ITunes 10 and ID3 tags

Hey folks,
I occasionally export my .aac files to .mp3 and convert their ID3 tags to version 2.4 (which is being used by the MP3-CD-player in my car). Or should I say, I used to do this? Where the heck is this functionality in iTunes 10?? Did anyone find it? If not, Apple, why did you drop it?? It's a useful feature!
Looking forward to your replies...

This is missing from the Advanced menu but if you select a track or group of tracks, you can find it in the contextual (right-click) menu.

Similar Messages

ITunes Library and ID3 Tags cause confusion

Okay, so this is what happens. I play a song that has Garage as the genre, but right after I double click on it, the genre changes to Other, and the track name shortens. Now, this doesn't happen with every file, but it happens with enough files to get really annoying. And no matter how many times I change it, it will always revert when I play the song.
I have an idea of what's happening, but I don't know how to fix it. My hypothesis is that the data in the ID3 Tag and the iTunes library are different, and when I edit the song tags in iTunes, it is changing the library data, but not the ID3 tag on the song file. I would use an ID3 tag editor, but all of them I have seen do not give access to Grouping and some of the other fields. I also use Serato Scratch Live, which accesses my iTunes music, for DJing.
Is there anyway to tell iTunes that it needs to write tag data to the ID3 on the song? I have searched preferences, but there is nothing concerning this.

YES... this is seriously messed up. It was the same issue in 7.5 and is now obviously present in 7.6. I would guess that many people don't see it because they never do anything with their mp3s after they are in the library, or if they make tag changes they never have to reimport the files. Or they don't care.
I've spent a LOT of time over the past 6 months cleaning up tags, adding details, adding artwork and ripping CDs and now have about 500gigs of tunes in my library. The symptom is the same.. after I've changed or added tags they look fine. If I then bring them into itunes on another mac (this is a shared drive) the edited tags all disappear and revert to either what they were before my edits, or disappear completely. Interestingly (maybe a hint as to whats happening) if I embedded artwork in the file, IT stays, but other tags revert/disappear.
What is the deal here? I can't really see any pattern, some mp3s were downloaded, some were ripped by me, some are CBR others VBR. I have full read/write permissions. MOST of the time I can edit tags and it sticks. its about 10-15% of them that have problems. I've also tried changing the tag to NONE to remove it and then create a new one but that doesnt consistently fix things either. Its either a conflict between the iTunes database and the embedded tags as you suggest or perhaps a conflict between different ID3 versions.
I'd like to hear how other people have got around this... Looks like I've got about 15% of six months of on again off again work down the drain since the tags don't exist in the files (or they're corrupt now).

ITunes 8 and ID3 Tags

Hello good people of the board. I am getting a problem when using iTunes 8, every track I attempt to play starts for about 2 seconds and then hangs until the ID3 Tags have been written, I get a little box pop up and tell me this is happening but no way to cancel it. Anyone know what's going on?

I get a little box pop up and tell me this is happening but
Would you be more precise as to the message you are getting?
The ID3 tags are not written when a song is played. They are read when a song is played.
How many playlists do you have?

Itunes Library and ID3 tags

Hi,
So here's my problem :
I spent hours cleaning my MP3 collection and re-Writing ID3 tags in order to have a clean Itunes Library without "Blink 182" and "Blink-182" (for exemple) in the Explorer but just "Blink 182".
And importing my tied up music in the library, I noticed that there still was "Blink-182".
I checked my ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags : They're all the same : "Blink 182".
I don't understand where iTunes takes these artists name since they aren't in the tags.
Can you help me or these hours of cleaning where worthless ?
Thanks

If you open iTUnes, rightclick the song, hit "Get Info" and the artist field is "Blink 182" instead of "Blink-182" then all you need to do is play the song and iTunes should read the tag and correct the info.
If it does not do this one of the 2 is most likly happening, theres multiple tags on the song that needs to be stripped off using the program "TidyMP3" or windows media player is "Sneaking around" in the background and changing them back based on the info its getting off the net, in which case you will have to open WMP, goto tools>oPtions>Library tab and UNCHECK "Retrieve info off the internet"

