iPod songs out of order? Dec21 '04

The problem

Lately, a few albums on my iPod were playing out of order. This is frustrating, because albums sound better in sequence. When songs are listened to out of context, they are like stray dogs, wandering the streets – yet still somewhat beautiful.

No matter how many times I re–synced my iPod through my Mac, the same album kept displaying in the same random order.

Within iTunes, I made sure that the Track # column was displayed in ascending order:

Still, after re–syncing, the same results occured.

The answer

The answer lies within the Get Info option, under the File menu:

If you notice the "Disc Number" boxes – this is where information is needed. These boxes should appear as they do in the image. It should say 1 of 1. If you have it set like this, then whatever order you set your playlist within iTunes – that order will also reflect onto your iPod.

More specifically

In order to be as detailed as possible, I will go back and show every step of the process.

Within iTunes, make sure the "Browser" is showing, which is where the artist and album columns are above the playlist section:

A screenshot of iTunes, with Browser mode activated, where the Artist and Album columns are above the Playlist section.

Select the artist and album that you want to put in the correct order, or a custom order.

Go to File, Get Info.

A message box will appear, asking you if you are sure you want to edit information for multiple items:

Dialog box within iTunes that asks if you are sure you want to edit information for multiple items.

Click Yes.

That will then bring you to the Multiple Song Information dialog box, as pictured earlier, where you can make sure the "Disc Number" boxes are filled in with the number 1.

The important thing to remember is when you select Get Info, you have to do it for the entire ALBUM, not just a single song.

Categories: iTunes , Software

Add Feedback (view all)

Leave feedback

Consider reading the site disclaimer before commenting.

Feedback

Input format: The editor controls below will assist with Markdown syntax.

Status

Sub-status

Your info Name: Email (will not show on page):

Follow new comments via email? (You can turn this off any time)

Do you want your comments emailed to yourself?

Home Page (optional):

Security check To prevent feedback spam, please insert matthom below:

Still didn't put my songs in order on my iPod... ... Read more.

Hmmm. It should work. I've tested it before. Perhaps I should update this article, as it is a bit out-dated. Maybe there's some new bug in iTunes 7 ... Read more.

Mine is having the same problem, but not all my track numbers are in order. I don't want to go and change each track number for 1500 songs, is th ... Read more.

I had this same problem when I recently imported a best of compilation. I noticed that the artist was not the same on all the tracks and he would s ... Read more.

Was having the same problem myself - one or two albums out of 600 not in track order. Try looking at the album artist column, my albums where bein ... Read more.

this is retarded. I paid TOP dollar for my new ipod. downloaded there new software and now more than half my songs play out of order from there res ... Read more.

i have been having the same problem. i recently noticed that some of the songs that were out of order are have different notes in the comments box ... Read more.

On my iPod, I've had this problem but only with albums where some of the songs are downloaded off iTunes. For example, Stone Temple Pilots' Core is ... Read more.

thank you sooo much, the glitch is fixed and now i can listen to my music properly :D ... Read more.

Thank you soo much! I've been trying to get my songs in order for a while now but no matter what I tried it would never work. But this did and now ... Read more.

I'm having the same problem with only a few out of some 500 albums, yet no change of any kind in iTunes affects the entropy of my iPod. In fact whe ... Read more.

Seanzie, yeah my iPod broke after a year and a half. I agree the "song order" thing is really annoying. ... Read more.

After reading this I took a closer look at my songs info and realised that some songs had just "artist" filled in and others had "album artist" and ... Read more.

Initially the following changes didn't work: - Assigning all tracks from the affected album to "Disc 1 of 1" - Ensuring all tracks included the Alb ... Read more.

Sort you playlist as you like in iTunes (artist, song name etc) then control-click on the playlist and select "Copy to Play Order"..... easy!. Enj ... Read more.

select all the songs in the album > go to get info > tick the album artist box and hit ok... it works ... Read more.

i have a fix!!! i went to get info, and erased the album name info (rubber soul), then i went and found the song (in my life)and input the album na ... Read more.

I just wanted to say that I tried the advice given in the entry and it did not work but in one of the feedback comments someone advised that one sh ... Read more.

The tracks will always play out of order if you have shuffle on ... Read more.

To play in order I have sorted by Date added. This will allow let's say the newest Harry Potter Audio Book on CD to be played in order. That is as ... Read more.

Thanks for all the help on this issue. Couple of other things have been bothering me that maybe you guys have come across. Recently one of my artis ... Read more.

Basically, it seems like Album, Album Artist and Disc Number need to be in agreement for sorting to happen properly. ... Read more.

Thanks!! I was having the same problem with some mp3s I downloaded as torrents. I couldn't figure out why they kept getting out of order once I sor ... Read more.

