I’ve looked at settings, searched the web, tried setting the sort order in iTunes… does anyone know how to alpha sort songs on the iPod?
In particular, I’d like songs to be in alpha order when I go to Artists – [Artist Name] – All Songs, but also within an individual album.
I just sort them in itunes by clicking at the top of the columns, then resync my ipod. Seems to work fine.
That was the first thing I tried. My songs are still alpha sorted in iTunes, but not in the iPod.
I don’t think it’s possible. In fact, I’m quite sure it isn’t.
I have my songs sorted in alpha on my iTunes, and it seems to be the same on my iPod.
In individual albums, songs will always be listed by the track number, not alphabetically.
Easier way: For Alphabetizing songs when it comes to going to “Artists”, highlight all the songs and then a window called “Multiple Song Information” should appear. Check off the boxes that say “Track Number” and leave them blank, then hit ok. All the track numbers should be deleted, and then click the “Name” tab to alphabetize the songs.
About the comment above, this is done in Itunes of course.
Hmmmm. GwAaA! And what if you want to listen to an Album in the order in which it was designed? Your method will now disable iTunes in addition to your iPod. This is a horrible idea and obviously coming from an Amatuer imparting poor advice. I spend hours entering and identifying tracks since it is soooo nice to loisten to an entire album.
Alex, I’m having a similar dilemna. The sort order on the iPod is different than what’s on my Playlist in iTunes. It sucks. I’m listening to the iPod in my car thru the BMW interface and frustrated because I am jotting the songs to delete as I listen to them and am surprised when I cannot locate them in Itunes at home. The display in the car is numeric! WoW! Slaves to our toys as they kick and mock us. Anyone have a better answer?
If it’s not possible, just say so!
BTW: A new iTunes Updater just came out today! You never know.
I found the answer here:
http://www.macosxhin[...]820164254360
All you have to do is 1. Right-Click on the name of your Playlist in iTunes and select “Copy to Play Order” and 2. On the iPod under Settings ensure Shuffle is Off.
Enjoy. I love the internet.
Watvere you do, do not delete the track numbers…if you decide to share your music one day or I get into your pc, I won’t want that crappy hacked tag in your song!
thank you this totally worked with no hassel
Thank you!!! This fixed it!!! 🙂
It totally worked! many many thanks.
this is awesome. been banging my head trying to figure this out. thanks
You were right. It worked for my ancient iPod Classic. Thank you
Hello!Thank you SOOOO much! This works although when I looked at the ipod listing in itunes it was the same (muddled) but in the ipod itself it was the order of the playlist. Thank you. I was about to send this brand new ipod (which I was thought would make listening much easier!!) back and get an MP3! I like to run to a certain order of music!!! That would be the one I chose for myself not the one the ipod chose for me!!!
I wanted my ipod songs playlist to be in the same order as my itunes playlist. This worked beautifully!!!!! Thanks.
Thank you this worked for me too! Very helpful.
Thank you!!!
I´ve gone crazy trying to solve this!!!
Hey Alex, long time no talk. I noticed the same thing on my ipod. I have a playlist that is live updating titled “Recently Played.� In iTunes it’s sorted by last played but when I play a song on my iPod the song is placed at the bottom of the ipod’s playlist (I would expect it at the top being most recently played). The order is corrected once I sync with iTunes. Has anyone else experienced this?
Thx
my problem is I am getting the artist’s mixeed into my song selections option; so, the artist’s names are taking over the alphabetical order ind my ‘songs’ section; therefore, I cannot find a particular song in my song section… because the artist is there first for ex: ‘Aerosmith-Angel’ Aerosmith takes ofver the alpabatised (sic) option of the songs list… can anyone help? I have tried finding software for such a thing… no luck.
Thanks,
Doug
What if I am not using a playlist and just want to go to albums on my ipod. they always seem to come up in alpha by artist order which sucks for soundtrack albums.
