. It cost $10.00. Note: I haven't used it myself.

ITunes 11 and Classical Music: a catastrophe!

Been plyaing around with iTunes 11, and I am sorry to say, listeners of classical music should absolutly avoid this update. The usual setting on iTunes 10 form classicla music is to have the composer on the left column followed by the grouping. This is impossible in iTunes 11. Worst, it's almost impossible to sort your music by composer, and completly impossible if your viewing a playlist. The ONLY way possible consists of selecting Music Library, and in this view, you can see the column browser. Its workable, but incredibly poor, and takes away any interest any classical music listener might have in switching to this version: the big advantage of iTunes 11 is how colorful it is, but this view is drab as heck, almost sovietic in its colour scheme!
Obviously, the new iTunes has been designed by people who have absolutly no clue how to classical music works. That's fair enough, we're a minority among all music listeners. I still hope Apple will correct this. iTunes 11 is a very average update in general, and a catastrophe for us. Please, make an effort, this is supposed to be your flagship software for all your iPods.

Individual downloads over 20MB require wifi. It can't be changed. Like all things in life, there are limitations.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

Folder names and Classical Music

I know I am probably in the minority but I mainly listen to classical music. The iTunes default folder naming convention uses the Artist to create folder names - THIS IS NEXT TO USELESS FOR CLASSICAL MUSIC!!
Can this be altered in any way to use the Composer instead of the artist?
Ideally, the folder structure shoudl either be Composer\Album or Composer\Genre
Any Ideas?
Thanks.
PS.Am using iTunes 7.3

Hi, I've been struggling with the shocking limitations of iTunes since I finally took the plunge and bought an iPod shuffle (for a 12 hour journey in prospect) last week. It seems simply incredible to me that a company with Apple's experience and reputation should put out such primitive software - and this isn't a beta, it's version 7.1! Why can't we specify the sort-default? Why can't we define an album to be played straight through, but not necessarily with its pauses between movements elided? And why can't we suspend the amazingly tyrannical auto-typing that won't allow any version of a word than the one you typed first, without you 'cheating' by copying and pasting from another application so that the programme doesn't recognise the keystrokes?
What I've devised, as a way to insist that my Brahms symphonies are played whole and in the right order, is using 'get info' on each group of movements to remove the 'album title' text altogether; then using 'get info' separately for each track, defining the name of each with an album name, 'a', 'b', 'c' and so on. As long as you only have 26 tracks you need to keep together, it works! There are obvious limitations, not least the time and trouble it takes, but the next step for me is to list the 157 Carl Nielsen songs I have by numerical sequence, ripping out 'The Lesser Known Nielsen' from the whole lot (which shuffles the into artist order - the software is blinded by classical song recitals shared by more than one performer) and replacing each track's album title with '000001', '0000002' and so on - though I'm going to enter a global album title of '000000' for the lot before I start, to save myself typing four, five or six 0s each time!
Apple, if you're listening: this software isn't up to scratch, and even if classical music lovers are in the minority, and less likely than most to buy their music from your site, this level of shoddiness diminishes you. Sort it out, please.

ITunes match and classical music.

I listen to classical music, and my iPhone won't download certain tracks over the 3G network. It says I must connect to wi-fi. I assume that it is because the file sizes are too large since movements of symphonies tend to be 10 or 15 minutes long. Anyone else having this problem and is there a solution? I know I can download them over wi-fi, but doesn't that defeat the purpose of iTunes Match which should allow you to have access to your whole library ANYWHERE?

Individual downloads over 20MB require wifi. It can't be changed. Like all things in life, there are limitations.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

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

What does iTunes match do to my indexing scheme for classical music?

Over the years I developed a fair-sized collection of classical music CDs. It took time to decide on a scheme to pigeon-hole them into iTunes, but I did a fair job of putting them in by genre (Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, etc.).
Then I standardized the composer names. The problem was that the online CD library was not consistent. Sometimes Mendelssohn was entered as F. Mendelssohn, other times as Mendelssohn, Felix, etc.
Additional problems arise when you want to find all piano concertos in a minor key or symphonies that are scored for triple winds.
Anyone still reading is probably a musician and may understand these idiosyncrasies of classical music taxonomy. What happens when there are alternate endings or even movements (e.g., Mahler)? What happens when there are different orchestrators of the same piece (e.g., Pictures at an Exhibition)? What happens when you have multiple recordings of the same piece either played by different artists or the same artist at different times in his/her life (Gould)?
So, as much as I'm interested in iTunes Match, I'm concerned that it may not provide enough information about the music it finds and/or will screw up the index system I have created for my roughly 1000 CDs.
Can anyone shed some light on how iTunes Match works with classical music?
Thank you.

I'm wondering if anyone can give advice about how to move a classical CD library to iTunes match cloud storage starting from scratch -- that is to say, nothing is presently in iTunes or on computer yet.
And has anyone has tried Amazon cloud music for the same function, is it easier?
I have a few hundred CDs, 99% classical, and have never ripped or digitized them. So my library is entirely on the original CDs, and I dread spending hundreds of hours loading them one by one into a computer drive, copying them, and then having iTunes match try to upload and "match" it.
However, some of my CDs date to the 1980s and although they have no scratches (I care for them very gently) they seem to be corroding. So much for a lifetime of music.
I don't even have a CD/DVD on my Mac so I will have to buy a Superdrive -- or could I use a networked CD/DVD from an old Windows PC?
So, does anyone know if:
(1) can iTunes match recognize a CD as soon as its inserted, if it is indeed a match, save time?
(2) If not, for those who have "ripped" to iTunes many classical CDs, what are some tips so that tracks are handled properly -- what format for lossless copying, how to ensure the different movements of a symphony are not shuffled, operas don't have weird pauses between tracks, etc.; and what format so that playback is as close to original quality as possible
(3) Are there any 3rd party programs that will save time so I don't have to type in all the info -- composer, orchestra, conductor, lead performer... I'd like all that in the library on the Mac but with me having to take as little time as possible to type it in. Any way to take a PDF of the liner note booklet and "link" the scan to the electronic version of the disc that's in the cloud iTunes match so I could keep the liner notes online too? Any 3rd party programs that can take the barcode from the back of the disc and match with an already-online copy of the liner notes so I don't have to spend hours scanning booklets?
(4) Any services where for a reasonable sum I can ship my CDs and have someone else take care of all this?
Would appreciate any pointers. Thanks!

