iTunes software question

Gurn Blanston · August 12, 2008, 04:46:25 PM

I downloaded and installed iTunes for one particular purpose, namely, because you can display a big long playlist and then export it as a text file for editing purposes. This is what I want to end up with:

Album name field Artist field Title Field
Title Field
Title Field

For a 3 movement work. I will edit out the second and third line album and artist.

But this is what I end up with:

Album name field Artist field Artist-Title Field
Artist-Title Field
Artist-Title Field

Which is also what it displays. Now, in order to edit it in Excel I can't just delete a column, I have to go into each cell in the Title field and delete the half of the text. I can't do it en masse because the artist is a different length text for each album.

So, how can I get iTunes to not display the artist in the title field like that? I have been through all the settings and found nothing that will do this. It is not a small issue, since this list has 3450 files which would require editing of each title cell. $:-\$

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Listening to:
April 2, 1800 - Prague Chamber Orchestra / MacKerras - K 543 Symphony #39 in Eb 3rd mvmt - Menuetto: Allegrettto - Trio

Gurn Blanston · August 13, 2008, 04:25:17 AM

Hmm, no iTunes experts in the house, eh? Seems like that's all anyone talks about when I'm not interested...

Gurn Blanston · August 13, 2008, 05:00:37 AM

Here is a screenshot, you can see what I mean...

The first column actually contains the data from 2 fields...

rickardg · August 13, 2008, 05:15:34 AM

I'm not sure I understand what you want to do, is the artist included in the in the name-field? I think it defaults to the filename if the tag is empty.

Anyhow, perhaps some Excel-fu can fix it, try a formula something like this mutatis mutandis...

Code Select

=RIGHT(A1, (LEN(A1) - FIND("-",A1) ))

That is, find the first dash and replace the content of the cell with the text to the right of the dash.

I don't have Excel installed on any of my computers so this is purely from memory, if you want I can try to find time to check it out at work.

DavidRoss · August 13, 2008, 05:48:29 AM

Beats me, Gurn. I use iTunes to load my iPod. I rip files from CD using CDex, creating my own tags. I convert them to LAME. Then I copy them into my iTunes Music directory. Works for me. (Or did...I haven't put anything new into the file for a year or more!)

Gurn Blanston · August 13, 2008, 06:03:04 AM

Quote from: rickardg on August 13, 2008, 05:15:34 AM
I'm not sure I understand what you want to do, is the artist included in the in the name-field? I think it defaults to the filename if the tag is empty.

Anyhow, perhaps some Excel-fu can fix it, try a formula something like this mutatis mutandis...

Code Select Expand
=RIGHT(A1, (LEN(A1) - FIND("-",A1) ))

That is, find the first dash and replace the content of the cell with the text to the right of the dash.

I don't have Excel installed on any of my computers so this is purely from memory, if you want I can try to find time to check it out at work.

Yes, Rickard, that is precisely the issue, it includes the Artist field data in the Title field data (and calls it "Name"). One thing I didn't mention earlier is that this is not the Mac version but the Windows Version 7, which can make a difference sine my friend who runs a Mac doesn't have the issue or know how to deal with it.

Thanks for the Excel formula, I knew there was one but I've never used it and didn't know the syntax (or even the name of it to look it up). I certainly will now.

Gurn Blanston · August 13, 2008, 06:04:22 AM

Quote from: DavidRoss on August 13, 2008, 05:48:29 AM
Beats me, Gurn. I use iTunes to load my iPod. I rip files from CD using CDex, creating my own tags. I convert them to LAME. Then I copy them into my iTunes Music directory. Works for me. (Or did...I haven't put anything new into the file for a year or more!)

Yeah, I downloaded a very early version, hated it, and never went back until a friend told me that I could perform this little trick with it. Unfortunately this little trick needs some work before it's ready for prime time.

drogulus · August 13, 2008, 01:43:50 PM

Gurn, I usually rip my CDs with another program, which doesn't combine 2 fields in this way. However, sometimes this is how tracks are actually named, and you have to edit by hand. Sometimes a disc will have "Album - #. Track", or "Artist - #. Track" all where "#. Track" (or even just "Track") should be. If so any program will show that, and iTunes is no exception. If your ripper is set up to just show "Track" all this stuff will be on there.

Gurn Blanston · August 13, 2008, 03:50:53 PM

Quote from: drogulus on August 13, 2008, 01:43:50 PM
Gurn, I usually rip my CDs with another program, which doesn't combine 2 fields in this way. However, sometimes this is how tracks are actually named, and you have to edit by hand. Sometimes a disc will have "Album - #. Track", or "Artist - #. Track" all where "#. Track" (or even just "Track") should be. If so any program will show that, and iTunes is no exception. If your ripper is set up to just show "Track" all this stuff will be on there.

No, this is all stuff I ripped over time, with WinAMP and dBpoweramp. The tagging is (dare I say?) perfect. This is strictly a function of iTunes. If it wasn't such a large collection I wouldn't even be concerned (or have tried iTunes). But nowhere in the preferences is there a place where you can control (via %Title% %Artist% code, for example) what it shows you. You can deselect a column, but that's it.

drogulus · August 13, 2008, 06:49:58 PM

Quote from: Gurn Blanston on August 13, 2008, 03:50:53 PM
No, this is all stuff I ripped over time, with WinAMP and dBpoweramp. The tagging is (dare I say?) perfect. This is strictly a function of iTunes. If it wasn't such a large collection I wouldn't even be concerned (or have tried iTunes). But nowhere in the preferences is there a place where you can control (via %Title% %Artist% code, for example) what it shows you. You can deselect a column, but that's it.

You can also delete all the entries in a category, which is a good thing to do since you get strange behavior in how everything lines up if a hidden entry is there. I've had a hell of a time getting iTunes to display the correct track order because a deselected column had some entry I wasn't even aware of messing up how the tracks are displayed. So three movements of a symphony are neatly tucked away where they belong while the fourth movement is located half a mile away because it has a "disc number" entry and the others don't. I've learned to only use a limited number of categories and everything else must be blank.