I’m having a problem since adding some new cd’s to my ipod. There were some artists that were there before, but now are not listed under the artists. The songs are still in the ipod. How can I get the artist listed again in my ipod?
ive seen differant sort orders on the ipod compared to itunes. this is not viewing a play list but an album such as a soundtrack album. the ipod seems to be sorting them using several fields as a combination to determine the order. to fix,
in itunes, get info on all tracks affected at once. blank out all non-required fields by ticking the right boxes. get rid of composer, comment, disc nos, the of track box, year, genre and any others you dont need, blank all except track, title, album & artist.
now see what happens.
to preview the ipods sort order simply sort the tracks in itunes by the album (by year) column
the problem i’m having is my album tracks are mixed up. i put a whole CD on my iPod, except one song because it was scratched up, track 10. so i downloaded track 10 and tried to add it in, but instead of getting in line behind track 9, it just goes to the top of the list and becomes track 1. it’s so annoying because i want my CD in the right order!!! not only that, but track 10 is MY FAVORITE SONG, the main reason i added this CD to my iPod in the first place. i’m so pissed!!
Hi Marie.
Not sure if you’ve fixed your particular problem… but if not, it’s fairly straight forward. Simply ensure that when editing the track details (Get Info) you record not just the track number, but enter Disc Number 1 of 1 (or however many). Provided all the other tracks on this misbehaving album of yours have this “1 of 1” info captured, you’ll actually get to see the correct order to materialise in front of your every eyes in the iTunes library once you click OK. Sync your iPod, and everything should be right with the world once more. This did my head in for a while too!!
Does anyone know how i can arrange my cds in itunes under 1 artist? Meaning 1 cd in 1 playlist. Or is there a way i can have all of the same artist under 1 big playlist??? Please someone help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I generally don’t care about the song order. Shuffle is good.
But i had to listen to an audio book in order.
Without saying the method works on iTunes 7. Thanks a lot. Tell me does Rajiv’s method (look above) works too. Because thats a simpler one.
Onu thing thats bothering me is that you can’t sort the tracks by filename!
I’ve noticed that the iPod and WinAmp (I can’t stand iTunes and QT) don’t have the option to sort by the filename. The only things you can sort by is the data in the ID3-tag, and when an albums lacks the track#-tag the album is sorted in alphabetic order.
Thus completely ruining an soundtrack.
Is there anyway to get around this? Or do I just have to start missing my old MP3-player? (an JoS MP120, drag’n’drop and you navigate through the folders instead of menus)
how do u get ur songs bak in alphabetical order by the name of the songs cause i had it the way i wanted it but then all of the sudden my songs got mixed up and now idk how to put all of my songs bak into alphabetical order…..
i have put albums on my i pod.i’ve gone into get info and done disk 1 of 1 on all tracks.i’ve put the tick next to the box in i tunes where i tunes organizes your music.i’ve put all tunes in number order in get info but my i pod still playes my mixed album in a jumbled up order…please help me someone????/
helpppp……..my ipod now onlys list my songs as a zere (0) and the display only says “now playing” twice………i can no longer see what song or artist is on my ipod…….any idea’s from anybody?
helpppp……..my ipod now only lists my songs as a zere (0) and the display only says “now playing” twice………i can no longer see what song or artist is on my ipod…….any idea’s from anybody?
can anybody please help me with sortin out songs in folder .. in ipod though! thx in advance.
how can i alphabetize all my artists on itunes starting off with numbers like 112, 50 cent…thanks!!!
I hope someone is still reading this blog, because I seriously need help on this topic, and I’m not sure the answers above are related.
I just bought an iPod two weeks ago, and after copying CDs and downloading new music, I’ve gone to my iPod and selected “music,” then “Songs,” and all the songs (about 2,400 of them) are not alphabetized on the iPod the way they are on iTunes. In iTunes, the songs are alphabetized without regard to the words “the,” “a” and “an.” So, the titles “A New Argentina” and “A Prayer for Peace” are next to each other and among all the other songs starting with “A,” instead of being placed with songs starting with “N” and “P,” respectively. And all the songs that start with “The” are grouped together in iPod, but not in iTunes.
I want my iPod to sort songs the way iTunes does. Help!
Try downloading a full Handel opera (79 tracks) and then putting it into performance order! Nightmare
Jeff, I’m having the same issue with my iPod. I even tried changing the “sort name” field in iTunes which works for iTunes, but when I sync my iPod it doesn’t change the sorting order. Anyone have a fix for this?
I’m also having a similar issue with my classical music. I have several works listed by movement, ie. (I) Allegro, etc. iTunes will let me sort these by number (1) instead of the letter (I). However, again, the change in sort does not sync with my iPod. Now when I scroll through my songs list, I get the numbers quick window popping up in the middle of the I’s. It’s really irritating.
