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Sonos creates "Various Artists" (in the artists list) and then shows a list of collection albums

  • 3 May 2023
  • 2 replies
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P

I have just rebuilt my whole iTunes library. Every number has its own artist, which also has his own folder in the music library. I have NO folder with the name “Various Artists”. However, when I open the SONOS app to the artists list, I see all artist neatly listed but ay the end of that list (under “V”) I see an artist with the name “Various Artists”. When I then click on that, I get a list of collection albums which in turn holds e specific number.

NONE of these music numbers is tagged as being part of a collection.

E.g: Parel Williams with the number “Happy” shows in my iTunes library as a folder “Pharrell Williams”, which hold the music file “Happy”. Sones shows this item ONLY under the artist Various Artists and (when I click on that) the album “Despicable me”. This album is not flagged as a compilation.

Where do I go wrong?

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Best answer by Corry P 4 May 2023, 14:56

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2 replies

Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @Paul Overtoom 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

Sonos’ Music Library will ignore any folder structure and simply display and sort your tracks according to their metadata. Therefore, your copy of Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” must have “Various Artists” in the Artist or Album Artist metadata field. To rectify this, you will need to use a metadata editing tool to change the details on that file, and any others that you wish addressed. For a small number of tracks, you can use Windows’ File Properties (I’m not sure if you can do the same in macOS, but I presume so), but if you have quite a few tracks to be edited, I recommend finding a tool that has a batch mode, and can scrape the details from the internet.

Personally, I have used Mediamonkey in the past and have found it to be feature-rich. This is just personal recommendation and Sonos cannot be held responsible for any damage caused or data lost due to the use of third-party software.

Note that after making changes to metadata, you will need to re-index Sonos’ Music Library for the changes to be seen.

I hope this helps.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
P

Hi Corry,

Yes, it does. It is a confirmation of my actions in the previous days: I downloaded a tool named “Tag Editor Lite and used it to change the artist field from “Various artists” into the correct artist. Strangely enough, it does not help to change the fields in the iTunes Library, because the Sonos App reads another field which is hidden for iTunes. With over 4500 items in my library, I had to change all the items which had been gathered in the “Compilations”, “Various” and ”Various Artists” folders on my hard disk. I now have a new hobby: seek-find-and-change metadata …

Thanks for your comments.

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