Can Music be Sorted by Song Title?

[Rperez414]

Is it possible to sort my music by song title instead of artist in iTunes? If I select songs at the bottom it still sorts by artist.

 

[twerppoet]

Odd. My tracks sort by title when I choose the Songs tab. I can't find any thing in the Music app or settings that would change this.

We are talking about the Music app on the iPad, right?

Because the iTunes Store on the iPad does not have a Songs tab.


On the off chance that you are talking about the iTunes app on your computer, the list is sorted by whatever header you choose. So, if you want to sort by song title, click on the Name header just above the title column. A little arrow will appear at the right, so you can switch between ascending and descending order.

 

[Rperez414]

Thanks for the info. Yeah, I'm having issues with the Music app on my ipad. Here is a screen shot of what I see. I thought this was the case on everyone's ipad.

 

[twerppoet]

Well, that's definitely the Song view. None of the other tabs look like that. And it certainly looks like it's being sorted by the artist.

And, unfortunately, I have no idea why. I certainly can't get mine to do do this.

Which leaves me with the old standby suggestions, if you see any you have not tried yet.


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The Usual Fixes
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When you have problems with an app it's a good idea to clear it from RAM.

Close/Clear the app:

iOS 6: With the problem app closed, double tap on the Home button to get the multitask bar. Tap and hold on any icon in the bar until they jiggle, then tap the minus sign on the problem app.

iOS 7: Double tap the Home button to get the multitasking display. Swipe up on the problem app's thumbnail image (not the icon).

If that does not work try a restart,

Restart: Hold down the power button until the power off slider appears. Slide it off. When the iPad finishes shutting down, hold down the power button again until the Apple logo appears. Apple recommends you restart the iPad at least once a month.

and then a reset if that does not work.

Reset: Hold down the power and home buttons until the Apple logo appears. The iPad will reboot. This usually takes a bit longer than a restart.

Reset All Settings: Another, somewhat more drastic thing you can do is Reset All Settings. You'll find this under Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings. It won't erase any of your content, apps, or accounts; but you will have to go through most of your other settings and re-tweak them back to your liking. Do not confuse this with Erase All Content and Settings.

 

[Rperez414]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone else see what I'm seeing in their iPad "Music" app? That is, when you click on Songs view it is sorted by Artist?

I even tried reloading iOS 7 and it still does it.

 

[scifan57]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone else see what I'm seeing in their iPad "Music" app? That is, when you click on Songs view it is sorted by Artist? I even tried reloading iOS 7 and it still does it.

Here's a screenshot of the song view in my music app. The songs are properly sorted alphabetically by title. Whatever is happening on your iPad, it certainly isn't normal. Have you talked to anyone at Apple about your problem?

 

[twerppoet]

There is only one thing I can think off, but it's a long shot.

A while back I discovered that playlists will sync their sorting order between iTunes on my computer and the Music app on the iPad. Long lists took a long time to change. This only worked with manual playlists, not smart playlists.

I suppose it is possible that the Songs tab will do the same thing, eventually. I was not patient enough to wait more than a few minutes; but it took longer than that for my largest playlist to sync.

So, if you use iTunes on the computer, check your sorting there and, if necessary, change the sort order to Name. Give it a day or two and see if it helps.

I've changed mine to Artist, and will check on it now and then to see if anything changes.

 

[Rperez414]

Manually synchronizing with my Macbook is an excellent idea. I'm going to try that this week and report back my results.

My ipad thus far has never been hooked up to my computer. It's been iCloud only.

 

[twerppoet]

Actually, the playlist sort order changed with nothing but wi-fi. Without the iPad plugged in, I'd just change the sort order of the playlist on the iMac, and a few seconds later it would change on the iPad. I assume it happens in the cloud.

Hold in mind I'm using iTunes Match on both machines, but it also worked when only iTunes in the Cloud was enabled.

I never tried actually syncing to see what would happen.

 

[Rperez414]

Well, nothing in my Macbook iTunes library seemed to impact my iPad. It was already sorting my song and then I connected my iPad and did a sync. Still didn't fix it.

Soooo, I nuked everything and reloaded iOS 7. This time though, I set it up as a "New" iPad instead of restoring from a backup. Now it's fixed! I now have a ton of downloading to do to get it back to where it was but it was definitely worth it.

Thanks for trying to help Twerp! I'm thinking this was just an iOS 7 hiccup when I upgraded from iOS 6.

 

[twerppoet]

It was certainly a strange hiccup. I'm glad you got it sorted.