“iTunes - Track Numbers Instead of File Names or Incorrect or Incomplete File Names”

By Ron Stultz

 31 January 2006

I have a large MP3 collection organized into 2 major folders: by artist name and by tune title. 

iTunes. I tell iTunes to take both of my MP3 folders and add all tunes in them to its library. Most move over correctly but then there are these tunes with track numbers on them instead of my file names! I try adding one track number defined tune individually from my MP3 folder and they just do not appear in iTunes under the name I just transferred! What? Or part of file name is present in iTunes but not the complete file name. For example, the actual file name is Stultz - Great Tune but in iTunes it appears as Stults or Great Tune but not Stultz - Great Tune.

Remember here that what you see in iTunes is simply a "short cut" to the actual file located somewhere else on your computer.

So I go to a iTunes library entry with a track number name or incomplete or incorrect file name and right mouse button click on it and then click on “show in Windows Explorer”.

When Windows Explorer opens and it takes a while, the iTune track number tune is highlighted with the correct file name! I right mouse click on the file name and then left mouse click on “properties” and then left mouse click on the “Summary” tab at the top and click on the “Title” field and type in the correct file name for the specific tune. I left mouse click “apply” and close Windows Explorer.

Now back to iTunes where I left mouse click and then right click on “Get Info” which now shows the correct tune file name and I left mouse “ok” and iTunes immediately changes the track number to my actual file name and moves the file into alphabetic order where it belongs.