Thanks for the help. I had this exact problem with Pink Floyd's "The Wall" both the live and the studio versions had songs out of order. Now as ... Read more.

the artist to album artist thing is the only thing that worked...funny thing is the "Genius'" at Apple told me and I quote. "I'm afraid we are goin ... Read more.

Thank you for your help. I actual did a global "select all" and then put a 1 in the spot for album x of x and it corrected my entire collection of ... Read more.

Thanks for that. If the above doesn't work, you can try selecting all the tunes in the playlist, opening the "get info" window, and choosing "reme ... Read more.

Sorting by date worked for me, that said I have 250 albums and still have to go through and check the lot. I had loaded 15 audio books and all of t ... Read more.

I wasted about 10 hours trying out all these iTunes alternatives that might put the songs in order. Thanks for the advice, works perfectly! ... Read more.

guys it might sound stupid but go into settings on your ipod and go to shuffle and turn it off. when people previously suggested this i thought i j ... Read more.

Dude! Ha ha, this has annoyed me for quite a while now, but the "disc 1 of 1" did the trick. Thanks! :D ... Read more.

i had the problem today of the tracks from a playlist going onto the ipod (shuffle) in the wrong order no matter how many times i tried and retried ... Read more.

I tried many of the above suggestions, and nothing worked for me, until I went to each song individually to where the info box had options for ente ... Read more.

Thank you, I was about to re-rip some cd's and you saved me! ... Read more.

Between this post and some of the feedback, this really helped. Thanks! ... Read more.

Thank you for clear instructions, this worked for me- I can now have my "Running" playlist in a beats per minute order..(tracks getting faster as I ... Read more.

could it be different bit rates from downloaded content? ... Read more.

just found out, try making album artist the same!!!!! ... Read more.

Actually, another thing that might be wrong is the Album Artist info. If some of your songs from the album are downloaded where-as others are rippe ... Read more.

I found out that it was the Composer field that was throwing this off, not the Album Artist. Just basically go through each one and clear the fiel ... Read more.

Woo, it worked! I've been struggling with this same problem for hours. Thanks! ... Read more.

Thank you so much! Ive had this problem since like forever, and I was just putting up with it despite the frustration. Until I stumbled across this ... Read more.

The "album artist" trick worked for me. this particular album's songs were listed properly on itunes and were also listed properly (in correct ord ... Read more.

Thanks so much for this - I was getting pretty frustrated! :) ... Read more.

This worked for me. Thank's a million Matt ... Read more.

select the entire album in itunes right click get info and change the album artist to whatever it should be and itll work ... Read more.

It worked perfectly!!! Thx!!! ... Read more.

The same Artist and Artist Name worked for me, as well as turning the Shuffle (OFF) on the IPOD!! Everyone has been a great! help... Thanks... ... Read more.

Another fix is to make sure all of the album artists are the same. This worked for me ... Read more.

Disc 1 did not have the album artist, but disc 2 did, so it was always first. Making them consistent (in my case removing the field for the whole ... Read more.

I just made did the disk x of x trick, and made sure i had every thing exactly the same for each song, and had the track numbers correct. ... Read more.

Finally! thanks loads! ... Read more.

Yea this used to happen to me too. Itunes would randomly place say a song (i.e. 5 of 11) out of order. So yea, make sure each track also has "1 of ... Read more.

Yes! This works. I was going NUTS. Thanks ... Read more.

No Need to enter any disc numbers. For keeping all the tracks in the desired order, you just need to click on "Shuffle" option under 'Controls' men ... Read more.

IF THIS FIX DIDN'T WORK FOR YOU, READ: Check the Album Artist tag for each song. If they aren't all the same, they could get sorted by Albu ... Read more.

Great stuff, Matt! I didn't think it worked at first, as, apparently, Search continues to place songs out of order. That is, if you look up an arti ... Read more.

Thanks =] This has been bugging me for quite a while and I've frustratedly tried to figure out what was wrong with it with no luck. Thanks for the ... Read more.

omg, finally! the 'album artist' thing really works. thanks! ... Read more.

I have to second the poster who mentioned to turn the Ipod's Shuffle setting to Off. My albums and playlists have been out of order for months and ... Read more.

Thank you very much. I clicked on my playlist with a right click. Put it one to one and bam. thanks!!!! ... Read more.

This has been driving me insane. Make sure "Artist" and "Album Artist" are the same if none of the stuff already mentioned works. That fixed my pro ... Read more.

You don't need to do any of the above. If you have your list sorted by the Album column in iTunes, you can simply drag items up and down in a playl ... Read more.

matthom is published and produced by Matt Thommes - an independent publishing enthusiast, mobile blogger, content creator, informative writer, web developer from Chicago. Never one to conform, Matt intends to promote the effect the web has on our lives, in an effort to intensify, instruct, and clarify all that is happening around us.