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.

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.

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 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

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

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.

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

Shuffling Groups?

I was wondering if it were possible to shuffle groups on the ipod classic? and how do I accomplish this?

I want to be able to shuffle through specific mutli movement, or single works without shuffling the entire cds instead. Lets say I set up an Orchestral playlist, on itunes I shuffle groups, and it will only shuffle through the specific tracks with the tag "Orchestral." But when I shuffle albums on the ipod, if I have four "Orchestral" tagged works off of the same cd, it will play all of those in order, then skip to the next random cd on the playlist.

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 have an iPod of rock and pop tracks which i generally use on shuffle mode. Now I have a second iPod to store classical music. If I plug it in to my pc will it duplicate my rock and pop or will it register as a different device?

I have an iPod Classic with rock and pop tracks on which I generally play in shuffle mode. I have now bought a second iPod Classic to store and play classical music as I don't want to shuffle rock with classical. What will happen when I attach the new iPod to my pc? Will it register as a new device with an iTunes file of its own, or will it duplicate what I already have on the original iPod?

You can attach the second iPod and configure it to sync whatever content you like without affecting the first iPod. I would take a look at this article for different ways to manage multiple iPods on one computer.
How to use multiple iPods, iPads, or iPhones with one computer
B-rock

Classical Music, and Shuffle

Here is what I want to do, I want to be able to shuffle between works of music, not just single tracks, but also sometimes be able to listen to the whole cd. Origionally, the way I had the albums set up, I could only listen to the individual works: (Symphony No. 3)Beethoven Symphonies No. 3 and 6 this is what I would do for the 4 tracks included with Beethoven's 3rd symphony, but there are classical albums that I have that arent single composers, or even single types of works that I would like to listen to occasinally without just listneing to the individual work, or a single track from it. I thought that groupings would work that way but it doesn't. Anyone know of a better way than what I am doing already?

It's worse than I thought. The playlists on my iPad are in crap order. This as close to useless as I can imagine. Why is this feature still not available?

Grouping classical music movements

Is there a way to group a classical pieces' movements together in the library so first movement is always played first in shuffle mode and the subsequent movements (i.e. 2nd, 3rd, and/or 4th) would be played in order? In other words, make the mini think that the 4 separate movements are really just one piece of music?

Do this BEFORE you import the CD.
Put the CD in. Click on the CD in iTunes SOurce.
Select the tracks you want linked, go to Advanced menu and select Join CD Tracks.
This basically makes them one song file.
Gotta do this with Heatbreaker & Livin' Lovin' (She's Just a Woman).

Using Shuffle for classical music

Am a new IPOD user and am looking for guidance on how to use "shuffle" with classical music .. specifically am looking for a way to have multiple tracks that make up one piece of music be treated as a "song" .. it would appear from what I have seen that shuffle will play a movement of a piece only (plays one track) .. Album is an option but would like a finer granularity if possible .. all suggestions appreciated

Thank you for resonding. We were told at Best Buy all we would need is GarageBand. So - I appreciate your honesty that this appears to be not what we need.
The situation is as follows. My husband will teach in Aspen, CO this summer to Elderhostel people. Back in the days of drop the needle this was easy. But now - everything is digital. And, so he has been downloading music to ITunes. He wants to go to a section of a piece of music (say - within the 2nd movement and play where the "horns" come in. And, then go to another section within the 2nd movement to show the change in tempo and "feeling". And, be able to play that. And, he can't take the time of "fast forwarding" and hoping he stops at the right place. Once he has set these up - probably 40 to 50 start and stops for 6 lectures - then he would transfer everything over to IPAD.
We will purchase one -as we have wanted something small and portiable which has wifi.So we can access our emails and the WWW.
Does any of this make sense now? Is there MAC AP which would do what we are looking for. This is what Best Buy kid said we/he could do.
I do appreciate your respondingto me.
Thanks,
Ann

Separating Classical and Other music in one Library

I am having a real problem in comprehensively separating Classical Music from Other Music such as Jazz and Rock. Is there a good way to do this. Why not just use Genre and Grouping? Well, I use smart folders inside Folders. I find Classical stuff and even pod cast and movies popping up in Folders that are supposed not to contain them. I can see that I can eliminate them byt making elaborate smart folders but this is not very practical for all the albums I have.
If there is someone that has experienced the same and knows how to resolve this. I would appreciate your advise on how to do this.
Thanks!!!

Diane,
Thanks, I guess that is the right question and I guess I have been toying with that as it seems so simple. The reason that so far I have not gone down that route is because it will require that I change all the smart folder criteria to first select on Genre and then the other criteria the smart folder is supposed to filter on... but I think that that is simply what I will have to do as all the other alternative are more complicated.
What I now plan to do (also after your question):
Any smart folder in Genre Classical will have the first search criteria as Genre Must contain Classical.
And the second condition will for example be Opera or Easy Listening etc.
When I make a new smart folder I will duplicate one of the previous smart folders and simply rename and change the second condition to shape the new smart folder.
This will require making sure the Genre is correct especially for my old CD imports and I will also have to update manually all smart folders.... doable but I'd rather go and play outside with the kids... so if anyone has a way to automate that boring task or has a better idea, I would appreciate that very much.
Thanks Diane, Floor

I need to synch my iphone, ipod touch and classic to a Mac that I have and 2 I am about to buy. I have legally paid for all my music. If I use migration on my new Macs and clone the original, can I use my iAppliances on all 3 Macs?

I need to synch my iphone, ipod touch and classic to a Mac that I have and 2 I am about to buy. I have legally paid for all my music. If I use migration on my new Macs and clone the original, can I use my iAppliances on all 3 Macs?

Yes.
You can authorize up to 5 computers to play itunes music ( pre-itunes plus). There is no limit on itunes plus ( all itunes music for the past several years) and imported music.
You can sync as many ipods/ipads/iphones as you like to each of your computers.

Shuffle, Grouping, and Classical Music

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