Ratings in ID3 Tag

I wonder if you can help me...
Does anyone know of a utility that will place the rating, play count and last time played information from the iTunes library into the ID3 tag of a music file?
Does anyone know why this information is only stored in the iTunes music library when ID3 supports storing the information and its use has been exploited in other music players?
Thanks

Whilst I take your point about the information not really belonging in the files metadata, I would still like the option somewhere in iTunes to store this information within the file thus removing the dependency on the library.
The information is representative of the file, and my listening habits. I don't share my files with anybody so the information isn't describing anybody elses musical tastes.
My main problem, other than losing information if I forget to backup my iTunes libary is that if I were to import the files into a different player, WMP or Windows MCE for example, I loose the information.
I will keep on searching for a suitable utility - before I have to write one myself!!

Similar Messages

  • Export Ratings to ID3 Tag? iTunes Macro?

    I've got a reasonably large music collection, and decided to get it a bit more organised by using ratings to create dynamic playlists, rather than manually creating playlists only occasionally.
    All of my music is in my own folder structure, with its own file names, etc - and I want to keep it like that. I'm a little concerned therefore with the idea of spending a long time rating songs in iTunes since if I later have to rename tracks or move folders, as I understand it iTunes will lost those songs and when they're re-imported will lose my ratings!
    So, what i'd like to do is to be able to export ratings from iTunes to the ID3 tag (all of my music is MP3), and i'll also need to be able to do the same in reverse, ie import the tracks and automatically set the rating based on what is in the tags.
    One thought was that I could just use the "Year" field (which is empty on all of my tracks), however i'd rather keep using the proper ratings field in iTunes so that I can change ratings on my iPod directly.
    Is there such a thing as an iTunes Macro? Is there another way to do what I want? I'd happily settle for a function that could copy the ratings (1-5) into the Year or Comments field, and back again.

    Whilst I take your point about the information not really belonging in the files metadata, I would still like the option somewhere in iTunes to store this information within the file thus removing the dependency on the library.
    The information is representative of the file, and my listening habits. I don't share my files with anybody so the information isn't describing anybody elses musical tastes.
    My main problem, other than losing information if I forget to backup my iTunes libary is that if I were to import the files into a different player, WMP or Windows MCE for example, I loose the information.
    I will keep on searching for a suitable utility - before I have to write one myself!!

  • ID3 Tags and multiple Libraries

    I think I really have 2 separate questions here.
    1) I have an external hard drive at work with all my music files on it. I use iTunes to listen to these songs at work. I have spent a lot of time adding song ratings, and album art, and cleaning up some of the album titles, song names, etc. on these songs. I copied all of these music files to my hard drive on my home computer. I don't listen to music on my home computer very often. Is there a way to copy over all of the updated song information to the library on my home computer?
    2) I assume that much of the information about a song (artist, album, etc.) is stored in the ID3 tags. Is there any way to write ID3 information to a file from iTunes?

    Some, but not all of the information is stored in the ID3 tag. Examples of information not stored included (but are not limited to): ratings, play counts, date added, and last played.
    If you want to transfer information about some songs, you can put those songs into a playlist, then export it as a text file (select the playlist, then File..Export). On the other computer, you can then import it. NOTE: if the path (folder) of the song is different on the two computers, you will need to edit the text file before importing it on the second computer.
    Also note that the exported playlist still does not contain all of the iTunes information. But it does have the rating, play count, and some other stuff not stored in the ID3 tag.

  • Problems with ID3 Tags in iTunes - Desperate need of assistance!

    Hello all...
    Desperately need some help. I just spent a very (very) long time going through my entire music collection making sure all album art is present and all tags are corrected to my preferences. Now I want to back up the entire drive (F: drive, I keep my music on a separate drive) to a new hard drive (H: drive). However, in the process I've noticed that not all the changes that I made to the tags have actually saved to the tags themselves, even though they continue to display correctly in iTunes. If I load them into another application or reload them into iTunes from the new drive, not all the tag changes I made in iTunes are showing up. It seems iTunes is perhaps storing this tag info in some kind of internal database? To be specific I am not talking about meta-data like ratings and number of times played. I'm talking about artist, genre, etc.
    So my question is this: is there some way to force iTunes to save the data that is currently displayed in iTunes to the ID3 tags?
    I've also been disappointed to find out that when adding album artwork, iTunes does not actually save the artwork to the ID3 tags as I assumed. Any way I can force iTunes to do that?
    Lastly, if neither of the above are possible, is there an easy way to backup the iTunes database so that all my tags and artwork are present once I remove the current drive and re-load my collection into iTunes from the new drive? Will the change of path prevent me from being able to backup the database?

