Make Songs Play In Track Number Order Instead Of Alphabetically On iPhone, iPad and iPod using Play Order in iTunes

Aerosmith MelbourneI was lucky enough to go and see Aerosmith at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena – It was a KICK ASS show!

After the show, we really wanted to have a souvenir, and thanks to Youtube, we got one. Some other folks at the show recorded it on their phones and uploaded it. Using Flash Video Downloader I was able to download their vids, and using the awesome and FREE MacX Video Converter, I was able to save the audio from their video files to MP3, then to iTunes, and then sync the songs to our iPhones, so we have a playlist of the show. How cool huh!

The problem was, that the songs played in alphabetical order instead of the order they played the songs on the night (Track number order).

Grrrr!!!
I did the whole Get Info thing in iTunes and set the track numbers….which didn’t work….

iTunes Track NumberI sync’d and sync’d to no avail. And then out of the blue, I right clicked the playlist, and there it was….PLAY ORDER!

homer-woohooThis is SO hidden! I learned that if your songs are listed in alphabetical order in the album view in iTunes, with the highlight in the song name column, and you right click (command click) the playlist and select “Copy To Play Order”, and then sync your device your songs will play in alphabetical order.

Play Order

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If you want your songs in your playlist to play in track number order on your device, click and highlight the track number column in iTunes,

Play Order

Then right click (command click) the play list and select “Copy To Play Order”

Play OrderNow Sync your device…….

YAY!

Compare and Syncronize your Files and Folders on Mac, Windows and Linux for FREE with FreeFileSync

Free File Sync LogoBoy have I got a GEM for you! I’ve just stumbled upon Free File Sync – a FREE file and folder sync program. It does everything that the programs you have to pay for do, and more, FOR FREE!

Free File Sync Main Window

Free File Sync is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It can Mirror Sync (Left To Right) as well as Sync in Both Directions (Two Way), Can Compare before Sync, has lots of sync options such as Archiving/Versioning duplicates, Moving to trash and permanent deletion, and you can even make it shut down your machine once syncing is complete.

Free File Sync Setting

It will even do Live Real time syncing. Just select the folders you want it to watch and as soon as you add a file to that folder, Free File Sync will automatically sync the file to the your destination folder – How Cool Is That!

Real Time SyncWhen synchronization is occurring, you get a nice informative window telling what is going on.

Free File Sync Progress WindowI am really blown away by this program. I have just deleted my copy of Chronosync (Which I payed $40 for) as well as my copy of Martian Slingshot (Real Time Sync which I payed $30 for) and now have Free File Sync on all my machines – FOR FREE!

Download your copy of Free File Sync HERE.

And don’t forget to donate a few bucks via Paypal if you can! This program is well worth it!

Easily add Meta Tags to your music with Musicbrainz Picard

musicbrainz-picardThere’s nothing I hate more than dropping new music into my iTunes library only to learn once it has finished importing that it doesn’t have meta-tags (No Song Name, Artist, Album Title etc etc). So now, before I add new music, I run it through MusicBrainz Picard. Here’s the programs description from their site:

“MusicBrainz Picard is a cross-platform (Linux/Mac OS X/Windows) application written in Python and is the official MusicBrainz tagger.

Picard supports the majority of audio file formats, is capable of using audio fingerprints (PUIDs, AcoustIDs), performing CD lookups and disc ID submissions, and it has excellent Unicode support. Additionally, there are several plugins available that extend Picard’s features.

When tagging files, Picard uses an album-oriented approach. This approach allows it to utilize the MusicBrainz data as effectively as possible and correctly tag your music. For more information, see the illustrated quick start guide to tagging.

Picard is named after Captain Jean-Luc Picard from the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

To get started, download and install MusicBrainz Picard HERE. Once you are up and running, drop the music files you want to tag anywhere in the window. They will then populate the list on the left called unmatched files.

