Filed under: Audio, Software, Tips and tricks, iTunes
iTunes Tip: sort by Album is smarter than you think
The most useful tips are sometimes the easiest to pull off, and this one from ryerye at Mac OS X Hints definitely falls into that camp. It turns out that iTunes' Album column can also sort with "Album by Artist" and "Album by Year." That second option is especially nice, since it's actually a 'Sort by Artist by Album Year.' All you need to do is keep clicking on the Album column to get whichever option you prefer; no extra modifier keys and no obscure tricks, though no documentation either, as far as I can tell.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Al Nyden said 10:14AM on 2-21-2007
I can't get "album by year" to work. It lists albums the same way "album by artist" does. Anyone else having this problem?
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brian said 10:21AM on 2-21-2007
I'd still like to be able to do real sorts, like artist, then album, then year, or genre, year, artist, etc. Kinda of like what Excel offers in Data -> Sort. Five criteria should do. I often find myself doing odd searches, then sort as well as I can, then making temporary playlists, then doing a sort within that, etc.
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Bill said 10:56AM on 2-21-2007
...I did not know about this. Thank you!
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Adrian said 11:07AM on 2-21-2007
Apple and documentation?!
You got to be kidding me!
^^
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Raphael said 11:18AM on 2-21-2007
I've been using this (Album by Artist) for some time now. It's great since it's the only option that groups compilations, meaning that itunes actually sorts in the following order:
1. Is Compilation?
2. Artist Name
3. Album Name
Now if only the print command would also print the list in that order. That'd be great…
By the way: to change the sort order, just click into the arrow next to the end of the column head directly.
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jason said 11:19AM on 2-21-2007
Sometimes, I think I am the only person that uses the browse function.
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Aron Trimble said 12:02PM on 2-21-2007
I live in browse
=aron=
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DrWho said 2:15PM on 2-21-2007
No you aren't the only person who uses the browse function - I use it all the time but I never noticed this before. Nice tip!
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Jason Ross McMillan said 2:34PM on 2-21-2007
browse all the way. I have way to many gigs to scroll through to get to the z's plus my mighty mouse isn't being so mighty and giving me trouble scrolling down.
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Danny said 2:48PM on 2-21-2007
I use browse. I'd like to be able to have the option to sort in browse by something other than alphabetical order of name. In particular, if I'm select, say, Brian Eno, as Artist, I'd like to be able to have the albums listed on the right in date order, and not alphabetical, i.e. 'Another Day on Earth' should be the last item on the list and not, as it goes, the first. Is this a weird want? Seem quite a natural desire ot me.
Danny
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niclet said 3:15PM on 2-21-2007
Great tip, thanks to report it.
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Christoper Miles said 5:48PM on 2-21-2007
@Al Nyder
Try clicking on 'Artist' first, to get everything properly sorted by artist, then cycle through the 'Album', 'Album by Artist,' 'Album by Year.' I've found I have to do this sometimes to get it working properly.
This was one of the things that sold me on iTunes 7 when it was released.
Like brian, I'd love to see more powerful sorts in the new version, but until then I'm happy to tag obsessively and use Smart Folders.
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Cool \\\'n\\\' Casual said 1:09AM on 2-22-2007
I knew this already.
@ #1, Al Nyden - "That second option is especially nice, since it's actually a 'Sort by Artist by Album Year.'" So, what it does it arranges all the library by album, then groups all the albums from the same artist and then sorts all albums by one artist in accordance to the year. So what you will get is a library that will have the oldest album by the artist whose name starts with 'A' at the top of the list. The most recent album by the artist whose name starts with 'Z' will be at the end.
To arrange simply by year, enable the year column and click on it. Hope it is clear! :)
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Erlendo said 11:07AM on 2-27-2007
Nice option, but still:
I'd like to have all songs sorted by artist -> album -> year, and still be able to just write e.g. "pink" and get pink floyd, not some album called "pink...". It doesn't work clicking the Artist column again, 'cause then the albums get mixed again.. Can anyone help me..?
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Luca said 7:33AM on 4-11-2007
@Erlendo: when you write in the search box you can click on the little arrow next to the magnifier icon. From there you can set filters on the search.
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