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).

Similar Messages

  • 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"

  • 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 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.

  • Does anybody know if Windows 8 is causing a problem with iTunes?   Many songs on my old iPod are now missing in my iTunes library and I can't find them anywhere.  Also, I have a new iPod and am afraid of using it for fear of something else going wrong.

    Does anybody know if Windows 8 is causing a problem with iTunes?  Many songs on my old iPod are now missing in my iTunes library and I can't find them anywhere.  .  Also, I have a new iPod and am afraid of using it for fear of something else going wrong.

    Try assigning Queen as the Album Artist on the compilations in iTunes on your computer.

  • I want to set up a separate cloud/itunes account for my husband.  Right now we share and it is causing confusion.

    I want to set up a separate cloud/itunes account for my husband.  Right now we share and it is causing confusion.We both have the iPhone4

    The way I set up my 3 iPhones is to create separate "iCloud" ID's for each user, but then use the SAME iTunes Apple ID for the iTunes store. You'll most likely lose your contacts, Calendars etc. unless you have them saved on a computer. You'll need to delete your current Account under iCloud, then create a new "iCloud" Apple ID ([email protected]) for at least one device if not both (one for yourself and one for your husband). Once you have those set up for your iCloud, then Goto Settings, Store, then change that ID to your old "iTunes" Apple ID, that way you can still both use your previously purchased Music/Apps etc.
    You can then change your computers to use the new iCloud ID's and it should upload the data back to the cloud. Just be warned that it might wipe out any saved Contacts/Calendars etc. if you don't have them on a computer as well.
    There is a Help article on how to do this as well, but i can't seem to find the link.

  • What is causing this?  The file "iTunes Library.itl" does not appear to be a valid iTunes library file. iTunes has created a new iTunes library and renamed this file to "iTunes Library (Damaged) 4".  This happens everytime I start iTunes lateley.  Help!!!

    Everytime I open iTunes lately...I get all my music thrown out of the library and this annoying message come up...The file “iTunes Library.itl” does not appear to be a valid iTunes library file. iTunes has created a new iTunes library and renamed this file to “iTunes Library (Damaged) 4”.  Is this how an apple works?  It doesn't?  Why all of a sudden is it doing this?  Please help.  Thank you.
    David

    Did you happen to bring this iTunes library over from a windows machine? You might read this kb article to see if it helps http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1451

  • ID3 tags / artwork confusion

    Firstly I need to say that I do not use the iTunes library - I rip all my albums as highest quality mp3s in windows media player and store them as files. I then drag and drop the files I want straight onto my ipod thus bypassing the itunes library and the automatic download of artwork feature. So I then tend to add artwork to my ipod albums manually, however out of about 500 albums, around 20-30 of them already display artwork on the ipod. Where did this come from? I assume it was written into the files when I ripped them. NOw, when you rip files in Media PLayer and youre on the net, usually artwork will be displayed in a box with artist and album, so my question is does windows media player attach artwork information to individual mp3s when you burn them and if so how do you make the program do this all the time? Ande does this have something to do with tags?? Its real handy to drag music onto your ipod and have the artwork already there for you (without using itunes library!! and yes guys I know thats the easy option so please dont tell me that!)
    thanks

    richiejazz wrote:
    ++sycning is just so much less hassle. As you tidy your library, update artwork, tags etc. you just sync and every change will be carried on to the iPod.++
    So does that happen vice versa too? Like if you edit something on iPod elsewhere then use it on your normal computer..
    No, it's one way, from iTunes to the iPod. If you connect an iPod to another computer & manually add or amend a few tracks then next time you sync with your home library those updates would be lost.
    I probably going to give in and start building up my iTunes library in the same image as my iPod - just in case I ever have to reload everything! (Although I think its stupid that you cant copy the contents of your ipod INTO your iTunes library.
    The aim is to discourage casual piracy with the iPod as vector. iTunes can copy store purchases from the iPod, since it "knows" you have a licence for them. There are 3rd party tools that can copy other media from an iPod into the computer. You could use these, for example, to let you add some stuff to your iPod at work, then pull it into your library at home.
    One question though - I have just added music to my library from my huge music drive and it took ages to load in and auto find all the artwork, BUT has all this music been physically copied across into iTunes/an iTunes folder? Its not just effectively short cuts to the original music files you wanted to add to the library is it (ie like winamp!)? I only ask cause I had some old videos from my iPod left in the library and I couldnt play them cause it said couldnt find original file....
    It all depends on the options set when you imported your library. Select a track in iTunes and use CTRL-I to "Get Info". At the bottom of the Summary tab is a section showing where the file is located. iTunes can either add files by linking to their existing locations, or make copies inside it's own folder structure. If you have the option to let iTunes "Copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library" set then it will have created copies. While it's no bad thing to have a backup there are plenty of posts on this site along the lines of "Help! I've imported my music folder into iTunes to add some new tracks and now it's full of duplicates" to suggest a flaw with this mechanism. For this reason I choose to manually orgainse my music inside the iTunes Music folders before importing into iTunes. Likewise I choose not to let iTunes "Keep iTunes Music folders organised" and maintain control over the layout of my files.
    tt2

