Q&A: Adding Missing Titles to iTunes Tracks

Q.

I have some old CDs that I want to convert to MP3 with iTunes. When I put the discs in the computer’s CD drive, iTunes lists the songs as Track 01, Track 02 and so on, instead of the titles. Where does this information come from and how do I get the song names on the files?

A.

When iTunes automatically adds song titles and track information to a disc it converts, the program is pulling all that information from the Gracenote Global Media Database service. The database matches a code for the CD, locates the information for the album and downloads it to iTunes. The Gracenote database has information for at least 8 million CDs, but certain albums still elude it, as do home-burned mixes on disc.

First of all, peek into your iTunes Preferences to make sure the program is set to grab CD information. On a Windows PC, go to the File menu, choose Preferences and click the General tab. (On a Mac, go to the iTunes menu, select Preferences and click the General tab.)

On the General tab, make sure the checkbox is turned on next to “Automatically retrieve CD track names from the Internet.” If you had already imported the songs on the disc, go to the Advanced menu in iTunes and select Get Track Names to see if the titles appear.

If iTunes still labels the songs on a disc as Track 01 and so on, your computer’s Internet connection may be down — or Gracenote does not have the album on file. Your alternative here is to manually add the song titles, album and artist information and other data.

To enter the information for each track on the CD, select the first one in the iTunes window. On the keyboard, press Control + I (Windows) or Command + I (Mac). On the Info tab in the box that opens, type the track information into the various fields for song name, album, artist and so on.

When you have filled out the data for the first track on the disc, click the Next button at the bottom of the box to advance to the second track and fill in the information there. Keep clicking the Next button to advance through the tracks until you are finished.

Apple has additional information on adding or modifying song information on its site. If you are working with an obscure but commercial album, Gracenote has information on uploading track details to its database through iTunes and other programs here.