File Export question and ID3 Tags

First question, have tried using Apple's recommended method of using QT Pro to export movies as "iPod" but when attempting to sync to an iPod get an incompatible file format. What is the "right" export option?
Secondly, on one file I've imported it into iTunes then set all the ID3 fields to my liking, then uploaded into iTunes U but the fields are incorrect. I've tried deleting the file from iTunes U several times and re-imported the file into iTunes and set the ID3 fields and still nothing. Any suggestions on how to get my file up and hold the ID3 fields info?
thanks
Jerry

http://www.oit.duke.edu/dms/resources/fileformats.html
http://www.oit.duke.edu/dms/itunesu/itunes_tagging.html
If you've been having ID3 issues with MP3s, that was recently corrected (well, just the album art thing, everything else worked as far as I know). I've had bad luck with third party ID3 tag editors, so we are recommending people do it through iTunes.app
Since you are already doing that, I'd be worried that my site was set to overwrite the tags (this is an option). If you're the admin, you can check it, otherwise you can ask them.

Itunes deleted id3 tags on my mp3s automatically

the "let itunes organize your music" box is unchecked, and i imported my cds as mp3s, as i removed the songs from the itunes library (not the files), it took off all the tags!!!! i spent hours importing cds, once i removed the songs from the library, then dragged the folder back into the itunes window, the tags to the album, track #, artist, etc weren't there anymore!!!!! just the file name. WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP!!!! the program shouldn't have authority to mess with the id3 tags that are embedded into the mp3s once i remove the song from itunes!!! RIGHT?! what am i supposed to do with all the unlabeled mp3s!?!1 i'm not going to use iEatBrainz for everything, thats rediculous! could someone else try removing their songs from the itunes 6 version like the one i have here and see if they have the same problem?? its gotta be from the same folder where all your imported music goes....
this is making me soooo mad. i need an alternative program cuz this ain't working for me.

If you remove a song from the iTunes library the file will remain in the location that it was previously BUT the tune is removed from the library. The id3 tag was never changed. If you go back to the file in its' original location you can put it back into the iTunes library and all the id3 info is still there.
Usually it is best to let iTunes organize you library - unless you have a special reason not to let iTunes organize.
I removed tunes from my libary - keeping the files - then added them back and all was as it should be. If you are looking at the file via the finder the only info that you will see is the song title (the same info as in the "Name" column in iTunes). iTunes names the file on the HD the same as what is in the "Name" field.
MJ

ITunes reads ID3 Tag Improperly

I've just spent my afternoon naming 1,881 mp3s that I loaded up on my computer from old cd's that weren't in any music database and I named all the files properly. As soon as I loaded the songs into iTunes the artist switched to "various" and everything else is fine. When I get properties on the file, all the information is there. Why doesn't iTunes pick it up?
I'm using the latest version 6.0.1 and the ID3 tags are in version 2.2

My mistake, according to this topic, it is apparently the "Sound Check" feature that is adding the random numbers to your Comments field, coupled with already-dodgy ID3 tags.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1820078&#1820078

Tracks originally ripped in iTunes loose ID3 Tag then become corrupt?

Gurus....
I'm tearing my hair out... After investing in a Soundblaster Wireless Media device I started to copy the 6000 odd mp3's ripped from CD's and Vinyl listed in iTunes 4.7 (I have an iPod so need to maintain both libraries) to the Media Organiser. Many of the ripped CD's (possibly from later editions of iTunes) appeared to have no Tag information (Artist, Album and genre were 'unknown') I started to manually readd some of this but then found that the tracks were not playable in either location!!! iTunes and Media Centre behave like the tracks doesn't exist and skip straight passed them.
I'm guessing it's an iD3 incompatibility and was wondering if anybody out there knew what the problem was and if there is any way around this.
Thanks in advance
Wayne

WayneMar,
I had a very similar problem. Ripped tunes in ITUNES, added them to a library in Musicmatch. Everything came up as 'Unknown Artist'. Tried to fix the tags in Musicmatch and got a dialog box saying the headers were corrupt.
After a little trial and error went into ITUNES and used the 'Convert ID3 Tags' feature to change the tags to V2.3. Musicmatch detected the change and picked up the tags.
The 'Convert ID3 Tags' feature is under 'Advanced' on the top bar or available by right-clicking a tune.
Hope this helps,
Leebob

After converting mp3s to AAC, does itunes write id3 tags?

