iPod Can songs be "grouped" for shuffling?

[John McG]

I've been adding more and more classical music to my iPod/iTunes library and so have been getting more and more interested in being able to "group" songs for purposes of shuffling. Example: I have a number of Mozart piano concertos, each of which has several movements that are stored as separate songs. I'd like to be able to shuffle among the concertos, but as far as I know I can only shuffle among the movements, which no one would ever do because you'd be playing random movements out of context of the larger works.

So my question is: Can I group songs into a set (say, of movements 1, 2 and 3 of a particular concerto) so that they'll play together and in proper order in shuffle mode?

 

[xUKHCx]

I've been adding more and more classical music to my iPod/iTunes library and so have been getting more and more interested in being able to "group" songs for purposes of shuffling. Example: I have a number of Mozart piano concertos, each of which has several movements that are stored as separate songs. I'd like to be able to shuffle among the concertos, but as far as I know I can only shuffle among the movements, which no one would ever do because you'd be playing random movements out of context of the larger works.

So my question is: Can I group songs into a set (say, of movements 1, 2 and 3 of a particular concerto) so that they'll play together and in proper order in shuffle mode?

Yes there is a way. Select all the movements you want in a group and then get info. There will be an option of grouping.

Enter the name or whatever you want to call it. Then this will be the name of the group. Which can be seen in iTunes main window.

Then go into Preferences to and the playback option. Down at the bottom you'll find the shuffle option choose groupings.

 

[John McG]

Excellent, many thanks.....

but now how do I get my iPod's (Nano, 4G) shuffle function to add the option "groups" to "songs" and "albums"?

 

[xUKHCx]

On the iPod you might have to try a different route as it seems Apple didn't extend this functionality (going by my 8Gb 2nd Gen Nano).

The settings can be found in "Settings" - Shuffle.

To get it to work on the iPod you'll probably have to group the movements into Albums in iTunes and then set the iPod to shuffle albums.

 

[avium]

On your iPhone / iPod Touch, there's Euphony, available from the app store: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/euphony/id416948853?mt=8&ls=1

Euphony can respect the "grouping" field in iTunes, as well as the "album" field.