Why won't iTunes burn a playlist in the order I choose?

[tzikeh]

Yes, in my first-ever dw-only post, I'm asking for help with something. It feels like all I do anymore is post questions so other people can figure out shit I can't figure out.

I made a playlist that I want to burn as a mix CD. I set it up with the mp3s listed in the exact order I want them to be in when I burn the CD, but no matter what I do, iTunes burns them in alphabetical order by song title.

For example - let's say I have four songs that I want burned in this order:

Que Sera Sera
Building a Road
Great Balls of Fire
Lay Me Down

I create a playlist with the songs in that order. Then, when I burn the CD, no matter what I do, iTunes burns them in alphabetical order by title:

Building a Road
Great Balls of Fire
Lay Me Down
Que Sera Sera

THE HELL, ITUNES? WHY YOU DO ME LIKE THIS?

Comments

[fox]

It's a while since I burned a CD, but I think what I did was change the metadata so that the songs are listed as "track x of y". It's only a minor drag to change the info back after burning the CD so that the metadata matches the rest of the album, if you have the things otherwise sorted with their albums.

[tzikeh]

No joy.

[fox]

Boo. Might also try forcing the issue by renaming the tracks "01 Que Sera Sera" etc., but that's even more of a drag. A quick google (b/c it's almost lunch time, hurrah) found this thread, with what looks like a solution about a third of the way down (complete with snark about the age of the question the commenter is answering). No actual idea if that's a good solution or not.

Good luck!

[vickita]

This is what I do, although I don't use iTunes for making my music CDs; I use Toast, and do it as a .mp3 CD, rather than as an audio disk. (You can get several CDs worth of material on one disk that way; I use them in my car.)

Anyway, yes, I rename the files "01 First Song Name," etc., and that way they go onto the disk in the order than I want them to.

[gwyn]

What iTunes are you running? For the first time, when I did this mefi mix, i didn't have that problem, and I wondered if they've finally fixed it. THe advice in that thread fox linked to is good, and kinda sorta like the workaround I created a couple years ago when that was driving me batshit.

Also, dumb question, but I must ask -- have you played it in a cd player, as opposed to your computer? I found out by accident that my lists were fine when I played them on the cd player, and since these mixes will go out to as audio CDs, you might find it's actually doing it OK. (And if you want to tell me to shut the fuck up, that's OK too)

[waldo]

My iTunes tends to burn my CD in the order I'm looking at when I hit 'burn'. For example, I happened to have them listed in reverse order of import (newest songs at the top) when I made a CD for my car... and they burned in that order, no problem.

I've also done some that are just in the order I wanted them in. I dragged things up and down and around and then burned it when I had it where I wanted them. They didn't default to alphabetical.

So I'm thinking you have a bug? Have you tried on another computer? Or updating to the newest version?

[zephiey]

If you are using an older version of iTunes (ver. 8 or 9)then follow these steps:

1) First, insert the blank CD. When (if) you're asked what you want to do with it, tell it to "Ignore" (for now). That will place the blank CD on your Desktop, and ready to be burned.

2) In iTunes, select the Playlist's column heading that you want -- to define the order of the songs.
NOTE: If you have the Playlist's "Controls" (main menu) set so that "Shuffle" is turned OFF, you will be able to manually drag the song titles to be in any order you choose. In that case, after you have arranged them in your preferred order, you would then select the first column heading on the left (it shows the numbering). THAT is the column that will define the order your Playlist's tracks will play.

3) Right-click (on Mac, Control-click) on the Playlist title and select "Copy to Play Order."

4) Again, Right-click (on Mac, Control-click) on the Playlist title and select "Burn Playlist to Disc."

This problem seems to be corrected in the newest version of iTunes.