I'm on OSX 10.3.9 and running iTunes 5.0.1. I just recently converted a lot of music which was on mp3 format to AAC at 128kbps (saved about 30% space with no loss of quality).
Now when I'm running iTunes, it lags and a small window comes up sporadically saying "Writing ID3 Tags."
Is this for the files I converted to AAC recently, or what's this all about?

out of interest how did you do the conversion ?
Make an intelligent playlist, with the setings, "kind is" - "MPEG"
Check that your "convert to" setting is AAC.
In your MPEG playlist, press command and a keys together (or Edit > Select All, from the menu bar) and choose Advanced > Convert to AAC.
When you are done, use Select All then option and delete keys together in the playlist, to remove the MPEGs from your library.

Import in itunes and add tag

I want to add many compilation folders of mp3's to Itunes. I want to create a automator workflow which will automatically add a specific tag in grouping, year and also check as a compilation when I move the folders to the specific folder that the folder actions are appointed to.
I can't manage to work this out. Can anyone give me some tips?

I import a lot of my content from my external hard drive and i dont know which option i should use.
Use the 'Add to library...' option. If you have checked the 'Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library' (Preferences>Advanced>General), the files also will be copied to the 'iTunes Music folder location' as set in the preferences.
There's an article that describes the differences between the importing and adding functions here:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301509
Hope this helps.
M

ITunes, ID3 Tags, and Metadata

Oh hai der!
I'm new and I'm so sorry if this questioned has been answered before. But I've done some research on the web and I've got some questions about iTunes and what it does to my music.
First, here's my situation. I love iTunes, it's awesome, helps me edit my library beautifully. But that's only when all the songs, movies, videos, and so on have their information. Otherwise it's a huge mess. Which is what I'm dealing with.
I like to use XBMC. I own a Samsung Galaxy S2, and an iPod Touch. The files I've edited and whose data I've put in manually, show up wonderfully on my iPod. But not my Samsung and media library software, or other device. I was wondering if iTunes actually edits the metadata and ID3 tags of the actual file in my computer. Not just in the iTunes program. See, let's say I have a song titled "Track 01 ", and in iTunes I change the name of the track to "Yesterday". Will iTunes actually edit the title of the song WITHIN the file itself? Or just in iTunes itself? So that after I edit the title within iTunes, it shows up in other software, such as XBMC, and devices like my Galaxy S2 as "Yesterday" and not "Track 01"?
I don't get my music from iTunes. I've only got a few albums from iTunes, that's it. But for the rest, they're not from iTunes. It may not sound like a lot to most of you. But I've got a library that's over 50GB's large in music. That's over 8,000 songs. Only about 1,000 of those songs have their data such as lyrics, artwork, artist, album, and so on. But for the rest of the 7,000 songs, it's just a mess. I've looked up many programs that edit my library for me. But I'm in a situation where I can't spend much money. So I'm looking for freeware. But that's not all.
I'm looking for a piece of software that'll implement lyrics, artwork, album, artist, etc, into the song file itself. Or just in iTunes? I know of TuneUp, and Rinse My Music. I was wondering if there was other software out there? I've also heard of Beets, but it seems way too complicated for me to install properly.
So to summarize, what I want to know is:
1) Is there some freeware out there that'll help me edit my iTunes library?
2) Does editing song info within iTunes actually do anything to the song file itself?
3) Will I have to use some other software that organizes my media and actually edits a file's properties to display proper data?