  • The same itunes Library and playlists on the same computer with two systems

    I want to have the same itunes library and playlists on the same computer with the two different Os 10.3.9 and 10.4.9 each one on the different disk. without copy this in the itunes folder (because my library its 30Gb)
    I have the same user name on the Os. I use the same version of itunes in both systems
    I use my ipod to play the library but its not the best solution (i lost my library in ipod twice because I confused from what os was synchronized)

    Hello and Welcome to Apple Discussions. 
    Amalgamate the two iTunes libraries. Then load iTunes and hold down the Option/Alt ⌥ key and then choose "Choose Library" and then point both copies of iTunes to use the combined iTunes library.
    regards
    mrtotes

  • A recent convert from PC: External Hard drive, iTunes library, and NTFS

    So I recently picked up an iBook and am using it in addition to my Toshiba laptop. My entire collection of mp3's is about 13,000 songs, occupies over 40 gig and is stored on an external hard drive. All tags are complete and accurate (That was a long, hard month!).
    I would like to have my iTunes library "import" my collection, but it is far too large for the iBook HDD. If I understand correctly, I can't import it to my external HDD because being NTFS, my Mac can't write to it (and I assume "importing" involves some altering of the files or their tags). Mainly I want to take advantage of iTunes' search function.
    Currently, when I want to add to my collection, I rip the CD in iTunes, Transfer it to my Creative Zen Touch, plug that into the Toshiba, then transer to the external HDD. whew.
    So--what do you all recommend?
    Bonus section:
    Soon I will be getting an iPOd 60 Gig. Will I have any problems transferring tune to it without being able to write from the iBook to the external HDD?
    ibook g4   Mac OS X (10.4.3)  

    Just a thought:
    So if I were to install iTunes for windows on the PC, then let it do the importing onto a separate folder on the external HDD would iTunes on the Mac recognize it as an iTunes library and let me search?
    To quote Spinal Tap: "There is a fine line between clever and supid."
    What side of the line is this idea on?
    ibook g4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)
    ibook g4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

  • ITunes changes my ID3 tags... more info please.

    Hello,
    I'm in the process of setting up a podcast on iTunes for my church. Here is the feed. http://www.christcommunity.org.au/feed/?post_type=sermons
    Now, when I subscribe to the feed in iTunes and download a file, I notice that two important ID3 tags have changed.
    1. Album changes. In 'The Authority of Jesus.mp3', it is 'The Life of Jesus' on my web server but it is 'Christ Community Church » Sermons' when downloaded from iTunes.
    2. Contributing Artists changes. In 'The Authority of Jesus.mp3', it is 'David Cunningham' on my web server bu it is 'Christ Community Church' when downloaded from iTunes.
    Why do these ID3 tags change? Thanks.

    Roger,
    Thanks for your reply to my post. I am not concerned about what appears in iTunes as such, and I understand how that relates to the <iTunes:> tags in the feed. The Apple documentation is pretty clear on this.
    However, in the feed, the file is specified by:
    <enclosure url="http://media.blubrry.com/christcommunitychurch/www.christcommunity.org.au/ wp-sermons/20110306-ChristCommunity-Mark1.mp3" length="8640981" type="audio/mpeg" />
    Now, when I download the file from that URL and look at the ID3 tags, the Album is set to 'The Life of Jesus' and the Contributing Artists is set to 'David Cunningham'. When I download the same podcast episode through iTunes, using the same feed, the ID3 tags change, as specified in my original post.
    The feed is created by Blubrry/PowerPress but this process does not alter the ID3 tags.
    So the question still remains, why is iTunes changing my ID3 tags? Thank you for your assistance.

