Single song, multiple albums

Say I own the albums Purple by Stone Temple Pilots and the Crow Soundtrack. Both albums have the song Big Empty. How do I get that song to appear on both albums without having duplicates or setting up a whole bunch of playlists? I'm particularly interested in getting the iPod to pick up on this. Thanks.

You get one album per song. So if you want it in both albums, then you need to have it imported into your libary twice. Me, I tend to simply delete duplicates on Best Of or soundtracks if I have them on the original and leave them with the original (so the retain the proper date and such).
Patrick
Currently listening to an old Devo demo version of "Turn Around"

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One song, multiple albums

Hello all, I don't know if this is possible, but here goes.
Over time you accumulate the same track a few times from different sources, and that's all well and good as you want the full album or compilation.
My question is: is it possible to tag one of these tracks for multiple albums, and therefore being able to delete the duplicates, so only the one file is referenced from multiple albums?
Many thanks in advance for any info.

Well, no, it realy isn't possible.
The way iTunes "knows" the track is by some data kept inside the actual file called "ID3" tags. So any single instance of the MP3 file (or AAC, etc) can only have one set of identifying ID3 tags, and thus can only show up in one place in your iTunes library.
If you have the same tune in multiple places in your iTunes library, then those places reflect multiple sets of ID3 tag information, and those must be in separate files.
It didn't/doesn't actually have to be that way: there is no reason the tags couldn't have multiple "title", or "album" or other information, but the demand just isn't high enough for such sophisticated behavior for Apple or any other MP3 player to worry about such details.
And anyway, are you sure they are the same? "Best Of" compilations frequently do some remastering, so even if it has the same length and sounds mostly the same, it might not be precisely the same sets of sounds.
Anyway, the size of a single audio file compared to the size of disks these days really means this would only matter to folks with borderline obsessive/compulsive disorder. Perhaps you should worry about something more meaningful ?
\[Disclosure: the only reason I know this is that the same problem irritates me ]

Single song from album purchased through itunes not authorized

I purchased an album through iTunes a few weeks ago and it worked fine. Yesterday and today, however, I am unable to play one track of the album. When I try, it asks me to log in to authorize my computer (to which it says, it's already authorized). But I'm not able to play this song... I purchased the album via iTunes as a whole album and all of the other songs on the album play fine.
I've tried deauthorizing the itunes and then authorizing it again, but no luck.

The song that will not play, may be corrupted and did not download properly. If you are in a country, where you can download past purchases again, move the song to the Trash, but don't empty the Trash, then download the song again.
See: Downloading past purchases
Regards
Léonie

How do i put single songs on the shuffle

its not giving me the option to add single song just albums, playlist, gen and artists

Hello koobrock1978,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
For more information on this, take a look at:
Managing content manually on iPhone, iPad, and iPod
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1535?viewlocale=en_US
To add items to your device:
Choose the content from your iTunes library.
Drag the content to the iPhone, iPad, or iPod icon (under Devices) on the right-hand side of the iTunes window. A panel should appear.
Drag the content to your device on the panel.
Best of luck,
Mario

Songs from a single album STILL split up (multiple albums in cover flow)

I performed the steps listed in the FAQ to consolidate files of this sort (select all files in the Album, do a "Get Info", and make sure all Album/Album Artist/Artist entries are the same), but the multiple albums I see in cover flow are still there. Has anyone had this problem?

One other place it might cause them to break up are the disc _ of _ fields and the Track _ of _ fields.
If they are different from track to track, that might do it. Select all the tracks again, do a Get Info on the bunch. disc _ of _ fields should all be blank, but just in case one or more does have that filled in, but not all of them, go ahead and check the little check marks next to those two fields to reset them ALL to blanks.
Then for the Track _ of _ fields fields, if the second one is not filled in, that could be a problem. It should show the total number of tracks in the CD. So 10, 12, etc. whatever the total number is, if it is NOT there, then fill it in.
OK out of the album. Any better? If not, then next check the track numbers. Go to the first track, select, Get Info, and make sure it is set for Track 1 of X fields (where X is of course the total number of tracks. If it is OK use the NEXT button on the bottom of that window to advance to the next track and go through each one in turn making sure they are all set correctly (1, 2, 3, etc.).
Patrick