ITunes has skips in playback for classical music

After importing a CD into iTunes, there seem to be skips in the playback. This only happens with my classical music CDs. I've tried changing import settings such as the encoder (from aac to aiff) and turning error correction on and off. It also happens when the songs are played using quicktime. Anyone know what the problem is and if there is a solution?
Thanks!

Thanks Dan Clark3,
Currently am ripping to the internal drive. I rip at 320 kpbs when using the AAC format, 16 bit when doing AIFF. Sample rates are 44.1. It's interesting that it doesn't happen with non-classical recordings. But, I tried ripping on another computer I own (powermac g4 running OS X 10.3.9 at the same rates and everything was fine. It must be the drive. I found out I cannot burn CDs anymore on this particular machine, so problem solved I guess.
I remember having this problem when I burned CDs of recordings I made in college. Always with the skipping sounds; but I chalked it up to the speed of the computer.
Let me know how if anything is fixed by ripping to the internal drive...

Music CDs are being rejected by my PowerBook G4

I have the latest OS version, the latest iTunes, etc. I never had problems loading and playing music CDs in the past, or uploading music from my CDs to iTunes.
Last week I bought some new CDs and all are being rejected by my Mac--they make a lot of noise trying to load, and then spit back out. I tried my old music CDs, one's I have previoulsy played with no problem and loaded, and they too will not work.
The CD drive does not seem to be the problem, as data disks, sofware disks, and BURNED music CDs WILL play with no problem
Cany anyone shed some light on this? What is going on? I'd think it was the copy protect thing on some CDs, but even my old music CDs are not being accepted into my compute. Has iTunes done something to reject music CDs?
Help!

Thanks for reposting the link.
Unfortunately, that doesn't address my problem. (Fortunately, however, my problem is not as severe as the one in that link!)
My problem manifests itself as some CD's not mounting: the Superdrive spins and makes noises for a while, then ejects the CD.
As far as I can tell, this happens only with one company, and only/primarily with more recent CD's. (Not sure about this, but I think some older CD's from that company that used to work no longer work after I inserted a fairly recent CD.)
I am sure it is related to some copy-protection scheme, but I can't find any files (visible or invisible) that the CD deposited on my Mac.
Any suggestions on what to look for?
Thanks.

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.

I downloaded hundreds of CDs to iTunes on my old computer and synced them to both my iPad and classic ipod. We purchased a MacBook air and I noticed the previously downloaded CDs were not in my library. How can I find them?

I Downloaded hundreds of CDs to iTunes on a previous laptop and synced them with my iPad and classic ipod. We recently purchased a MacBook Air, and I started downloading more CDs to iTunes. When I went to sync my iPod, it removed all my old music and only included the music that I had just downloaded. When I went to my iTunes library, the old music was missing. The old music is still showing up on my iPad. How do I get it back into the library, or do I have to download everything again onto the MacBook air?

rosefromlatrobe wrote:
I Downloaded hundreds of CDs to iTunes on a previous laptop and synced them with my iPad and classic ipod. We recently purchased a MacBook Air, and I started downloading more CDs to iTunes.
When I went to my iTunes library, the old music was missing.
You mean on the old computer, the music is missing?
Or on the new computer the old music that you transferred from old computer, is now missing?
Did you transfer the iTunes library from the old computer to the new computer?

ITunes will not open my music CDs when I place them in the DVD drive. I am using Win 7 and latest download of iTunes. Have tried uninstalling and reinstalling with AV software turned off. No luck. Cannot upload my music CDs to iTunes library. Any ideas?

Using Win 7 and latest download of iTunes, the software will not recognize my music CDs when inserted in my DVD drive. I put a CD in the drive and nothing happens. iTunes does not have a "start" button, or some menu option to tell it to begin copying music to the library, so it just sits there. When I first installed iTunes, it would open the CDs, but I would get an error message after the first track started to transfer. Now, after a coupel uninstalls, disc cleanup, etc., nothing happens when I insert the CD. I am lost here and about to sell my new Ipod Classic because it is useless to me. Maybe I'm just too old to own something like this? Any (serious) suggestions would be appreciated.

In iTunes, do Store->View my AppleID
Click "Deuthorize ALL"
Then, on any computers you still have, do Store->Authorize this computer. If there are less than 5, you will have no problem.
You can only do "deauthorize all" once a year, so in the future, if you ever throw a computer away, remember do to "Store->Deauthorize this computer" first.

I accidentally uploaded songs from cds to the wrong itunes library. i would like to move those songs to my regular itunes library that i use to purchase and download music, since my ipod cant sync to both libraries. how can i do this? please advise. thank

i accidentally uploaded songs from cds to the wrong itunes library. i would like to move those songs to the regular itunes library that i use to purchase and download music, since my ipod cant sync to both libraries. how can i do this? please advise? thank you.

See this older post from another forum member Zevoneer covering the different methods and software available to assist you with the task of copying content from your iPod back to your PC and into iTunes.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2452022?start=0&tstart=0
B-rock

Compilations and Classical music CDs

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