iTune's "Part of a Compilation" field

Desh · Post by **Desh** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 1:57 pm

Is there an equivalent field for this iTune's property? While I realize that there different workflows/methods to do grouping in MM, I've found that setting this field allows my Soundtracks, etc. to properly display on my iPod as a single album instead of breaking down to individual artists with one or two songs underneath them. It also opens up a Compilations menu available on the iPod Photo 1.1 firmware.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301172

The “Part of a Compilation” checkbox in the “Get Info” window allows you to tell iTunes whether it should store the audio files on your hard drive according to the Artist title, or group the tracks according to their Album name in the “Compilations” folder. It is a good idea to enable this option for any CD in which the Artist is not the same for each track, but it is certainly not required.

http://www.ipodlounge.com/index.php/art ... in-itunes/

Nobody · Post by **Nobody** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 3:54 pm

Specifying a different name in the field "Album Artist" than in "Artist" (for instance, Various Artists) has worked for me.

Desh · Post by **Desh** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 5:20 pm

Thanks Nobody,
Does that open up the Compilations functionality on your iPod too?

docbobo · Post by **docbobo** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 4:14 am

Yes, it does so on my Ipod Photo 30 with 1.1 firmware. Once a single track has differing artists, I get the Compilations. You need to go into Setup (on the Ipod) and set "Compilations" to Yes though.

MortyOslo · Post by **MortyOslo** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 6:52 pm

So Mediamonkey V2.4.2.874 still doesn't have this “Part of a Compilation” checkbox as iTunes have?

I would like to select mye entire Compilations folder on my drive with the Location browser, and make these all “Part of a Compilation”...

If I have to specifying a different name in the field "Album Artist" it still takes a lot of time. Any tips?

Morty, Oslo

R Keller · Post by **R Keller** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 12:41 pm

MortyOslo wrote:I would like to select mye entire Compilations folder on my drive with the Location browser, and make these all “Part of a Compilation”...

Easy solution in MM: select all of the the tracks in your Compliations folder, go to "properties" and then change "Alnum Artist" to "various". That's essentially what iTunes is doing.

Rik

MortyOslo · Post by **MortyOslo** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 2:30 pm

R Keller wrote: Easy solution in MM: select all of the the tracks in your Compliations folder, go to "properties" and then change "Album Artist" to "various". That's essentially what iTunes is doing.

Rik

Ok if I rename Album Artist in MM as you say, but transfer to iPod with iTunes, will these albums be understood as compilations by iTunes/iPod?

R Keller · Post by **R Keller** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 4:18 pm

MortyOslo wrote: Ok if I rename Album Artist in MM as you say, but transfer to iPod with iTunes, will these albums be understood as compilations by iTunes/iPod?

Yes. The iPod seems to put any track that has a "artist" name that differs from the "album artist" name under the "compilations" folder (when you turn the compliations feature on). Also using the "various" Album Artist works better with Media Monkey (if you use a different artist name for each track on a compilation album for example, when browsing in the Album node in MM, each track shows up as under a different album)

Be aware however that there is a bug (IMO) on the iPods (that is not related to its interaction with Media Monkey) that when compilations are turned on under the menu settings, when you are browsing by artist you won't be able to see the songs that are on compilations! This is almost as annoying as the bug that makes the iPod skip directly to the album folder when there is only one album for an artist but there are also tracks without an album name - thus not letting you see the non-album tracks at all! (my workaround for this is to give all tracks with a blank album title an album title of "_".

I solved the compilation problem on the iPod by turning the compliations on so that they appear on the main menu screen (don't have the iPod with me as I type so I can't tell you exactly where), but turning the compilations options off (again, I'll need to look at my iPod). This allows browsing compilations albums (albeit as a choice directly under the main menu rather than under the Music menu), but still allows you to see songs that are on compilations when browsing by artist.

Rik

MortyOslo · Post by **MortyOslo** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 5:47 pm

Thanks for the tips Rik!

The problem I also have is that I have loads of single songs also, not just albums. It's very irritating that the singles with album info wound up under the Album menu on the iPod, with only one song! So I just used MM to blank out the album info om all my singles to avoid getting listed under Albums..

But you have used "_" instead. Are there any advantages rather then just using blank? Won't you have many tracks under the "_" album name then...?

R Keller · Post by **R Keller** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 1:23 pm

MortyOslo wrote: But you have used "_" instead. Are there any advantages rather then just using blank? Won't you have many tracks under the "_" album name then...?

Yes, unfortunately you do end of with a lot of albums called "_". However, I am willing to live with this until (or if) Apple corrects the bug that makes the iPod skip directly to the album folder when there is only one album for an artist but there are also tracks without an album name - thus not letting you see the non-album tracks at all.

As a far as compilations go, here is more detail on how I get around the bug on the iPods that when you are browsing by artist you won't be able to see the songs that are on compilations:

"Settings>Compilations>off".
"Settings>Main Menu>Music>Compliations>yes"

This turns on a "compilations" option on the first screen (main menu) but turns off the "compilations" choice under the "Music" menu. The good thing is that it allows you to browse compilations AND it allows you to see songs that are on compilations when browsing by artist.

Hope this helps!

Rik

R Keller · Post by **R Keller** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 1:57 am

Just as a note, the new iPod firmware (1.1 for the 5G - 1-10-2006) appears to have solved the compilations bug that I described above. So you can disregard my advice regarding compilations and just turn them on under settings. And the iPod scrolls a lot faster now!

However, the update has not solved the single album and other non-album tracks bug I described above. Therefore my non-album tracks album will still have an album name of "_" for the time being.

Rik

MortyOslo · Post by **MortyOslo** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:45 pm

So this confirms my theory that iTunes won't list mp3 files with missing album IDTags? I matched up my entire mp3 archive and iTunes listed about 400 less files than what Mediamonkey did..

Morty