Playlist order on Mac and iPhone

[cambridgehank]

In iTunes, version 12.9.2.5, I selected all the tracks on an album and went to new playlist from selection.

The resulting playlist on the Mac was in a random order, not the album order. When I sync'ed my iPhone to the Mac and selected the new playlist, it appeared in music in the random order. I then deselected the playlist and sync'ed the iPhone again. The playlist did not appear in the iPhone library.

 

I then went to the Mac and found a way to view the playlist as songs and they appeared in the album order. When I sync'ed the phone again, the playlist was still in a random order.

 

What am I doing wrong? Or is it in settings?

[DougAdams]

After creating the playlist, put it in Songs View. Select the furthest left column (the Play Order column) and then drag-arrange the tracks the way you like OR sort by the Album or Track Number or Disc Number column. Then, Right-Click on the name of the playlist in the sidebar and click "Copy to Play Order".

[cambridgehank]

Thanks Doug:  what causes the playlist creation to not put the songs in album order? I reviewed some of my album to playlist conversions and some are in album order and some are not?

[DougAdams]

I dunno. A possible factor: when new playlists are created, they take on the characteristics of the "Songs" View of the main Music library. So, if, say "Songs" is sorted by Date Added then the new playlist will be sorted accordingly. Ultimately, who cares? Just make sure your playlists are sorted the way you want them and then Copy to Play Order.

 

When iTunes sorts by Album, it is actually sorting by Album Name -> Disc Number -> Track Number. It doesn't somehow "know" what the actual album order is