Adding 1 Song to Multiple Albums

Is there any way to add a single song to multipule albums in iTunes without duplicating the file?
Example: Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville was released on "Changes in Latitides, Changes in Attitudes" album. It was then re-released on "Songs You Know By Heart" as well as "Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads".
Is there a way to assign a single file so that it shows up on multiple albums with the corisponding artwork, track number, etc. without duplicating the file over and over? I have run into this situation several times with several different artists and it would be helpfull when you search for an album, to have all of the tracks on that album show up.
I am running OS X Lion 10.7 with iTunes 10.4.
Any advice would be appriciated. Thanks.

Send 'em feedback: <http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html>.

Cover flow albums show songs from multiple albums

I love my iPod classic. the only issue I'm having is that when reviewing some albums via the coverflow feature, about 5 albums shows songs from multiple albums. they play correctly. It appears just the listing is messed up. I've tried deleting, adding the albums back to the library and resyncing, but it's still happening. Anybody seen this?

Try *One cover, too many tracks* below:
*HowTo: Grouping Tracks Into Albums*
Excuse the long post, but hopefully covering all the bases (that I can think of) will help you fix the other issues you are likely to run into as you try to organise your iTunes library.
*Use an album friendly view*
iTunes will let you sort music on many columns, some of which are unlikely to group albums together or put the tracks in their normal order. The most useful order for editing the library is probably *Album by Artist*. If you're not already there, select the list view and click on the column heading for Artist until it reads Album by Artist.
*One cover, too many tracks*
The iPod (and iTunes to a lesser extent) conflates two or more albums with the same title, most obviously with *Greatest Hits*. On the iPod this can result in one album acting as a combination of two or more. Selecting any cover gives all the tracks of all albums with the same title. The workaround for this "Greatest Hits" bug is to give each album a unique title - I tend to go for *Album - Album Artist* as this reads clearly in the iTunes browser. Alternatively you could use the wording as it appears on the cover or append different numbers of spaces for each different album. Somewhat oddly, setting different values for Sort Album doesn't work.
*Missing Artist or Album not with others by same artist*
iTunes relies on the Gracenote CDDB database when identifying CD's. This often marks collections or anthologies of an artist's work as a compilation. In iTunes, however, the compilation flag has the logical function of grouping together tracks with the same album name, but different artists on each track, e.g. "Now That's What I Call Metal 666!". These compilations are then all grouped together at the end of cover flow. Most of us however, would expect "Greatest Hits" albums to be listed with the other albums by the same album artist. For albums which are essentially by a single album artist or group it is best to set the appropriate value for the album artist and clear the compilation flag.
*One album, too many covers*
For true compilations, where each track is by a different artist, the answer is to set the compilation flag to true and enable the iTunes preference to *Group compilations when browsing*. If the album is not a compilation however, any tracks which list guest artists may be treated as separate items. Filling in the Album Artist field is enough to link things in iTunes. Sadly, however, the iPod ignores the Album Artist field when grouping albums so this is only a partial solution. You can simply mark the entire album as a compilation which seems to be the way iTMS handles it, however that's not an ideal fix. Short of waiting for Apple to address this issue (and as far as I can tell it goes back to the 1st gen. of iPods) we need a workaround. What I do is to put any additional artist info. in square brackets after the song name. E.g. *Track \[Feat. Guest\]* and then set *Artist=Album Artist* for each track. For anthologies where the Album Artist is credited as part of another group, e.g. for Cream tracks on an Eric Clapton anthology, I use *Track \[As Group\]*. For a track where the main Album Artist doesn't receive a credit, e.g. the first track of the Slim Shady LP credited to Jeff Bass, I just set the track name to *Track \[Guest\]* while still setting the artist to the album artist. N.b. I use square brackets to indicate that this is information about the track as distinct from the song title and also use this style for Mix/Live/Bonus info.
*One album, still too many covers*
iTunes may split albums into two or more sections if some tracks from the album have different values for Artist, Album Artist, Album, No. of Discs or Part of a Compilation. Tiny differences such as trailing spaces, accented characters or variants of symbols can sometimes be quite hard to spot. The iPod is also more sensitive to case variations and may split or reorder an album that looks okay in iTunes. Normally overtyping the desired value for each shared field will complete the grouping of the album into one entity. Occasionally, however, this method seems to fail. When this happens I've found that you can force every field to update properly by adding some extra text - e.g. a trailing X, which once applied seems to complete the joining of the tracks into one album. Once this has happened the extra data can be removed and the album should remain properly grouped.
*Tried that, there are STILL too many covers!*
The Sort Artist, Sort Album & Sort Album Artist fields can be used to override the normal sort order. For example iTunes automatically drops leading articles (a/an/the) so "The Beatles" are arranged under "B" instead of "T". Occasionally different tracks from the same album can have different values in these sort fields which can also break up the grouping. Making the sort columns visible in iTunes can help with spotting & correcting such problems.
*One cover for multi-disc album*
Multi-disc albums are often listed as *Album (CD1)* for CD 1, *Album (CD2)* for CD 2 etc. To display these properly using just one cover, each disc should have the correct *Disc X of Y* values set, and then the entire album should be given the single title Album. Being somewhat obsessive I also renumber the tracks sequentially, working backwards from the last track (so that no two tracks ever have the same number) until I reach disc 1. BTW You can still give the individual discs different artwork should it be relevant so that the correct artwork will be displayed as the album progresses.
*One artist, many names*
With some artists, particularly classical composers, you should be aware of alternative representations of their names. E.g. 2Pac vs. Tupac. The menus will work best if for each artist you standardise on just one form of their name. E.g. make a choice between Mozart, W.A. Mozart or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and then apply it consistently. For classical music I tend also to use the Composer as the Artist & Album Artist and either discard the performer details or place these into the Comments field.
tt2