Xachary and Jeff,
try Rajiv’s solution above. it works. when you have you ipod plugged in, go to a playlist and sort it alphabetically. then right click on the name of the corresponding play list and select “copy to play order”. that should do the trick.
hope this helps
I totally feel all yalls pain. Everyone has full albums on their ipod, and it is a shame that it is so difficult to ensure that songs are played in the correct order WITHOUT using playlists. I used the track number method, but my order becomes 1, 11, 12, 2, 3… And for those who want alphabetical order, that makes it even harder!
Hey all, I’ve read everyone’s blogs here and I don’t think any are specifically the same fix as I’m looking for.
I have a certain set of songs in an order that I like in iTunes, I would like them to be in this same order on my iPod as well…
I’ve tried highlighting them all and checking “Complitation: Yes” as well as setting each individual track number (1 of 17, 2 of 17, etc) for each song in the “Get Info” window as well and I can’t seem to sync them to the iPod in the order I have them in on iTunes! Anyone have any suggestions? I’ve tried right clicking the playlist and clicking “Copy to Play Order” and that didn’t work either.
[…] You can read the rest of this blog post by going to the original source, here […]
Here is what I did and it worked. only if you have all the songs in your itunes, this method is for you.
Steps:
1. Select all songs in itune,
2. check them all,
3. right click, Get info, type a space for “Artist”, “Album Artist”, Year fields and press OK.
4. Change the settings to manual sync
5. Connect Ipod and remove all songs from it
5. Sysc it again (select all songs in Itune, check them and “drag & drop” to your Ipod”
This is one time effort but it works. If you are not comfortable, try it with 20-30 songs of your itune library.
I forgot to mention one step. After step 3, click on Album name column on itune so that your songs will be sorted according to Album name (or whatever order you want). Once that is done, follow steps 4 onwards.
Try using yamipod (www.yamipod.com).. I was definitely able to do what you wanted to using this utility..
Try this. Click on the tracks that you wish to place in order then Get Info then Sorting. When you are in sorting make sure that all tracks on the album are sorted by the same criteria. Such as Album Artist & Artist. Some tracks may have Album Artist while the rest on the album have not.
Do this on Ipod:
1) Select all the songs (ctrl+a)
2) then (ctrl+j)
3) activate Sort name
You should have it sorted alphabetically.
This was driving me nuts!
I had a problem with a series of radio shows that I download.
my iPod would sometimes screw up the order such as this:
August 1 – Hour 1
August 2 – Hour 1
August 3 – Hour 1
August 1 – Hour 2
August 2 – Hour 2
August 3 – Hour 2
etc…
I double-checked the order in iTunes and made sure it was right and then I did the right-click and “Copy To Play Order” as mentioned above ( by Rajiv on January 31st, 2006 at 2:19 am) and now on my iPod, I have:
August 1 – Hour 1
August 1 – Hour 2
August 2 – Hour 1
August 2 – Hour 2
August 3 – Hour 1
August 3 – Hour 2
hope this is helpful and thanks to all for the suggestions!
This blog is brilliant! Contained spot-on solution to frustrating problem, thereby preventing despair and instead reinforcing belief in the goodness of mankind. Blog on.
1) Select all songs for compilation
2) > Get info)
3) Go to”Options”
4) Select “Part of a compilation” op “Yes”
this fixes your sorting problem
i got a new album..and the songs are in order on itunes as in track 1-intro etc. but on my ipod when i go into album…the tracks are rearranged…intro is 4th..any one have any solution??
thanks
I’ve got this figured out people. Highlight each song in the album you want to sort and right click. Under the Info Tab, you will see “track # 1 of ?” on the right. You want to set the order through this method. For example, If you want the song “Purple Haze” to be third on the list, It would be track 3 of however many songs are in the album. Hope this helps!
Thanks Matthew, you just practically saved my life!!!
