iTunes Problem

AsSiMiLaTeD

iTunes is pissing me off...here's what I've got

I have tons of music and have it all tagged correctly with Genre, Artist and album name. In my iTunes library on the PC everything shows up with the correct artist names, but when I view the library from something like an iPhone or an iPad, there are some artist names that don't match what's in my library.

So, whereas I have all my artist names straightened out on the PC (so Keb Mo, Keb' Mo, and Keb Mo' are now all grouped into one artist and show up that way in iTunes on the PC, they're still listed separately in the Remote app on the iPad.

Frustrating as hell since I've gone through all the trouble to get everything organize.

Any thoughts?

bobman1235

I wish I could help, but instead I will validate your frustration : iTunes just does a horrible job of keeping tags clean and updated for some reason. Things will show up OK on iTunes but not on an iPod, or sometimes they'll show up f unky even within playlists ON THE SAME PC. It's absurd. iTunes needs a complete rewrite, and badly, and it will never happen.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Ah, I think I found the issue...

First, yes iTunes sucks at tagging and managing tags in music, that's why I try not to let it do that.

As for the issue...

I grabbed Tag&Rename and decided to take a deeper look at one of the songs. There's an 'Additional' tab, and on there I can see the other artist name as well, so iTunes must be picking that up, So it looks like I need to identify all the songs that are giving me problems and remove those additional tags.

heiney9

I dislike iTunes so much. Finally got rid of my iPod Touch and I can't wait to delete iTunes software off my computer.

AsSiMiLaTeD

I don't mind the software so much as long as I don't try to do with it what they intended the software to do. Now how ridiculous does that sound?

I 'manage' my media and file info elsewhere, will strictly be using iTunes to sync video to my iPad and will be using it to stream stuff through the Apple TV when I pick that up later today. For those two things it seems to be fine, so far...

heiney9

I understand, if you have Apple products you are tethered to that horrible software. That's why I don't have any Apple stuff. I've gotten along fine in life without drinking the Apple Kool-Aid.

I bought the iPod Touch only to use i-Peng to control my Squeezebox. Never used iTunes other than to DL a few apps, never for music, NEVER. Now that I have an Android based phone.........Squeeze Commander works the same.

H9

bobman1235

Why does buying a product always have to be "drinking the Kool-Aid?" Such an idiotic and ignorant phrase / idea. Every product has pros and cons. Did you drink the Android Kool-Aid when you bought one?

heiney9

bobman1235 wrote: »

Why does buying a product always have to be "drinking the Kool-Aid?" Such an idiotic and ignorant phrase / idea. Every product has pros and cons. Did you drink the Android Kool-Aid when you bought one?

You must live under a rock or have never been around Apple fan's. Apple products are the best things ever invented since the light bulb.

Your sarcasm doesn't work this time Bob, because Apple fans are rabid, they drink the Kool-Aid and they're usually the first to tell you why you should only own Apple products...........because they are superior in every way, because Steve Jobs says so.

Again, crawl out from under your rock.

H9

bobman1235

I'm aware that Apple has a rabid fanbase, but not all users of their products are part of that fanbase. Myself included. Love the iPhone, but recognize its limitations, hate iTunes, etc.

Just saying that not EVERYONE who buys the product "drank the Kool-Aid." Some of us made a rational decision based on many factors, and hate being lumped in with the fanboys or made out to be morons because of our rational decision.

Jstas

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

Ah, I think I found the issue...

First, yes iTunes sucks at tagging and managing tags in music, that's why I try not to let it do that.

As for the issue...

I grabbed Tag&Rename and decided to take a deeper look at one of the songs. There's an 'Additional' tab, and on there I can see the other artist name as well, so iTunes must be picking that up, So it looks like I need to identify all the songs that are giving me problems and remove those additional tags.

That's what I was going to suggest you look for. Winamp does it with MP3's. There is a "file info" header on every MP3 and depending on what idiot made the CDDB entry for the track you're ripping, things could be spelled wrong, improper capitalization or the artist, album and title of song are all in the Author field and the song won't even show up in the play list.