One song in multiple albums?

I know this has not been possible in earlier versions of iTunes, but I hope Apple has addressed it by now. It makes a great deal of sense. If, for example, one has a song in the album in which it was originally released and also has a copy as part of a Greatest Hits album, we should not have to retain two copies of the song to be able to hear it no matter which album we choose to play. Aperture and iPhoto seem to manage this with images—why not in iTunes? Is it possible to do this yet?
If not yet possible, could someone remind me of the feedback URL?
Thanks,
Ben

i personally would love this.....
I have all of an artists albums.... PLUS i have all of the singles from that album...
I would love the same track that is on the album, and on the single to show in multiple album titles....
Eg the song;
Step Back In Time is Track 02 on the Album "Rythm of love"
however it is Track 01 on the single "Step Back In Time - CD 1"
and also
Track 01 on the Single "Step Back In Time - CD 2"
So i have to choose which album i want this to show on... as i am unable to have the one track show up on multiple albums..... even tho it is all the same track....... yet, if i listen to "Step Back In Time - CD 1" it means i cannot listen to the title track as it is linked to a different album......

Linking songs to multiple albums

Is there anyway that you can link a song to multiple albums in your iTunes library? I find that I often have songs that appear on several different albums - for instance they may appear on the original studio album, but then also appear on Greatest Hits albums or compilation albums as well. I'd like to be able to link the song so it shows up in the track listings for every album it appears on - without having to have multiple copies of the song on my Ipod Touch.
Does anyone know of anyway to do this?

*Is there anyway that you can link a song to multiple albums in your iTunes library?*
No there's not. iTunes doesn't have an option to allow a single song to be linked to more than one album. As you've discovered, if a song appears on more than one album you need multiple copies of it. You can send feedback/feature requests directly to Apple at this link and provide them with your comments. Maybe a future version of iTunes will incorporate a multi-album option: Apple Product Feedback

A single CD download in ITunes shows as multiple albums

I am new to ITunes on a MacBook pro this weekend. I have 2 CDs that when downloaded into ITunes that shows as multiple albums based on combinations of artists. For example the CD "Shaman" by Santana, along with several guest artists shows in ITunes as 13 albums. How to combine or show as a single album? Only 1 of the 13 has the cover art. Thank you

Check that all songs have the same album name
Sort under album name as opposed to "album/artist". I am new to Apple as well and used to use Media Centre on PC and this has happened to me with compilations - especially with triple j's annual release. You see it was sorting under album/artist and each song is different.
I think that should do the trick (speaking from past experience - not an expert)
Mal

Songs appearing on multiple albums

iTunes v7.6.1.9
I think I probably know the answer to this but if someone can confirm it I can sleep easy.
I have over 5500 tracks loaded into iTunes and there are a number of duplicate songs that appear on more than album. Is there a way of telling iTunes this so that I can save space on the pod?

