How to rename audio files for consistency in Music app?

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Level 1

16 points

How to rename audio files for consistency in Music app?

Hello friends

I have renamed many files for consistency, most recently by removing the first 3 text digits of file names and moving the files to different folders/albums, manually (not within Music). When I import them into Music, the first 3 digits return, and some of the files do not show up in the correct folder/album.

To try to fix this, I moved all the files for that artist to a different location, opened Music and deleted all those files from Music, and imported them from their new location. That fixed most of the album issues, but the actual files names are back with the first 3 digits which I had deleted. Oddly enough, Music shows the Title without those 3 digits, but Cntl/I > file shows the file name with the 3 digits.

My question:

How do I manage audio files so *I* determine the Title matches the actual file name, and they show up in the Music folder/Album I want them to be in?

All the best

John

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Mac Pro, macOS 14.6

Posted on Oct 7, 2024 11:10 AM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

Level 10

274,264 points

Oct 7, 2024 11:25 AM in response to Johnnyjomp69

You could stop fighting the system. The leading track number digits are added by most music cataloguing software such the when the folder is viewed in its normal alphabetic sort mode the tracks are listed in the correct order. iTunes used to have a fairly obscure switch that could be used to suppress track & disc numbers but I don't think that has been carried over into Music. You can turn off the Music preference to Keep the Music media folder organized, after which any changes you make shouldn't get undone, however new rips, downloads, or conversions are still going to start out in the default layout of artist and album folders with track numbers. Given you're using a Mac it should be forgiving if you move/rename items within the same APFS volume.

FWIW the default layout is <Artist>/<Album>/[D-]## <Name>.<Ext> where the D is an optional leading disc number presented if either the Disc No. or No. of Discs is greater than 1 and ## is the track number padded with a leading zero if less than 10. Album Artist is used in preference to Artist unless Album Artist is empty.

tt2

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Answer 2

Johnnyjomp69 Author

Level 1

16 points

Oct 7, 2024 3:55 PM in response to turingtest2

Hi TT2

Thanks for the reply. I typed a whole reply saying why you were wrong, but in fact you are correct! For some reason, those file are the only ones where "track number" are activated.

Because I update files frequently, I need them to show alphabetically outside of Music. If Music adds to the file name, that makes it more difficult. I am going to ignore this for now as I have spent HOURS trying to figure it out, but I suspect I will add the Track # column in the Music display and delete them all. When my blood pressure returns to normal!

Thank you very much for your insight!

John

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