It's probably not so much iTunes as it is the users **** up the different fields and iTunes aggregating the various screwed up entries in to the same database entry for the artist.

heiney9

bobman1235 wrote: »

I'm aware that Apple has a rabid fanbase, but not all users of their products are part of that fanbase. Myself included. Love the iPhone, but recognize its limitations, hate iTunes, etc.

Just saying that not EVERYONE who buys the product "drank the Kool-Aid." Some of us made a rational decision based on many factors, and hate being lumped in with the fanboys or made out to be morons because of our rational decision.

Sorry you inferred I meant every single solitary Apple owner. Lighten up, I didn't say anything about what you are trying so desperately to defend.

I will admit a very small part of my dislike for Apple products is the overhwelmingly rabid fan base and having to be associated with that. Now granted if there weren't other viable options then I would certainly own Apple, but there are.

Touchy subject for you, apprently

H9

Jstas

bobman1235 wrote: »

Why does buying a product always have to be "drinking the Kool-Aid?" Such an idiotic and ignorant phrase / idea. Every product has pros and cons. Did you drink the Android Kool-Aid when you bought one?

I drank the Windows Kool Aid 'cause I have a Windows Mobile phone and honestly, best phone I've ever had! It's the only phone that seamlessly integrates in to my network. I don't need 3rd party software to share network resources or even mount shared drives. It makes like so easy when I'm trying to manage files. Since it uses Microsoft products as well, no funny conversion stuff either. It's odd being from Microsoft but it just works. It works the way I expect it to and that's probably the best thing about it. All the others, Android, Apple, RIM and so on all say they integrate but the efforts you have to go through to get half the functionality that this Windows phone has native makes me think that the others don't integrate at all.

But hey, y'all get what you want. I have the equivalent of a networked laptop in my pocket and that's what I wanted. Nothing else I've used provides me with that functionality without additional costs in infrastructure and software.

bobman1235

heiney9 wrote: »

Sorry you inferred I meant every single solitary Apple owner. Lighten up, I didn't say anything about what you are trying so desperately to defend.

Touchy subject for you, apprently

It's not a touchy subject, I was just clarifying. Honestly, in most circles, the anti-Apple people (you) are WAY more rabid and irrational than the "Kool-Aid drinkers." So take a glance in the mirror before you write your little passive-aggressive missives.

heiney9

bobman1235 wrote: »

So take a glance in the mirror before you write your little passive-aggressive missives.

Ha...ha...coming from the "KING" of passive-aggressive missives. Be sure you can take it if you're going to dish it.

Really, that's why I posted what I did because you're usually are the first to start the passive-aggressive sarcasm, just sending a little back your way. I believe you once wrote "that's what I do" in reference to being called out about your passive-aggressiveness.

H9

bobman1235

Whoa, King? And here I thought I was a lowly jester of some sort.

bikerboy

Try media monkey. It should work with the products the magot brain company makes. Good luck.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Wait, so you're saying that I created a thread asking a question about an Apple product and then someone chimed in with some anti-Apple diatribe??? No way, I don't belive it!!!!

I pretty much agree with Bobman on every point.

BlueFox

bobman1235 wrote: »

I'm aware that Apple has a rabid fanbase, but not all users of their products are part of that fanbase. Myself included. Love the iPhone, but recognize its limitations, hate iTunes, etc.

Just saying that not EVERYONE who buys the product "drank the Kool-Aid." Some of us made a rational decision based on many factors, and hate being lumped in with the fanboys or made out to be morons because of our rational decision.

I have to agree with this. The iPod Classic is the only Apple product I have, and I am very impressed with its build quality, and obvious utility as a music server. It feels as if it is carved from a solid piece of aluminum. A very solid and well made piece of gear. On the other hand, iTunes does suck big time. No argument there

heiney9

I agree build quality is quite good, but it should be for the prices they charge. That's not a backhanded compliment. I pay more for a lot of my gear and part of it is the build quality aspect of the gear.

H9

bigaudiofanatic

I love itunes you all know this and I have everything down to the capital letter in the beginning of each song name. I see no limitations on something that allows me to plug in my ipod load up and go than show everything on my apple tv. Long live the best media player/organizer ever!!!!

