I don't think I like iTunes 8.......

Question

I have compiled some discs and uploaded them before iTunes came out. Now the songs on those compliations have been split up. Is there any way to put them back together. The songs do not drag where they should be. Is there any way to revert back to iTunes 7?
Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

*Kevin Lew* wrote:
I have compiled some discs and uploaded them before iTunes came out. Now the songs on those compliations have been split up. Is there any way to put them back together. The songs do not drag where they should be. Is there any way to revert back to iTunes 7?
Do you not think you are being a little too judgmental? Your situation is quite easy to fix and you would have the same grouping issue in iTunes 7. A few reasons exist for tracks from the same album being separated in iTunes and the solution to dealing with them is quite simple.
The first thing you need to do is insure that the album level tags are consistent. Select all of the tracks from a single album and open the Multiple Item Information window, ⌘I. If the Album tag is empty then the contents of that tag is not consistent across tracks. That will cause separation. Enter the correct album title in the Album field so that it will be applied consistently across tracks.
Another tag to check is the Album Artist tag. If that tag is empty then either the entry is not consistent across all tracks or, you have not entered an album artist. If your compilations are of the Best Of… type, then you should have an album artist noted in the Album Artist tag. iTunes groups albums by matching the Album Artist tag and Album tag. If you do not use the Album Artist tag, iTunes will revert to using the Artist tag. Artist listings can vary track-to-track (e.g., +Album Artist+, +Album Artist featuring Guest Artist+, etc.) and that will also cause track separation.
If your compilations are various artist compilations then there is no album artist but each track will have a different artist acknowledged in the Artist tag. To properly group this type of compilation, go to the Option tab in the Multiple Item Information window and select ‘Yes’ in the dropdown menu for Part of compilation enabling the grouping function.
If you intend to use any of iTunes 8’s Grid Views, then you may wish to use Album Artist tag in conjunction with the part of a compilation option. Otherwise, iTunes will list those compilation albums as being by “Unknown Artist”. I have several compilation albums, so I group my compilations by content. For example, instead of simply using Various Artists in the Album Artist tag I use,
Various Artists (R&B)
Various Artists (Reggae)
Various Artists (House)
Various Artists (Old School)
Various Artists (Soundtrack)
etc.