Why can't itunes identify albums?

Question

I suspect this question has been asked numerous times, so forgive me for being redundant.  I've been using the iPhone for about 4 years.  The thing I hate about my Apple experience is iTunes seeming ineptitude at properly importing songs from a CD.  Windows Media Player beats iTunes hands down in this respect.  Does anyone have a suggestion to work around this problem? 
Thanks - Al

Answer 1

alfowler7 wrote:
So, since iTunes can find information about albums I import, please tell me what I'm doing wrong.  Obviously I need to do more than simply rip the CD. 
When iTunes reads the CD in your CD drive, it (iTunes) should ask Gracenote for the the album information straight away. You should see the track names, album name and artist all appear as appropriate in the CD import window. If that doesn't happen, check your Edit/Preferences>When you insert a CD: and make sure that Automatically retrieve CD track names from Internet is ticked "on". You will notice the drop-down menu as part of that section as well. Since you are having issues, I suggest that you set the drop-down menu to Show CD which will allow you to check that the track name information is being completed prior to importing.
If this information is missing or incomplete, it is at this point that you should identify the cause, not after importing. Perhaps your iTunes is not able to get online.
Just to clarify something; Gracenote can only identify commercial releases, not home burnt CDs. Frequently, now-days, artists release albums directly, without the use of a record company. In this situation (and even with very new company releases), Gracenote may not have that information yet. It is possible for an individual (including yourself) to submit track information (for a commercial release) to Gracenote through iTunes if so desired. If someone has done just that, with the albums you are having trouble with, but they did not fill in the details correctly, perhaps that is the problem. If you tell us which albums they are, maybe someone else with that album can offer specific help.
I feel the need to make an observation here.
I made several points in my response to Smirnoff about what happens when a CD is being imported which, if you had read them, might indicate - to you - at which point in the procedure, your process fails and without the need for your "attitude";
E.G.
Smirnoff wrote:
When I read about importing in Help, it tells me that the tracks will appear in the Music Library.
Correct, complete with the song titles and album and artist names - as well as appearing in the import window, prior to you selecting Import CD, so you will able to confirm titles before importing.
and...
Smirnoff wrote:
Or does iTunes recognise it as an album and create an album title?
Yes, of course. The album will imported into your iTunes Library under the album title and with the artist listed, just as you would expect to see the album information on the CD you imported from.
... and yet you have not acknowledged that. If you had read either of those points, surely you would comment to me about whether that did, or did not, happen in your case, instead of coming out with condescending stuff such as "Well I obviously need your superior skill to operate iTunes" and "Please share your superior wisdom"
wouldn't you?
Don't you forget, people such as myself post here in order to help other people, (look at the number of points awarded to those who do actually help) and we do so on a voluntary basis. If you are rude to those who offer you help, how long do you think that help will continue? Huh?
One last gesture of help towards you. You say you have a collection of songs in your Library without names, from previous "failed" imports. You can edit the song information in your iTunes Library, even after importing the CD. Highlight the song and select File/Get Info/Info and type in the information you require. You can bulk edit items such as Album Name and Artist by selecting all the required songs and using the same File/Get Info ... Just be cautious that you don't overwrite individual song information. If all else fails, once you have identified and corrected the cause of your initial problem, you could re-import the failed imports.