OP is your check box on for let itunes organize library on?

heiney9

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

Long live the best media player/organizer ever!!!!

You obviously have never tried anything else. Because that statement is pure opinion

H9

Jstas

bigaudiofanatic wrote: »

Long live the best media player/organizer ever!!!

I don't think I'd go that far.

bobman1235

Now if only iTunes could correct someone's grammar.

Jstas

bobman1235 wrote: »

Now if only iTunes could correct someone's grammar.

His browser probably already auto-completes and auto-spell checks for him and it still doesn't help the situation. What makes you think iTunes would be any better at it?

mdaudioguy

iTunes often seems to store tag-like information and artwork somewhere other than in the files itself (like MP3s and other formats). Try having a computer with 7 different Windows accounts, each with their own iTunes account. Each account definitely has different settings (I tried standardizing them at one time, but have been defeated by kids who don't understand the consequences of changing them...). What drives me crazy is the automatic organization that iTunes does to try to help. I have ended up with multiple copies of files stored all over the computer in different accounts.

I've finally succeeded in copying my entire collection to another computer and editing all the tags, eliminating dupes, and fixing/standardizing artwork. Only Squeezebox software touches this collection, and to the best of my knowledge, it only reads the files and doesn't do anything else to them.

maximillian

^+1

That's why I immediately disabled "automatically manage my music" in iTunes. I have all my files on a NAS and I don't want duplicates, file renaming, or file moving. Just play the file and get out of my way. For some reason Apple can't imagine people wanting to do this other than their way.

Because of this I encountered a fun problem... after dragging files from Windows explorer to iTunes to add the entire folder, iTunes decides to duplicate the listing in iTunes (not the file, just the listing in iTunes even though I added it once). After syncing to my iPod one file is "found" and the other isn't. I didn't know it was doing this and it took me a while to understand why some files got copied to the iPod while other didn't even though all files appeared correct in iTunes. The solution was to search for the file and delete the duplicate un-found listing and then resync.

After doing this magically more files that previous would sync would no longer be found. I would have to find and delete those listings too. After this exhaustive process so I could just add 1 album, everything would sync. Joy.

bobman1235

I've used this procedure a few times to clear out all the "dead links" in iTunes.

I can totally see how many, if not even most, people woudl want iTUnes to manage their music for them and not think about where files are and whatnot.... but they have to understand that someone might NOT want that. They just don't care.

tommyboy

I only own a nano and it works out fine, but yes the itunes is a pain in the ****. When I first put all my songs on itunes, everything got mixed together and it took forever to reorganize. Now, if I add new songs, once I add the mp3 to the library, I have to find it again through my lists of songs. Its fine when you only transfered one song, but when you added 5, it sucks big time. Maybe there is an easier way (without using the auto-organize option) so I'm all ears there.

But what should I expect, Itunes is designed so you can buy their songs at $.99 a pop.

maximillian

bobman1235 wrote: »

I've used this procedure a few times to clear out all the "dead links" in iTunes.

I can totally see how many, if not even most, people woudl want iTUnes to manage their music for them and not think about where files are and whatnot.... but they have to understand that someone might NOT want that. They just don't care.

Thanks Bob. That seems like a good solution. I have been doing it manually for now so this should really help.

I agree with another posting of yours... I like my iPod product but it is far from a perfect product. Yet compared to what else is out there I like the iPod better. I just wish Apple was a little more flexible in trying to allow people to use their product their way.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Oh my god I hate iTunes so much....

All I'm trying to do is add videos to my library, videos that I've added before, and it just won't add anything. I'll add a folder, it'll say scanning for artwork, but then NOTHING, videos don't get added to the library and I don't get an error message.

So frustrating...

AsSiMiLaTeD

More details....

If I blow out the library files, iTunes will go through the motions of adding the video files to the library, then it locks up and I have to manually force it closed. Then when I open the program again the files are not there, and when I try to add them again it just says processing artwork and the files never show up.

Its an endless circle of hell and I hate Apple for it