Q: I recently ripped Tim McGraw’s Greatest Hits CD into my iTunes library, and then dragged it to my iPod. The album is listed on my iPod while it’s connected to my computer, but once I disconnect my iPod from the computer, it doesn’t appear in the iPod’s menu system. I’ve deleted it and tried it again, but it still doesn’t appear.
I’ve also ripped CDs after that and the new CDs appear on my iPod. What’s up with that?
– Roger
A: Since the problem is occurring with a “Greatest Hits” album, here’s our two-part guess:
The track information that iTunes automatically fetches when you import a CD has marked the album as a “Compilation.” That’s the first part of the issue. The second is that your iPod is set to display “Compilations” separately from regular albums.
To verify that this is the case, go to your iPod’s “Settings” menu, and see that the “Compilations” setting is set to “On.”
This is nothing but good news, then: your iPod is behaving exactly as expected, given the settings it has, and the tags on the album. The album is, in fact, on your iPod, but to browse to it, you must select “Music → Compilations” instead of any of the other second-tier options.
If you’d rather this album fall within the other Tim McGraw albums in a regular listing, simply either disable the iPod’s “Compilations” option, or remove the “Part of a Compilation” flag from the tracks’ information in iTunes.
