Android music player splitting up albums

mscheaf · Jan 31, 2014

The stock music player on my 4.1 phone is splitting up albums. It will show the same album multiple times with some songs in one and some songs in another. Before someone blames my music, I have all the album songs in the same folder and I am very particular and ocd with my id3 tags and use ID3TagIt. I KNOW they all say the exact same album because I stripped all the old id3 info and completely remade it myself. When doing the album info I select all songs at once and give them all the same album name. ALso, every single other media player I have ever used these same mp3s on reads them just fine, including the stock music player on my android 2.3.4 phone. So I KNOW FOR A FACT it is not my music files. What is the deal with the stock player? Why would they take their existing stock player and break it?

!on · Feb 2, 2014

I've had this in the past.

I tried clearing data in the media storage app or un/mounting sdcard to get it to rescan (clear data of the music player app while I was at it). But the problem returned.

I thought I had everything tagged properly. What I did was compare a similar album (I had the issue with compilation albums) in iTunes (you can use whatever is on your computer). Some albums were missing vital info in one of their fields, or on a 2CD the info in the fields differed to the first. You have album, album artist, artist etc etc. Compare a similar album to see what's wrong.

Also, there is no need to put stuff in folders. I just drag from playlists on my computer. Provided it is tagged correctly, albums appear correctly on my phone, as do single downloads.

Trust me, it is tagging.

mscheaf · Feb 5, 2014

So if I select all the songs and remove the tags and then edit them all at once preoviding the same album name for them all, then go back and add the song names and track numbers one by one and this still happens, what do I do. Because that is where I am. There is nothing wrong with my tabs. I can't make the album name any more the same than by editing all songs at once and giving them all the same name at once. I literally don't know of a better way of making them all the same then by making them all the same.

!on · Feb 6, 2014

If you tried clearing the media storage data (settings > applications), & the same for your music app (to clear the library), then rescanned the media & the problem was still there, then it's the tagging. Android music apps will just show what is presented to them.

Track name, artist, album artist, album.... plus some other fields.

The main things to catch people out are the track numbers. Make sure the tracks are numbered correctly, too. Sometimes, track numbers are missing.

Double CD's are ones to watch as well. One disc might be tagged differently to the other. Track numbers on double CD's: look for the field where it says "1 of 1" etc... (meaning, track one of disc one). This one is quite important. Maybe one disc simply shows track numbers (1....2....3....) when the other disc says 1 of 2.... 2 of 2... 3 of 2.....

The Various Artists field is another one. One disc might be labeled as compilation when the other is not. On a double CD, one album artists field might be "vairous artists" & the other disc might say something different.

Some fields just might have info in them when others do not. This will have the effect of separating them too.

mscheaf · Feb 7, 2014

you were right. track numbers. wow didnt see that coming. some songs were 1,2,3 some where 01,02,03. Split them up in different albums even though all other fields matched. Weird. Most media players are smart enough to recognize that 01=1=1of10. Not this one apparently. Well not anymore, like I said the old gingerbread version could handle it.

Thanks.

Jetro · Aug 23, 2015

I came here via a Google search and was having the same issue. I had edited a file, and it kept appearing in another album with the same name. Even though the tag was exactly the same for all the fields. Just to be sure, I copypasted every field from one "working" file to the edited one, re-transferred it to Android, and now it appears in the same album. I have no idea what happened, perhaps there was an extra space at the end or something. Oh well.

DavDarkelf · Jul 20, 2016

I had the same problem but it turned out that I had two different album covers - very wierd, but it meant two different albums appearing on my phone.

dontpanicbobby · Jul 20, 2016

I lost all my covers. Well... Not all but most of them are blank. Poweramp is my player of choice.

Williukea · Sep 24, 2019

Found this by googling, and some songs had extra comments or tracks not matching. I fixed that, but it still not working, still has separate albums. Do I have to clear app data to see changes or sth?

olbriar · Sep 24, 2019

It's most likely a problem with the meta data on the files. It can trick you very easily. Even a leading space before an artist or title will create a unique album. I would start by closely scrutinizing your tags.

mikedt · Sep 25, 2019

Williukea said:
Found this by googling, and some songs had extra comments or tracks not matching. I fixed that, but it still not working, still has separate albums. Do I have to clear app data to see changes or sth?

Maybe like the OP, if you're using the manufacturer's stock music player on your phone, tablet, or TV box, could be it has issues identifying complete albums. Try a different third-party music player,

hawkeyefxr · Apr 24, 2020

mscheaf said:
The stock music player on my 4.1 phone is splitting up albums. It will show the same album multiple times with some songs in one and some songs in another. Before someone blames my music, I have all the album songs in the same folder and I am very particular and ocd with my id3 tags and use ID3TagIt. I KNOW they all say the exact same album because I stripped all the old id3 info and completely remade it myself. When doing the album info I select all songs at once and give them all the same album name. ALso, every single other media player I have ever used these same mp3s on reads them just fine, including the stock music player on my android 2.3.4 phone. So I KNOW FOR A FACT it is not my music files. What is the deal with the stock player? Why would they take their existing stock player and break it?

hawkeyefxr · Apr 24, 2020

Yea i had this as well with the Android player, drove me nuts. I stripped all tags and it still did it. Got JetAudio and voila all sorted.

OnePostMan · Aug 12, 2021

I had this problem too. Confirmed all the tags were identical and there were no spaces on the ends etc.
What fixed it was just editing the tags in the samsung player, not actually changing anything, just pressing the edit button and then pressing save. The song then disappeared into the correct album/artist.
(Press the little 3 dots next to the track, press "Track Details" to go to the ID3 tags, then press the pencil edit symbol, then save)

Milo Williamson · Nov 9, 2021

Had that same problem ages ago when CD burning them on my ps3, that service alone crashed a few years ago.
Funny of how many people are stirr crazy over that, and expect them to move on.

Iain Foskett · Mar 4, 2022

Have just installed and purchased the Software called "Music Tag" this lets you change the Tag names, which I found by following the Android experts above advice, I found that 7 of the songs in one of my Albums, had a different Album Tag name. Once I used the software to change the album name tagged incorrectly, then transferred to my phone, all was good. Hope this can help someone.

Android music player splitting up albums

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