Oh hai der!
I'm new and I'm so sorry if this questioned has been answered before. But I've done some research on the web and I've got some questions about iTunes and what it does to my music.
First, here's my situation. I love iTunes, it's awesome, helps me edit my library beautifully. But that's only when all the songs, movies, videos, and so on have their information. Otherwise it's a huge mess. Which is what I'm dealing with.
I like to use XBMC. I own a Samsung Galaxy S2, and an iPod Touch. The files I've edited and whose data I've put in manually, show up wonderfully on my iPod. But not my Samsung and media library software, or other device. I was wondering if iTunes actually edits the metadata and ID3 tags of the actual file in my computer. Not just in the iTunes program. See, let's say I have a song titled "Track 01 ", and in iTunes I change the name of the track to "Yesterday". Will iTunes actually edit the title of the song WITHIN the file itself? Or just in iTunes itself? So that after I edit the title within iTunes, it shows up in other software, such as XBMC, and devices like my Galaxy S2 as "Yesterday" and not "Track 01"?
I don't get my music from iTunes. I've only got a few albums from iTunes, that's it. But for the rest, they're not from iTunes. It may not sound like a lot to most of you. But I've got a library that's over 50GB's large in music. That's over 8,000 songs. Only about 1,000 of those songs have their data such as lyrics, artwork, artist, album, and so on. But for the rest of the 7,000 songs, it's just a mess. I've looked up many programs that edit my library for me. But I'm in a situation where I can't spend much money. So I'm looking for freeware. But that's not all.
I'm looking for a piece of software that'll implement lyrics, artwork, album, artist, etc, into the song file itself. Or just in iTunes? I know of TuneUp, and Rinse My Music. I was wondering if there was other software out there? I've also heard of Beets, but it seems way too complicated for me to install properly.
So to summarize, what I want to know is:
1) Is there some freeware out there that'll help me edit my iTunes library?
2) Does editing song info within iTunes actually do anything to the song file itself?
3) Will I have to use some other software that organizes my media and actually edits a file's properties to display proper data?

Archiving cds and why do i need id3 tags

here comes another one of those questions looking at which codec to use to store music.....i also have tag questions.....
i'm about to (re-)rip my cd collection and looking at some info re codecs and id3 tags
now.....i believe i understand the benefits of alac (lower file sizes, keeping id3 tags, lossless compression) v wav(no compression)
however (and for some out there) if we just entertain the fact that wav may have some minute benefit for me depending on my questions and answers given.....and yes i know wav and alac will sound the same to the human ear - i accept that as a given of lossless compression ......
points i'd like to outline:
i am looking to rip my cds, firstly and mostly, for an archiving purpose!! purpose numero uno!!
i could well want to re-create cds with these archived records in the future
size of files is of no concern to me at all
i'm using a mac nowadays
i will convert most of these files, where needed, to use with a portable music player (i'm not bothered with having, say a wav file and then also converting and having an alac file, as crazy as that sounds)
this is where i ask for info re the benefits of embedded tags that are found in alac:
are these tags that important?
where do they come into play in ripping and later converting music?
are these uses just bells and whistles that have no benefit to my needs?
if i rip cds to wav (or aiff), say, using itunes, will cd info and track listings be available on the downloading database (eg itunes) to name these wav files?
if i then ensure these song files are kept under the album's folder, have i just done what tags do? surely not. that is all i have needed in the past.
this is where i feel i may be really missing what id tags (can) do
are tags more than just managing song files and where they belong and where they have come from?
is it just a convenience of not personally managing your song files (as per previous paragraph)?
(in the past i had ripped cds to mp3 codec. i think i used "cd rip" or something like that on my pc.
my mp3 files were individually named and sorted and kept under album folders under artist name folders.
apart form the very odd occasion all track and album info i needed was found on a database that was attached to the ripping software.
i never had a problem managing/maintaining these files and folders.)
i welcome some enlightenment on some of my questions above and other info that may be relevant
and yes, i understand that music will sound the same as a wav file or alac file - but humour me re using wav and tell me why i need id3 tags
i guess the crux of it is:
why do i need id3 tags?
does my managing of my song file in the album folder do what tags do?
what problems/shortcomings/headaches may i encounter by not having those tags if i use wav as opposed to alac?
what do i not know about these little buggers?
what codec is best for my purpose of archiving and re creating of cds (for playing in cd players)
thanks in advance for your input and any clarity that i may experience through this
peter t
excuse my long windedness (i have spent some time editing this entry)