At present if a song is on multiple albums iTunes requires that you have a separate file for each one, it can't at present allocate multiple albums to a single song file. If this is something you'd like to see in a future version you can send feedback/feature requests directly to Apple at this link: Apple Product Feedback

Downloading multiple single songs

I often download multiple single songs from multiple albums of an artist I like.
I have windows xp. Is there a way to buy multiples at once? It seems when I click them one after another there are problems with the downloads with the sound going up and down or pauses in the music.
Can someone please explain what I am doing wrong. Thank you.

There used to be a 'buy all' button but for some reason that has been removed from the current version of iTunes - you will need to buy each item individually by clicking on their price.

"Up Next" broken? multiple entries for single songs

Problem: I double-click an album and only one song plays. "Next" plays the same song. All songs are checked. Looking at "Up Next" and I find multiple listings of the first song in the album - my one song. Similarly I can double-click a single song and get similar results - multiple entries in "Up Next" - 21, 22, and then 19 times in a quick test on several songs (I think the number of duplicates is the same for a particular song but I'm tired of beta-testing).
I can drag an album or other selection into "Up Next" and all seems well. All my songs are "checked."
I keep iTunes up to date and installed a new version today before reporting this.
- Mac OS 10.7.5 iTunes 11.3
...dan wheeler
frustrated to keep hearing the same song
frustrated to keep hearing the same song
frustrated to keep hearing the same song
frustrated to keep hearing the same song
frustrated to keep hearing the same song
frustrated to keep hearing the same song
frustrated to keep hearing the same song
frustrated to keep hearing the same song
frustrated to keep hearing the same song
frustrated to keep hearing the same song

That did work (kind of). Thanks.
That did work (kind of). Thanks.
That did work (kind of). Thanks.
I was looking for something like that and can (almost) swear that the blue repeat icon wasn't there (I was looking for something like that, but of course my screenshot does not include the culprit so I'll have to assume I missed it).
And it's "kind of" only since in the latest version anyway you need to select "Off" from Control | Repeat rather than toggle the "One"
Again, thanks very much.
I still think the overall UI behavior is wrong - "playing" an album or playlist shouldn't repeat the first item IMHO. It should at least warn that Repeat | One is on.
...dan wheeler

Why does iPhone rate whole album when it syncs to iTunes rather than just single song sometimes?

I wasn't sure if this should be an iTunes or iPhone discussion, so here goes!
I am very particular about rating my music. Every day at work, as songs play on my iPhone, I give them a star rating. This star rating then transfers to iTunes when I sync my phone. Most times, these ratings go through just fine. Sometimes, however, rather than just rating a single song with three stars on an album... It'll give the whole album in iTunes three stars. (Three stars is just an example.)
What I mean is that if viewing an album list, the album rating will be hard coded per se on the left and give all the songs three stars even if I never listened to / rated them. I can then click to remove the rating on the album on the left, and the unrated / unplayed songs will lose that hard coded rating and return to no rating.
What am I doing wrong? Lol. It drives me crazy! Once a month I view all my albums as a list so I can remove the hard coded ratings. There are usually six or seven albums that'll have it. I do nothing different on the iPhone that I am aware of.
Has anyone else experienced this situation or have a solution? I'm on an iPhone 4S, latest software. This also occurred with my iPhone 3GS
Chris

Still an issue, Apple. iPad with 5.1.1 and I have the same issue. There doesn't appear to be a way to rate a single song.

How to add a single song plays to an album?

Hi
I have a single song in my itunes and i played it 18 times...
my artist album is already come and i buy the CD and import it to the itunes library, The album is already have that single song but with different tags (name of album in single is "name of song single" and in album it is " album name" and about track number and artwork and ... )
my questions is : How i can add plays from the single to abum's track?
Thanks

Use this script to change the Plays count for a track.
-> http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=newplayedcount

Single song, multiple albums

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