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When you have finished adding files, click the line of text with the folder icon next to it that says “Unmatched Files” to make it active. When it is active it will become highlighted. Now, go ahead and press the “Lookup” button, and MusicBrainz Picard will start scanning your music and comparing it to their database for identification.

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Once MusicBrainz Picard has identified the album and added all of the songs to it, the CD icon next to the album name will turn gold in color. If you don’t have all of the songs from the album, it doesn’t matter, you can still proceed, but the CD icon stays silver. The next step is to click Album Name next to the CD icon to make it active, and highlighted. You can now click “Save”.

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MusicBrainz Picard will now write the Meta Tag Data directly into your music files. Once it has completed, you can close out of the program, and then drop your music files into iTunes, and everything will be correctly categorised and ready to play.

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How to listen to 80’s Hairband’s Music and other Internet Radio Stations 24 Hours a day – Part One – On The Go

I just love the internet radio station 181FM 80’s Hairbands. I love all of those glam rock bands like Poison, Motley Crue and Bon Jovi. I find myself listening to it daily, and in a variety of places. It occured to me that not everybody is aware of internet radio, and the plethora of cool music that is available to you, so I thought I would put together a tutorial on how you can listen to any of the thousands of internet radio stations anywhere, 24 hours a day, and we’ll use 80’s Hairbands as an example.

Part 1 – If you want to listen in your car, or through your head phones on the go, your phone is the best bet. Navigate to the App store for your phone (I’m using iPhone for this tutorial, but Tune In has a Free app for Android, Palm, Blackberry and Windows phones as well – see HERE) and search for the FREE Tune In Radio App.

Once you have downloaded and installed the app, open it and press “Browse” down the bottom.

In the search bar that appears at the top, type “80’s Hairband”

181FM 80’s Hairband Station should be the first one, so click it, and it should start playing. With in seconds of pressing it for this tutorial, I was listening to Malmsteen….SWEET HUH!

At this point it is important to make the station a favorite, so each time you want to listen, you dont have to go through the whole searching routine. To make it a Favorite, press the “Heart” in the top right corner, and then press “Add 181fm 80’s Hairbands to Favorites”.

Another station I also recommend is the Hard Drivin Radio NetworksBig 80’s Metal

 

How to listen to 80′s Hairband’s Music and other Internet Radio Stations 24 Hours a day – Part Two – At Work

In PART 1, we looked at how to listen to internet radio (specifically 181FM 80’s Hairband Station) on the go. In this part, we will look at two ways to listen at the office on your computer with a web browser, assuming your computer has sound capabilities. The quickest and easiest way to listen is to simply navigate to www.181.fm.

Once there, you will find a list of ALL of their cool stations down the left hand side. There’s SO much good music to listen to there. But if its Glam your looking for,  Just navigate down to “80’s Hairband”, and click it. A new window will open with a player in it, and it should start playing immediately.

Another way to listen to internet radio through your web browser is to go to Tunein.com, and in this case, again, we will search for “80’s Hairband” in the search bar at the top.

Once 181FM 80’s Hairbands appears, click it to open a new window which contains a player, and even the album art for the songs it is playing.

How to listen to 80′s Hairband’s Music and other Internet Radio Stations 24 Hours a day – Part Three – At Home

In Part 2, we looked at how to play Internet Radio on a web browser, but at home you are more likely to have iTunes installed, which is a better way to listen in my opinion.

With iTunes open, look down the left hand side, and find the word “Radio”.

Bet you didn’t even know that was there did you! Give it a click, and behold the staggering amount of music you have access to that you didn’t even know was there!

Towards the bottom of the list you will find 80’s Flashback. Expand this category by clicking the triangle to the left, and way down the bottom you will find 181FM 80’s Hairband.

Give it a click, and it will start playing.

To avoid having to do the search each time, just grab the listing for “181FM 80’s Hairband” and drag it to the playlist area and drop it.

It will create a link to the station, so next time you want to listen, all you need to do is click the playlist, and it will start playing immediately. Cool Huh!