    Hi Ed, thanks for responding so quickly. Yes, they are mp3 files, and yes, I had assumed what you told me, that changes made in iTunes would be made to the mp3 files. I also thought it could have something to do with read only, so I made sure that the files were not read only. But yes, strangely enough, even though the tags show up properly in iTunes, they do not show up properly in other players, and don't show up properly in iTunes if I remove the album, copy the album to the second drive, and load it back into iTunes (only for a portion of the files, but with the size of my collection this would still be time consuming to fix). I don't understand it either, but from research I have done online, it may have something to do with an iTunes glitch relating to the ID3 tag version.
    Regardless of how it is supposed to work or what the explanation is, the situation now stands that my tags display perfectly in iTunes but are not all saved to the files perfectly. So I am hoping there is some way I can force iTunes to save the current state of tag info to the files!
    About the 2 drives, it's simple. Right now my collection is on F:, and loaded into iTunes, but I want to get rid of that drive as it is IDE and too small, and store my collection on H: instead. I'm just really worried that after moving my collection and reloading into iTunes I will need to re-tag and re-load album artwork all over again. Any tips?

  • ITunes doesn't read ID3 tags properly on import

    hi all,
    today I've added ID3 tags to all my mp3 files, so that they will look better in iTunes and my iPod. I have added information for "title", "artist", "album" and "track #" in ID3v1 and ID3v2.3.
    Now, when I import these files to iTunes, the ID3 information is read only partly or not at all. This means, some tracks show all information, some only show title and artist, some do not show anything at all.
    I edited all the ID3 tags with the same software, which makes it even more mysterious. The software was implemented by myself in C#. To edit the ID3 tags, I used the library UltraID3Lib. I don't think that something is wrong with my software because the ID3 tags are displayed properly in Winamp without any problems.
    I have also already tried the option in iTunes to convert the ID3 tags, but this also only yields strange results: If I select "none" as ID3 version, iTunes obviously imports the information from the ID3v1 tags, but it deletes the ID3v2 tag at the same time, so that titles and albums are cut down to 30 characters. If I choose other options, nothing changes.
    Does anybody have an idea how to solve this problem? Or can someone maybe explain this "convert ID3 tag" option? It doesn't really make sense to me...
    Many thanks in advance!
    gehho.

    As far as I know (and it may not be very far), iTunes does use standard ID3 tags for most things. The XML file stores info on ratings, playlists, playcounts and other iTunes specific information for use by other applicaitons. iTunes itself doesn't use the XML file but rather the iTunes Library.itl file.
    It's possilble to do multiple file tag editing in iTunes for things like artist, album, year, etc. I would say, go with whatever works for you. It just seemed as if what you were doing wasn't working. Perhaps the other suggestion will solve you're problem.
    Best of luck.

  • Creative Mediasource ID3 Tags - Edit more than one year at a ti

    I use a 60gb Zen Xtra with Mediasource. I take pride in the ID3 tags of all my files especially those of my Jazz collection and my player is well organised. The only thing I have to ask is - is there any way of editing the year of, say, an entire album that was recorded in 959 for example all at the same time. It lets me do this for Artist, Album and Genre but not year. Is there any upgrade in software I can get or am I just missing something here?
    Thanks in advance for your input,Matt

    Shucks, I tried and you can't seem to do it. A curious oversight.
    You can either use another copying program like which will let you do it, or simply get a mass tagger (but you will need to edit the tracks on the PC first, then copy). For some mass tagger recommendations look here in the Zen FAQ at Nomadness.net.

