This a fix for a localization error found in recent versions of iTunes. iTunes has a nice feature : artists names starting with an article are sorted without this article. The Beatles appears between Beach Boys and Beethoven, and not alongside Tangerine Dream and Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band.
Yet, funnily enough, this feature doesn't work as expected in localized versions of iTunes. In French or German, for instance, this works with Les Têtes raides but not anymore with The Beatles.
This can be fixed by opening the Localizable.strings for your language with any text editor. This file can be found inside the iTunes application package. Control-click on the application, choose Show Package Contents, then open Resources > *yourLanguage*.lproj. Search for items 146.xx, and make any modifications necessary. Keep in mind that the entries are case-sensitive. For example, here are the French Localizable.strings in standard iTunes 7:
"146.001" = "Les ";
"146.002" = "%1, Les";
"146.003" = "les ";
"146.004" = "%1, les";
And now, here are mine, including common French articles for band names, and articles taken from the English.lproj :
"146.001" = "Le ";
"146.002" = "%1, Le";
"146.003" = "le ";
"146.004" = "%1, le";
"146.005" = "LE ";
"146.006" = "%1, LE";
"146.007" = "The ";
"146.008" = "%1, The";
"146.009" = "the ";
"146.010" = "%1, the";
"146.011" = "Les ";
"146.012" = "%1, Les";
"146.013" = "La ";
"146.014" = "%1, La";
"146.015" = "THE ";
"146.016" = "%1, THE";
"146.017" = "LES ";
"146.018" = "%1, LES";
Enjoy smart browsing again...
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