Q: When I import a CD into iTunes the playlist automatically shuffles the songs around from their original order. Then when I burn a CD or listen to my iPod I have no idea of the original order. How do I stop this from happening?
– Kelly
A: The most likely cause of this is that the “Shuffle” setting is turned on somewhere in iTunes, either for the CD import itself or within the playlist that you are creating from the content.
This is normally indicated by the “Shuffle” button in the bottom-left corner of the iTunes window. This button will turn blue when shuffle mode is enabled, and remain black if shuffle mode is not enabled.
This can be enabled on a playlist-by-playlist basis, but iTunes will tend to remember the previous settings for a given playlist or CD.
To turn the shuffle setting OFF, simply click the shuffle button, or select “Shuffle” from the Controls menu to toggle the option.
The other possible cause for this is that you may be sorting your CD tracks by a different order than the normal track number. The current sort order is indicated by the blue column heading when viewing a playlist, and if sorting by a field such as the track name, this will naturally not reflect the natural order of the tracks on the CD.
