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Join CD tracks option has disappeared

After successfully importing 4 discs of a 10 disc audio book on CD, the "join CD tracks" option has gone missing.  (iTunes 12.1.2.27) The track list contains all the tracks on the CD, in the correct order, all the tracks are selected, but the join tracks option is simply not there.

It's not the discs because I have now successfully imported the remainder of the book using my Windows computer, but now I have to share that library with my Mac in order to get the entire book in one place so I can copy it to my iPod touch.  Not a very elegant solution and actually a real pain.   Anyone have any ideas?

There are few user specific items to iTunes.  One may be plugins. You can disable those in your main account by starting iTunes while holding down the shift key.

You can try moving iTunes preferences in your user Library > Preferences > com.apple.iTunes.plist (at least on my older version) to another place so iTunes creates a new one (and you may have to reset other things if you decide to keep this set and not replace the other)..

Again, none of these things should have any effect on how a CD is sorted or ripped, though plugins can be unpredictable when they cause interference.

Make sure to sort on the first column with the numbers.

Yes Chris, the tracks in the first column are selected and in the proper order, just as my original post stated, and just the way they were when the first 4 discs were copied in, with their tracks joined. 

Marc Stevens wrote:

Yes Chris, the tracks in the first column are selected and in the proper order, just as my original post stated

But you did not state they were sorted on the first column with the numbers.

Click on the column header with the numbers.

The original post states they are the correct order, which implied they had been sorted.    I actually sorted them 1-16 and then 16-1 and then 1-16 again after reading elsewhere that the sort order could be a problem, all to no avail.  They are importing in the correct order on both the Mac and Windows machines, but after the first 4 discs, the join tracks option simply disappeared.

In addition, I just tried to import disc 5 (the first one that failed to provide a join tracks option) using a now copy of iTunes in Parallels on my Mac and the join tracks option is available there as well, which suggest something is messed up with the copy of iTunes currently running on my Mac.   Would you suggest removing that copy of iTunes and then reinstalling it? 

You can do that if you wish but I don't think it is going to help.  Computers and software tend to be highly repetitive and predictable until a random factor is introduced, usually in the form of human error or physical failure.  If you are finding that one copy of iTunes is failing at disc 4 and others are not then it probably isn't the application. If a bug had been introduced (and you were the unlikely very first person to find it after all the months iTunes 12 has been out) that caused errors with disc 4 (and what kind of code would be checking for what number disc you were using?) it would likely appear in every copy you run.

Normally you don't have to delete an old application when updating/re-installing but this time it seems to be necessary for some.

Apr. 2015 Niel post: Re-install iTunes application - https://discussions.apple.com/message/28055467 - delete the old application first, with instructions on how to do that. 

April 2015 LincDavis post with a bit more detail on the method Niel outlines - https://discussions.apple.com/message/28101611

A similar technique by Ben.d using Terminal to delete the application - https://discussions.apple.com/message/28036630

OK.  Deleting and reinstalling the app did not produce any desirable result.  Still no Join Tracks option available. 

Everything works with the latest Windows version of iTunes on both a dedicated Windows machine or when using Parallels.  In all 3 cases, the window that displays the tracks to be imported show the numbered column on the far left with the tracks in the correct order 1 - 16 (or so) and everything is highlighted.  With the Mac and Parallels, both are using the same DVD device for input, so it's not a problem with the optical drive.   This particularly annoying, since the first 4 discs imported with tracks joined, without any problem. 

If you're curious you can experiment. For example, will it import in a different user account (I would have no idea why that would work, but if you're curious...)?

Marc Stevens wrote:

In all 3 cases, the window that displays the tracks to be imported show the numbered column on the far left with the tracks in the correct order 1 - 16 (or so)

You MUST click/sort on the first column header, else Join CD tracks will not be available, even if the tracks are shown in the correct order...

There will be a ^ symbol on the column header you are sorting on.

Just because this column was selected with the last CD, does not mean it will still be selected with the next CD.

If you sort on Artist, Album Artist or Genre, the songs will still be in order but Join CD tracks will not be available.

The join tracks options does show up in my "test" user account.  Which tells us there is some corruption, someplace.  The question is, where?

Been there, done all that.  Actually did all that BEFORE I started this inquiry.  Thanks for continuing to be helpful. 

Have just discovered the join tracks option works in my "test" user account though.

There are few user specific items to iTunes.  One may be plugins. You can disable those in your main account by starting iTunes while holding down the shift key.

You can try moving iTunes preferences in your user Library > Preferences > com.apple.iTunes.plist (at least on my older version) to another place so iTunes creates a new one (and you may have to reset other things if you decide to keep this set and not replace the other)..

Again, none of these things should have any effect on how a CD is sorted or ripped, though plugins can be unpredictable when they cause interference.

SUCCESS.  I had no plug-ins, so that issue was moot.  Simply deleting the plist wasn't quite enough either, but deleting that file PLUS restarting the computer appears to have taken care of the issue.  Thanks to everyone who weighed in on this. 

Bottom line.  IF the left hand column has the arrow (actually it's a carot symbol) pointing up, that column is sorted, descending,  all the tracks you want to join are selected (high-lighted) and the join CD tracks option is MISSING, then hold down the option key while clicking on the Go menu, open your library folder, open the Preferences folder and drag this file to the desktop (com.apple.iTunes.plist).  Restart the computer, open iTunes and (fingers crossed) you should have the join CD tracks  back in your little option menu.  If everything looks good, drag the iTunes.plist you placed on your desktop, to the trash.  You may have to reset your preference for what iTunes is to do when you insert a disc and what form you wish to use when importing, since  iTunes will default to something you may not want. 

Sorry, I should have added restart iTunes (restarting the computer probably wasn't necessary) to get it to  stop using the old preferences.

最後更新：2017-09-20 09:45:25

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