  • ITunes 11 previously imported a video file, which I loaded on to my iPod Nano, but I removed the file from the iTunes library and now it won't (re-)import the same video. Any thoughts on why not?

    iTunes 11 previously imported a video file, which I loaded on to my iPod Nano, but I removed the file from the iTunes library and now it won't (re-)import the same video.
    I'm using 2 PCs, each with video files (.MP4) on their respective hard drives, and also one external drive with other video files on that I move between the two devices.
    iTunes on one PC will (sometimes!) let me add video content from the external hard drive, which is clearly iTunes-compatible, because I can then copy it over to my iPod Nano. On the other PC, I couldn't load that same video from the external hard drive. But if I copied that same video on to the PC's internal hard drive first, then iTunes would let me import it. That was yesterday - now iTunes is refusing to load any files from the internal or external hard drive(s).
    Any thoughts or suggestions, please?

    So I tried copying the files from the external hard drive to a USB drive. I could import the video files from the USB drive!
    So then I tried importing the same files on to my PC's internal hard drive again. I could import the video files from the internal hard drive!
    So then I tried to import the very same files that failed to load on the very same PC previously. I could now import them!
    I still can't import from the external hard drive directly, though.
    I really don't think I like the process of importing things into iTunes very much... any suggestions on what's causing any of this behaviour would be very interesting.

  • HT1386 Recently downloaded ringtones cannot be "sync'd" to my computer.  But, the ringtones are listed in my Itunes Library and in the Iphone.  What's wrong?

    After being downloaded from Ringtones #1 I verified the 5 ringtones were functional, listed both in the Itunes Library and in my Iphone 5.  But, when I attempt to "sync" these ringtones I receive a display stating the ringtones cannot be found in the Library.  I do not want to activate Icloud because of duplication issues.  Anyone out there that had the same issues? 

    The "missing file" error happens if the file is no longer where iTunes expects to find it. Possible causes are that you or some third party tool has moved, renamed or deleted the file, or that the drive it lives on has had a change of drive letter. It is also possible that iTunes has changed from expecting the files to be in the pre-iTunes 9 layout to post-iTunes 9 layout,or vice-versa, and so is looking in slightly the wrong place.
    Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Ctrl-I to get info, then cancel when asked to try to locate the track. Look on the summary tab for the location that iTunes thinks the file should be. Now take a look around your hard drive(s). Hopefully you can locate the track in question. If a section of your library has simply been moved, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions.
    If another application like Windows Media Player has moved/renamed the files then the chances are that subtle differences in naming strategies will make it hard to restore the media to the precise path that iTunes is expecting. In such cases, as long as the missing files can be found somewhere, you should be able to use my FindTracks script to reconnect them to iTunes. See this post for an explanation of how it works.
    If you have to resort to trying to pull back the library from your iPod see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
    tt2

  • I accidentally erased a music album that I purchased on iTunes. How can I get the iTunes store to recognize that it is no longer in my iTunes library and download it again?

    I accidentally erased a music album that I purchased on iTunes. How can I get the iTunes store to recognize that it is no longer in my iTunes library and download it again?

    Delete the broken links in iTunes then look at your purchased list to redownload.
    If this happened because you were deleting files from the iTunes folder in Finder, don't.  You have to let iTunes do all the deleting and moving or you will end up with broken links.

  • Is there a way to make a smart "playlist" of specific books in my iTunes library, and copy ONLY THOSE books to an iOS device? I own an iPad and an iPhone but I want different books on different devices.

    Is there a way to make a smart "playlist" of specific books in my iTunes library, and copy ONLY THOSE books to an iOS device? I own an iPad and an iPhone but I want different books on each different device. When I've tried this, the iOS devices don't seem to respond.

    There is no playlist for iBooks, butther eis nothing to preent you from choosing to download specific titles from itunes, or syncing just specific titles to an individual device.

Maybe you are looking for