ITunes naming and filing problems

Question

Hi,
I’m currently recording weekly lectures on a Sony MP3 recorder. I then download the lectures into iTunes, and then onto my iPod so I can listen to them as necessary.
So each week I add a few more files to iTunes. First I drag the files from the Sony machine onto my desktop. Then I drag them into my folder of lecture recordings. Then I have one of two choice / one of two problems to solve:
1. Sometimes I rename the files here, but then when I drag them into iTiunes, the files in iTunes revert back to the original file names (date and time).
2. If I drag them into iTunes without naming them, I can then rename them in iTunes – BUT, this does not rename the files in my folder of lecture recordings.
It seems to be really problematic to match up the old and new files within iTunes. I have to scroll down through a long list of files, highlight the ones which should be associated, then “get info”, then rename the whole match, and someone this “moulds” them together as if an album. It’s quite boring and laborious. Maybe I’m doing something wrong.
I seem to have a similar problem when importing a CD which is not recognised and therefore has no artist name of track names. A dozen tracks just end up spread throughout my library and I have to work out which “track 1” and which “track 2” I want and then glue them together as an album in “get info”. Am I doing something wrong? Is there an easier way of doing this?
Another problem I’m having. Why do some CDs keep reverting to the “Compilations” folder. For example: I have a two-CD set of U2 Joshua Tree. The first CD (the “album”) is filed under “U2”, but the second CD (the extras and b-sides) keeps moving back to “compilations”. The annoying thing is that they’re never adjacent on my iPod (but they are in iTunes). Various other “best of” CDs always end up in compilations, as if “various artists”, when they’re by a specific artist. My Beatles Anthology 3 CDs WILL NOT let me download the English song titles. The song titles are all in what looks to me like Japanese. These little thing are quite annoying.
If anyone can clarify any of the above, it would be appreciated.
Thank you very much.

Answer 1

Stu-art wrote:
Hi,
I’m currently recording weekly lectures on a Sony MP3 recorder. I then download the lectures into iTunes, and then onto my iPod so I can listen to them as necessary.
So each week I add a few more files to iTunes. First I drag the files from the Sony machine onto my desktop. Then I drag them into my folder of lecture recordings. Then I have one of two choice / one of two problems to solve:
1. Sometimes I rename the files here, but then when I drag them into iTiunes, the files in iTunes revert back to the original file names (date and time).
So the Sony recorder is initialising the tag with the date & time of creation. iTunes will use the filename as an initial value for a track name if & only if there is no tag present in the file on import. You could use a 3rd party tool to edit the tags before import to iTunes if you wanted.
2. If I drag them into iTunes without naming them, I can then rename them in iTunes – BUT, this does not rename the files in my folder of lecture recordings.
iTunes will only rename the files if you have the option *Keep iTunes Media folder organised* selected and you either place these files somewhere inside the iTunes Media folder before import or have *Copy to iTunes Media folder when importing* selected.
It seems to be really problematic to match up the old and new files within iTunes. I have to scroll down through a long list of files, highlight the ones which should be associated, then “get info”, then rename the whole match, and someone this “moulds” them together as if an album. It’s quite boring and laborious. Maybe I’m doing something wrong.
Click on the heading for the Date Added column once or twice to put your library into descending date added order. This will sort the most recent imports at the top of the list making it east to access the tracks you need ot edit. For general guidance on getting iTunes to organise your tracks sensibly see my previous post on Grouping Tracks Into Albums.
I seem to have a similar problem when importing a CD which is not recognised and therefore has no artist name of track names. A dozen tracks just end up spread throughout my library and I have to work out which “track 1” and which “track 2” I want and then glue them together as an album in “get info”. Am I doing something wrong? Is there an easier way of doing this?
You can type in the info. before importing or use date added to gather the items you need to edit.
Another problem I’m having. Why do some CDs keep reverting to the “Compilations” folder. For example: I have a two-CD set of U2 Joshua Tree. The first CD (the “album”) is filed under “U2”, but the second CD (the extras and b-sides) keeps moving back to “compilations”. The annoying thing is that they’re never adjacent on my iPod (but they are in iTunes). Various other “best of” CDs always end up in compilations, as if “various artists”, when they’re by a specific artist.
See Missing Artist or Album not with others by same artist and One cover for multi-disc album in the post mentioned above.
My Beatles Anthology 3 CDs WILL NOT let me download the English song titles. The song titles are all in what looks to me like Japanese.
iTunes will try to match your CD with the CDDB database. Generally it gives the first possible match with no option for alternatives. Sometimes you can fool it into fetching the right data by altering the title slightly. I've just searched manually and found an entry for THE Beatles Anthology 3 (Disc. You could try changing the album title to this then selecting the tracks and using *Advanced > Get CD Track Names*. Failing that, edit by hand.
These little things are quite annoying.
If anyone can clarify any of the above, it would be appreciated.
Thank you very much.
Hopefully that sheds a little light...
tt2