Crows2012 wrote:
as mentioned earlier if i just have songs (wav) in album folders, when i import these albums into itunes, do you know if these will come up under AN album with their file names purely using my filename setup (but with no artwork)?
Yes, iTunes will read the filename, such as "Track 1" or something else and display it. But nothing else. No Album or Artist.
so the tracks will remain grouped as an album based on their initial folder and the albums and tracks as per file name?
Crows2012 wrote:
also, does aiff have limitations (apart from the full size of the file)?
I'm not sure I understand what you mean. For all practical purposes AIFF and WAV are exactly the same thing. They're just file containers.
i thought that i had read somewhere that aiff tags could run into some issues with its tags - ie may not always be transferred 100% accurately with certain players (or hardware maybe)
Crows2012 wrote:
and how do these codecs work re-creating an album for the purposes of playing in a cd player? - this is a crucial question for the purpose of my archiving/backup of CDs THEMSELVES
That's actually going to depend on what burning software you use. Once you rip the tracks to whatever file container you choose (WAV/AIFF/ALAC) you'll never really exactly re-create the album. But for archiving purposes all three file containers will do what you want, which is to create a lossless archive. AIFF has the advantage of supporting embedded ID3, which ALAC has the additional advantage of the files also being about half the size of AIFF/WAV files.
i was thinking that maybe wav was able to recreate an album (in effect duplicate one) if my cd was lost or damaged in the future. i was thinking this IF when ripping to wav everything is unchanged (unless there is other data on the original cd). and maybe only possible with wav. the purpose for this would be to play recreated cds on my cd player
any idea on this one?
(i havent looked too thoroughly on this angle but i'll keep googling on this one)
much appreciate all info thus far
peter t

Problem with ID3 tags in iTunes

I was hoping that I could get some clarification on how iTunes uses ID3 tags with mp3s. The problem I am having is that I have fixed all the ID3 tags on my mp3s using another program (Tag & Rename is the name of the program, it does both v1 and v2 ID3 tags) but iTunes still doesn't recognize the changes I have made. I have tried deleting my entire library, and readding all the songs, but for some reason it still has the wrong information. I tried opening the files with other music players, and they read the ID3 tags fine.
Thanks in advance!
I don't know if this helps, but the most noticable program is with my compilations. I changed all the artists to the actual artist name instead of "Various" that it used to say, but iTunes still reports the artist as "Various".

I routinely change file names, change ID3 tags, and edit existing tracks using external programs. Once done, all I do is to double click the track in iTunes to ensure it reads updated ID3 tag info correctly from the track.
1. iTunes reads track info from the file everytime you play a track and saves any changes that you have made through external software to its internal database at "C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl" and "iTunes Music Library.xml". As an alternative to playing, you could also press Ctrl-I to display track info, at which time it reads updated info from the track and displays it.
2. If the filename has been changed for a track, iTunes prompts you to point to the right filename. When done, it populates ID3 tag info, while retaining the playcount and rating.
Hope this helps.

ID3 tags - I can't be the only one

iTunes 7.7.0.43, fully patched XP Pro SP3. "M:" drive on file server contains 4500 songs. Full read/write access.
ID3 tags simply do not work in iTunes. I have "Convert ID3 Tags..."'d to "None" dozens of times for the whole library and have attempted to "Convert ID3 Tags..." to ID3vanything without them actually being written to the file itself.
iTunes reports "None" on the info screen for ID3 tags after several hours of it supposedly converting tags.
I have invested a large amount of time in ensuring the iTunes library itself is accurate and would like to carry over the information in the library to the MP3s themselves via ID3.
After many searches I've found split results. Some people never have an issue with iTunes writing ID3 tags, others like myself have never gotten this to work. I will whip up a script to read the XML library and batch a program to update the tags outside of iTunes, but "Convert ID3 Tags..." is not a new choice and it is supposed to do what I'm looking for.
What gives?

Welcome to the discussions!
Has Apple repaired your MB this last time so that it does work properly? I ask this not to be flippant, but out of curiosity. If it is repaired and working properly, then Apple has no reason to replace it.
It is likely that if your MB needs a fourth repair that it would be replaced. An optical drive and case replacements are fairly striaghtforward repairs and not indicative of a completely faulty unit like a bad logic board or LCD would be.
If your MB does require another repair, I would call AppleCare and escalate it to a second tier representative. They have more authority to make exceptions and issue replacements than a first tier rep would have.

Exporting podcast, no ID3 tags.

I have tried this about 7 times on different episodes and it has happened to be every time. I am exporting it as a file and I have filled in all the title, artists, description fields etc.
1st time I export it and then open the file in iTunes no ID3 tags.
2nd time I export it and write over the first file then the ID3 tags work.
Oh and I also have to quit and restart GB in between the two attempts.
Anyone else experiencing this problem?

I guess no one else has experienced this then. I will just add it to the file in iTunes then. Shame it doesn't work through GB though.

ITunes 10 and ID3 tags

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