  • 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

  • My iTunes library and metadata/ID3 tags issue

    Since 2010, iTunes is the only media player I use to play music. My library consists of music purchased from the iTunes Store, CD rips and stuff many artists these days release as freebies on the internet to promote a new album. Also, M4A and MP3 are the only formats I use so far.
    Since iTunes, I really got into editing my library's metadata tags by hand, in order to create a custom archive which serves my preferences best. I should mention that besides iTunes being the only software I use to play my music library, it's also the only software I use to edit their metadata. Also, before iTunes – when my library was on different media players – I never bothered with editing them.
    A few days ago, I found how a lot of people in forums complain about the way iTunes edits and stores metadata. So, I experimented and moved a few of my songs to other media players after editing their tags within iTunes. And indeed the tags and/or artwork were often displayed messed up and/or incorrect, some times partially and some times completely.
    Some people were referring to the version of the ID3 tags being the issue, while others suggested using the "convert ID3 tags" feature. I myself am a little bit confused. "Converting the ID3 tags" wasn't available for my M4A files and once I performed it for my MP3's I didn't know which setting I should apply or what version to choose. I chose one version randomly but I'm not sure what happened.
    My goal is to make my music library able to play and display my custom metadata on the majority of the popular media players. I hope that firstly this is possible and that secondly it won't be a solution which requires me going through every single song individually.
    I really hope that all those years work on my library wasn't for nothing.
    I'm using a MacBook running Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and my iTunes version is 10.7
    While my music library is more important that my iTunes version, I do like iTunes 10 more than 11.
    I apologize for any grammar mistakes, since English is not my first language. Thank you all for your time and any suggestion is welcome.

    itsjamesd wrote:
    Hello turingtest2 and thank you for your reply.
    In response to "a possible cause of problems is multiple embedded tags", what exactly does that mean and how can I avoid doing it in the future?
    Anything ripped with iTunes should get a single tag. If multiple tags in some of your older mp3 rips are the cause of the problems when you try to access the files elsewhere then you should apply the suggested remedy selectively, not to the whole library indiscriminately. Once fixed you shouldn't have the problem again unless you use different ripping software. If so check the options to ensure you generate a single ID3v2.3 tag. Downloads from elsewhere are pot luck.
    If I use Convert ID3 Tags>None before converting to v2.3 as you suggested, how many times is "several times" and why do I have to do it more than once? Also, what are your thoughts on 'v2.3 vs. v2.4'?
    Several is at least two, but more could be needed if a file has both v1 and v2 tags in multiple languages. If there are two tags, the first conversion to none should remove the first one, and the second conversion the second. Experiment, And stick to v2.3.
    In response to "the process removes any embedded art but otherwise preserves the data that iTunes knows". All fields excluding cover art remain the same? Does that mean that I will have to start from scratch and apply new cover art individually for each album? That would be too time consuming given the fact that I embed custom art.
    Yes, everything but artwork is held in the iTunes database and is restored with the final Convert ID3 Tags... v2.3. Use Doug's scripts SaveAlbumArtJpeg before you start and RestoreArtworkFromAlbumFolder afterwards to save and the restore your existing artwork.
    Also, what happens with my M4A files' metadata? ID3 tags are only used for MP3's, right?
    Yes, m4a/aac files have a different tag mechanism. Multiple ID3 tags is just one possible issue that you might have. You said:
    So, I experimented and moved a few of my songs to other media players after editing their tags within iTunes. And indeed the tags and/or artwork were often displayed messed up and/or incorrect, some times partially and some times completely.
    It might be worth going into some more detail about exactly what differences you noticed. iTunes can automatically associate (instead of embedding) artwork when it can match the album in the store which could be why some tracks didn't get artwork.
    tt2