Thanks Rajiv! (January 31, 2006)
I just discovered and used your simple fix and thankfully can rest easy tonight knowing that tomorrow my ipod will play my playlist in the proper order! Jimspin, Thanks for making me laugh out loud when I read your post tonight! I am SO in agreement with you! All the best!
can some one please help in my itunes all the songs can be arranged anyway i want if i click the artist tab its in artist order if i click the name taG its in name order but on my actual iphone its not like that its permanent in song order and that really sucks i just want all the songs in artist order so for example if ive got 30 tupac songs there all one after the other ..apple is shithouse if u cant do this
Hello, please, is it possible to create a “subfolder” in Music in iPod? I would like to have all musicals together under the folder “Musicals” but then I want different subfolders with each of them. Otherwise I have so many folders in my iPod. Thanx a lot.
In iPod, songs in each album are sorted/played by the “track” numbers of the songs that originally come with the songs. So that if you make an album with songs from different sources, then the order in which the songs will be played in iPod will be messed up. To sort & play the songs by the names of the songs alphabetically in each album, as I want most of the time, all I need to do is to change the track numbers of all the songs into 1. It works for me.
Ok so I almost always just listen to my top rated. I take the time to rate my music so I can listen to my favorite songs while having other songs for my friends. My Ipod used to put all the artist in alpha order, but since I updated my iPod it puts them in some weird random order that doesn’t make sense. It’s not even in order from highest to lowest rating which is common…anyone know how to fix it? It’s driving me crazy that I can’t find certain songs even though I always shuffle.
The problem is simple. make right click on the song then you click on GET INFO then SORTING and on SORT NAME, put the same name which is on NAME or just delete the name that is on SORT NAME.
This is one reason I hate iPod. I wish there were a better music player but since they have cornered the market, I am stuck. The sorting issue is REALLY a problem with audio tracks. For example Steven Covey “7 Habits”” consists of 7 CDs and about 59 tracks all total. It must play in a certain order or the audio is useless. I have tried the various things in here (each time synching) and no luck. The Ipod with its mind of its own insists on sorting its way.
— Throwing ipod in trash ***
Frustrating from a songwriters perspective: I constantly demo songs in my basement, mix etc, and then import into itunes. I then need to go into Itunes library and make the ‘Album’ name ‘demos’. They (43 songs at this point), I then update my Ipod. Ive tried the right click, 1 of 43; 2, of 43; 3, or 43. And it does not correlate with what I see (orderwise) on my ipod once I disconnect it. Pain in the ass, and I agree w Bob, they need to get real around the sharing violation too (needing to create a playlist, in order to burn a disc). They’re my f###### songs, there’s no copyright infringement, and even if there were ‘the bad guys’ just develop software to route around this kind of garbage, and the rest of us are left to google search ways to reorder and share songs…BS.
Thanks for the tips!
I think we should combine a bill and submit it to Steve Knobs for the labour/time spent working this cr*p out. Nothing is logical, nothing uses common sense, its one big game, try to figure this stuff out.
Apple = Solutions to problems that never even existed!
Yeah I’m hacked off… I’ve spent yet another sunny Sunday (we don’t get many in the UK) staring at a bl**dy laptop.
Peace!
if your in a playlist click the arrow on the left side and uncheck playcount now you can transfer songs in any order./
July 18th 2010
Thanks Rajiv was going mad!!!!!
I had the same issue. Open your ipod up in Itunes, and then find the album that you are after (under the ipod menu, not the itunes library) and simply click Artist. I must have, at sometime chosen alphabetical by song. As soon as i cliked artist, it changed back.
[…] https://alexking.org/blog/2005/06/23/song-order-on-ipod […]
Thanks Rajiv. Your below comment just worked fine.
1. Right-Click on the name of your Playlist in iTunes and select “Copy to Play Order” and
2. On the iPod under Settings ensure Shuffle is Off.
Solution: when you open up itunes in your computer, click on ‘Settings’ in the bottom of your window. MAKE SURE you UNCHECK ‘choose songs randomly’; this will insure your songs play in the order they are transferred to your iPod.
Thank you so much Michael Koziarski worked like a dream.
Hi There, So this is a really long blog and i skimmed it but i dont really see what I’m looking for I’d like to have my ipod so that it syncs like my itunes, I usually sort them by most recently added I like listening to my new songs… my itunes is all sorted like that why doesnt my ipod do it anymore?
I just fixed mine. I just clicked on the far left column which organizes in play order and moved the songs up or down depending on which order I wanted them. Everything else didn’t work.
I’ve got an iPod classic. I want to sort the songs in alpha order when I select artist then all songs. Is there a way to do that? Thanks Pieter