Compilation albums?

[Blaine]

I already own more iPods than I really need, but I've heard so many great things about the Sony players, most especially the sound, that I've pretty much decided to get one (and, oh yes, Amazon.co.uk also has a pretty sweet deal on the NWZ-S639 at present). I can cope with the absence of bookmarking and gapless, but I'm not sure about the lack of a facility to deal with compilation albums of which I have quite a few. I really don't want my artist list jam-packed with a gazillion artists many of whom only have one song associated with their names. Do Sony players take account somehow of compilation albums, and, if not, is there any way around the problems that such albums create on a player?

Thanking you in advance for any help you can provide!

[CrowdAds]

[welshie]

Whats wrong with changing the tags to 'various artists' for all these albums?

[Blaine]

Two reasons why not:

1) I don't want to mess around with the tags (they work perfectly fine when it comes to my iPods and computers).

2) I have an interest in knowing who is singing/playing the songs.

[welshie]

if you want to know who is singing each individual song as a listed artist on a compilation album, then you will end up with a jam packed artist list...... no way around it that I am aware of.

How do ipods and other brands deal with it then?

[pimp]

Well im not sure if i get you right,but just drag&drop in order,would that not be the solution?

I dont get exactly what you`re asking...

I`ve owned lots of IPODs and i can only tell you, you wont "regret"!

[Blaine]

Originally Posted by welshie

if you want to know who is singing each individual song as a listed artist on a compilation album, then you will end up with a jam packed artist list...... no way around it that I am aware of.

How do ipods and other brands deal with it then?

1) The only way around it I suppose is to list each artist in the tag dealing with the track title. That is way too much trouble of course.

2) There is a special "compilation" item on the iPod classic and nano. In order to take advantage of this you have to mark the relevant albums in iTunes. This has not been adopted on the iPhone or touch and on those models there is no way of dealing with compilation albums.

[Blaine]

I was not completely correct about the iPod Touch. Here is the full story from a post at iLounge:

"The iPod touch has a "Compilations" menu to group compilation albums, but does not offer the option to hide these from the normal "Artists" menu."

[Supernaut3]

I don't know that any other player outside iPod offers this. From what I've seen it's an extra option in iTunes Tag Editor that allows you to mark it as a compilation. I've only seen it in iTunes. Though I have not tired using iTunes to edit my Tags and marking things as a compilation and then seeing how my player handles it. (for one I don't think iTunes uses a standard Tag, I think they use a specific one)