  • Bad bug with ID3 tags of different case for same artist

    My itunes files and music library are on a different drive than my boot drive. It is an internal drive (always on) in my Mac Pro at /Volumes/Media1/iTunes with music library at /Volumes/Media1/iTunes/iTunes Music. iTunes is setup to automatically keep it organized and copy files to the media folder when adding. It has been this way for years, never a problem.
    Just recently, and I think this may have coincided (but I'm not sure) with a 10.6.5 Snow Leopard update, my music started disappearing! The entries were still in the library, but with the missing exclamation mark in itunes with it reporting that it couldn't find the files. But only certain artists. After searching my computer, I found the missing files it at the same path, but on my boot drive, at /Media1/iTunes/iTunes Music/<missing artist>!
    Trying to add these files back to my library would work briefly, but then they would magically disappear out of /Volumes/Media1/iTunes/iTunes Music and go back to /Media1/iTunes/iTunes Music/
    I figured out the one thing the different artists that had this behavior had in common - some of the ID3 tags for the same artist, which are the basis for organization, were in different cases. I think there is a weird case sensitivity bug that is breaking things. When I add back only those songs for an artist with ID3 tags for the artist of the same case, the behaviour stops.
    I'm posting less looking for an answer and more to raise visibility and hope this gets a fix.
    Example entries from my iTunes Library.xml, notice how the 'k' in OutKast is a different case in the entries.
    <key>Artist</key><string>OutKast</string>
    <key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/Volumes/Media1/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/OutKast/Speakerboxxx,%20Th e%20Love%20Below%20(Disc%202)/13%20Pink%20&%20Blue.mp3</string>
    <key>Artist</key><string>Outkast</string>
    <key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/Volumes/Media1/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/Outkast/Aquemini/12%20Spot tieOttieDopaliscious.mp3</string>

    I'd like to note that I'm experiencing the exact same issue. I'd add to this but petegas4life has it spot on. I'm just replying in hopes this thread gets noticed so the engineers at apple can look into this and hopefully fix it in the next release.
    Reproducing the problem is pretty simple too. Just take one song from an album and change the case of the artist name. You'll see the music move to the boot drive and all of the songs from that artist won't work in itunes anymore. And if you're relying on iTunes to edit the tags, fixing the files is a PAIN because they keep disappearing on you.

  • ITunes 11 Changing ID3 Tags

    Ok, I've been using iTunes for years and like many I've found the new version, 11, to be frustrating.
    The main thing is ID3 Tags.
    These have always been customiseable. For someone OCD like me, being able to edit and customise ID3 tags is very important in keeping my iTunes "tidy". I don't want one album saying "Florence + The Machine" and another saying "Florence & The Machine". I want them both the same.
    But what I really want, more than anything else, is 100% control over what the ID3 tags say. On all the old versions of iTunes, I had this. Now, I don't.
    I've just listened to two albums by Dead Prez. They're stylised thus: 'dead prez'. So, it is that version which I've always had on my iTunes. However, after listening to one of the albums, iTunes decided to change the name back to 'Dead Prez'. This was nothing to do with me. Why has it changed?
    Worse, I've just listened to a song by David Gray, and I've now found it stored under U - for Unknown. It's not 'Unknown', because I've known for all the years that I've owned that file that the song was by David Gray. I haven't had to edit the information for years.
    Is this a bug?
    Is this a new feature of iTunes? Can I turn it off? If not, can Apple/ someone provide me with an explanation as to WHY this has changed?
    Cheers,
    Guy

    In iTunes go to Edit > Preferences > Store and turn off
    Show iTunes in the Cloud purchases
    Share details about your library with Apple
    On any iOS device go to Settings > Music and turn off
    Show All Music
    Close and reopen iTunes and/or reset the device and you should see your version of the metadata for each track rather than the original store data.
    tt2

  • Question about id3 tags

    i had all of the fields of all my songs just how i liked them. i thought itunes had written everything i had edited into the id3 tags of all the songs. apparently, it didn't work.
    i am using another software called serato. i took the mp3's whose tags i edited in itunes and imported them into serato. i know this program is able to read all versions of tags, so i found a suggestion someone made to strip the id3 tags. this process called for selecting all the songs, converting the id3 tags to "none", then changing them back to a certain version (v2.3 or v2.4).
    after doing this, i take a look at my itunes library and about 80% of all my songs have their tags messed up. either the genre is back to what it was before i changed it a while ago, or (more annoyingly) the song titles are all truncated to a certain length.
    1. is there any way to undo this? or am i going to have to manually go back and re-edit all the fields?
    2. is there a better way of ensuring itunes is correctly changing the id3 tag fields? for example. if i edit the id3 tags on itunes on one profile on my mac, then take the same mp3 file and import it into itunes on another profile, the id3 tags seem to not have been changed at all.
    help anyone? this whole thing has got me really frustrated. thanks in advance.

