How do I group songs into one album in iTunes?

iTunes makes it easy to organize your music library by sorting songs into albums. This allows you to view all the tracks from a particular album together, rather than having them scattered throughout your library. Grouping songs into albums also synchronizes that organization across your Apple devices using iCloud Music Library.

Viewing Albums in iTunes

The easiest way to view your music organized by album in iTunes is to select “Albums” from the library sidebar. This will display all the albums in your library in a grid view. To play an album, simply double-click on it. You can also right-click on an album and select “Play” to start playing it.

Enabling the Album View

If you don’t see the album view option in your iTunes sidebar, you can enable it by going to the menu bar and selecting:

View > Show View Options

In the “View Options” window, click on “Albums” to add a checkmark next to it. This will make the album view appear in your sidebar.

Grouping Songs into an Album

If you have loose single tracks in your library that belong to a particular album, you can easily group them together into an album in iTunes.

Method 1: Drag and Drop

The simplest method is to drag and drop tracks onto an existing album:

1. Select the tracks you want to add to the album.
2. Drag the selected tracks onto the name of the target album in the album view.
3. The tracks will now be added to that album.

Method 2: Get Info

You can also use the “Get Info” window to add tracks to an album:

1. Right-click on the track you want to add and select “Get Info.”
2. In the “Info” window, go to the “Options” tab.
3. Under “Album Artist” and “Album”, select the name of the album you want the track added to.
4. Click “OK” to apply the change.

Repeat this for any other loose tracks you want to add to the album.

Method 3: Tag Editor

For bulk editing, you can use the Tag Editor:

1. Select all the tracks you want to add to an album.
2. Right-click on one of the selected tracks and choose “Show in Tag Editor.”
3. In the “Album” column, enter the name of the album you want the tracks added to.
4. Click “Save” to apply the changes.

This will batch update the album tag for all selected songs.

Creating a New Album

If you want to group tracks into a completely new album, you can easily create one in iTunes:

Method 1: New Playlist

1. Select the tracks want to add to the new album.
2. Right-click and choose “New Playlist from Selection.”
3. Name the playlist with your desired album name.
4. Right-click the new playlist and choose “Convert to Album.”

This will create a new album containing the selected tracks.

Method 2: Get Info

Using the Get Info method:

1. Select the tracks for the new album.
2. Get info on one track and enter the new album name under “Album.”
3. The rest of the selected tracks will automatically be added to this new album.

Method 3: Tag Editor

In the Tag Editor:

1. Select the tracks for the new album.
2. Open them in the Tag Editor.
3. Enter the new album name in the “Album” column.
4. Save changes.

This will instantly create a new album with all the selected tracks.

Adding Album Artwork

You can complete the look of your new iTunes album by adding some album artwork. iTunes will automatically pull artwork from the internet for most popular albums. But for your own custom albums, you may need to add art manually.

Finding Album Art

Good sources for high-quality album artwork include:

• The artist’s official website or social media
• Album art databases like AlbumArtExchange.com
• Image hosting sites like Flickr or Google Images

Aim for a minimum resolution of 1400×1400 pixels for crisper album art.

Adding Artwork in iTunes

1. Right click on the album and select “Get Info.”
2. Click on the art placeholder icon in the album info window.
3. Select “Add Artwork” and choose your album art image file.
4. Click “OK” to save changes.

The artwork will now show up next to the album name and on your connected devices.

Editing Album Info

Once you’ve compiled an album in iTunes, you may want to edit some of its metadata like the artist name, genre, and release year. Here’s how:

1. Right-click the album and select “Get Info.”
2. In the album info window, edit the text fields for Artist, Album Artist, Genre, and Release Year.
3. For compilation albums with various artists, delete the Album Artist field.
4. Click “OK” to apply the changes.

Updating the metadata helps organize your music and displays useful info in apps and devices.

Rearranging and Removing Tracks

You can reorder tracks within an album to match the intended sequence. Tracks can also be removed from an album if needed.

Reordering Tracks

1. Right-click the album and select “Show in List.”
2. Click the “Track Number” header to sort tracks numerically.
3. Drag-and-drop tracks into the desired order.

Removing Tracks

To remove a track from an album:

1. Right-click the track and select “Get Info.”
2. Delete the “Album” text in the info window.
3. Save changes.

This will remove the track from that album while keeping it in your library.

Splitting an Album

If you decide you want to split an iTunes album into multiple albums, it can be done:

1. Select the tracks you want to remove from the album.
2. Delete the album tag info from the selection.
3. Create a new album and add these tracks to it.

Just follow the steps above for creating and editing albums. The rest of the tracks will remain in the original album.

Album Organization Tips

Here are some useful tips for managing your albums in iTunes:

• Use “Album Artist” rather “Artist” for the artist name whenever possible for better grouping.
• Correct any typographical errors or inconsistent naming in album and track titles.
• For multi-disc albums, include the disc number in the track title like “Title (Disc 1)”
• Check that tracks are arranged in the correct sequence within albums.
• Delete any duplicate tracks or albums.

Conclusion

Organizing your music properly into albums makes your library neater and easier to navigate. iTunes offers flexible tools for collecting tracks into albums, customizing info, adding art, rearranging songs, and splitting albums apart. With these simple steps, you can have your iTunes music library organized just the way you want.