    In Serato setup, check box Read iTunes Library. However this doesn't solve the problem, only creates yet another location for cleaning up....
    Having somewhat same issue: Converted all id3 from iTunes succesfully, but couldn't import files correct on other macbook in iTunes (same version)?!?!? Doesn't read id3...

  • Itunes, ID3 tags, & hard drive corruption

    My wife is having a strange problem with her iMac, and it’s got me a bit mystified. I’m hoping someone here can shed some light on what might be going on. I apologize in advance for the long post.
    The problem is that when she plays some songs in iTunes, and entirely different (wrong) song plays instead. Most songs play fine, but some just play entirely different songs (or sections of a song or podcast). All of the tracks are MP3 (either 192 kbps or 256 kbps) and almost all of them were encoded using Windows Media Player on an XP machine. Initially, I copied the music over from an NTFS drive to a newly formatted (Mac OS/HFS+) drive on the Mac, then I ran iTunes and created the library. At that point, everything seemed fine. All the meta data (song title, album title, artist, album artist, genre, album art) showed up in iTunes, and everything played correctly.
    Now we’re getting this weird behavior where we play some songs and get the wrong music. At first I thought the iTunes library files (ITL and/or XML) had been corrupted, but it seems on closer inspection that the entire hard drive has been corrupted. When I look at the files on Mac hard drive via the Finder, all seems ok – the directory structure is intact, the file names and sizes are all correct, and a Get Info on any MP3 file shows that the ID3 data is all there and seems accurate. This is true even for the songs that play wrong, but if I play one of those songs using the little mini player in the Get Info dialog, the wrong song plays (the same wrong song as in iTunes). So now I’m getting the behavior straight off the drive, with iTunes closed and the iTunes library completely out of the equation.
    Some other interesting clues/evidence:
    * This has happened before. When her first hard drive got corrupted (in the same way), I was mystified but chalked it up as a bad hard drive and got her a new one. Then we started over with a clean HFS+ formatted drive and clean music files and built a new iTunes library. And now the same thing has happened again. So I don’t think it’s just a bad hard drive.
    * It seems to be progressive. That is, everything was fine in the beginning, but over time more and more files get messed up. We know this because we have a backup that’s about a month old on which we can locate files that are fine (on the backup) but that are messed up on her connected day-to-day drive. So it seems like some activity on the drive is causing problems that are growing over time.
    * There is some weird meta data (ID3) behavior. I copied a few hundred MP3 files from the Mac drive back to the PC (over our home network) and looked at them in the Windows Explorer. The first thing I saw was that the same (wrong) music played for the bad tracks as had on the Mac. And I also saw that a lot of ID3 tags were not showing on the Windows side. Lots of tracks have no ID3 data (album, artist, genre, etc. is missing) when I look at them on the PC. There are many albums where tags show up correctly for some of the tracks but not for others. In fact, the number of files where the ID3 tags aren’t visible on the PC far exceeds the number of songs that play incorrectly on the Mac. When I look back on the Mac at the songs that have no ID3 data on the PC and do a Get Info, I see the ID3 data.
    * Often, though I can’t say always for sure, the wrong music that plays on the Mac is stuff that has been recently added. Either podcasts or music that my wife has added since the initial library was established.
    My best guess (though still full of holes):
    Something is confusing the Mac OS into writing on top of occupied space on the hard drive or into mapping files incorrectly in the drive’s allocation table, and chaos results. The Mac doesn’t think anything is wrong, and it shows everything as being clean in the Finder. So I started thinking about the kind of reads & writes my wife is doing on that drive. She rips new CDs to add to the library, she downloads new Podcasts and deletes old ones, and she changes ID3 tags.
    I’m focusing on the changing ID3 tag activity. My wife doesn’t like the way I tag genre. I like big broad categories, an she likes smaller, more specific categories. So she has gone through the initial library of 42K+ songs and changed the genre on thousands of songs. She’s change some from Pop to Power Pop or from Pop to Indie Pop or from Rock to Indie Rock, etc. Both WMP (where the tags were created) and iTunes support ID3v2.3, and so these two programs ought to be able to change tags in a totally interchangeable and safe way. But what if iTunes writes its new genre tags in a way that’s slightly different from WMP? Could iTunes be writing to memory/disk locations that are outside the boundaries of the file and thus creating some kind of buffer overrun?
    It really doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it does tie back to the evidence that this has something to do with meta data, gets worse over time, happened on more than one disk, and seems to be a file allocation table issue.
    Even if I get to the bottom of this, I think my wife’s HD is toast for sure. Here’s what I think I will do: I’ll reformat the drive, re-copy the music over from the PC, and build a new iTunes library. Then, first thing, I’ll open iTunes, select all the songs in the new library, and run “Convert ID3 Tags” to ID3v2.4. If that works and everything behaves correctly, I’ll try to change some genre tags and test the results. The problem is that the library is so large that problems can go undetected for a long time, so maybe I should do this first with a small subset of the music as a trial run.
    The thing I want to avoid is having to do this (ever) again, so I’d feel more comfortable if I understood the bug/problem before just following this guess (which feels like a roll of the dice). If anyone has seem similar behavior or has heard of any IDS incompatibilities between WMP 11 and iTunes 7, I’d love to hear about it. Any help is appreciated.
    Jim

    Wow, that was a long and detailed post. I haven't the energy to reply in equal fervor, but I will just say that lately these boards have been peppered with posts from people whose MP3s are being eaten alive by iTunes. What I don't get is why you suspect the hard drive is at fault. Unless the rest of the system is caving in, I don't think there's any reason to suspect a failing drive. Check the S.M.A.R.T. status in Disk Utility if you haven't already, and perform whatever maintenance you believe is in order.
    For the most reliable ID3 tag editing, I'd certainly recommend using foobar2000 on a Windows PC (or a Mac with Windows installed) or MP3Tag. I would definitely, at least for the time being, not put your huge music collection at risk by doing any further editing of the tags in iTunes.

  • MP3 song information not retained after iTunes 7.0 - ID3 tags at fault?

    I'm having some strange problems with track information in iTunes. I first noticed it when I tried to copy some mp3's from my Mac to my mobile phone: certain tracks did not retain the song information, like artist, album etc., while others did.
    A similar problem has been discussed in this post:
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3698498
    However, my problem seems to be a little bit more specific.
    If I look at the music in my library in iTunes, all the track information is there. However, for MP3's encoded after 16th October last year, the "Imported With" field, using Get Info, is shown as "Unknown". Before this date, it is shown as "iTunes v7.0". For all MP3's the ID3 version is v2.2.
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    MacBook Pro 17" 2.16 GHz 2GB RAM   Mac OS X (10.4.9)   iTunes 7.1.1

    Okay, some more information as I try and track down the source of the problem.
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  • Can not edit id3 tags since upgrade to iTunes 8.1: permissions problem (?)

    Hi all,
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    http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/6567/picture2rxl.png
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    http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/8702/picture1zkg.png

    That's exactly what I did, it took ~20sec to complete the "apply to enclosed items" command (there was heavy disk access), but it does not improve. The permissions stay the same for the files/folders in question. It's very odd, have a look at the screenshot:
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    http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/33/permission.png
    Message was edited by: JJulian (added screenshot)

  • ID3 Tags, Organizer & Player & M

    Description
    I name my mp3's for example
    0 W. K. Mahler - Freedom - W. K. Mahler.mp3
    Your ID3 Tag reader reads the above as
    Track 0.mp3
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    How do I/we work around this?
    BTW,
    There really is no competition regarding your easy install cards (PCI) here on Cape Cod, MA. USA. Other than integrated audio (and I never find your products intergrated.) ...Do you make intergrated audio in desktops?
    Finally,
    At least one dozen independent/small and large makers of audio players for PC/MAC are including decode/encode and or just play of .shn and .flac files.
    Do you there at Creative Labs already have "codecs" to be downloaded and installed or are you planning on a major upgrade for audio format compatability. How about video as well?
    WKMahler
    mahlers.com

    You have not tagged those mp3 files showing tag information as Track nn.
    Try w/ MediaMonkey --> Auto-Tag from Filename -feature.
    - http://www.mediamonkey.com
    jutapaMessage Edited by jutapa on 09-3-2006 0:56 PM

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