Question about tags

[MarkW]

I am new to digital audio and even more so to dBpoweramp, so please excuse my ignorance.

Is there a standardized set of tags for use with computer audio software and devices? I would like to have more tags than I see available in dBpoweramp so I could view my music with more specificity. For example: I might have a Rock genre, but I would like to sort based on another parameter such as solo, instrumental, live, etc. Is there a way to add these tags, or would they even be recognized by the playback device?

Mark

[garym]

Re: Question about tags

What format files? Lossless like FLAC, ALAC, or lossy such as MP3 or m4a?

[BrodyBoy]

Re: Question about tags

I am new to digital audio and even more so to dBpoweramp, so please excuse my ignorance.

Is there a standardized set of tags for use with computer audio software and devices? I would like to have more tags than I see available in dBpoweramp so I could view my music with more specificity. For example: I might have a Rock genre, but I would like to sort based on another parameter such as solo, instrumental, live, etc. Is there a way to add these tags, or would they even be recognized by the playback device?

Mark

The key part is your last question.....will they be recognized by the playback device. In most cases, I'm afraid, the answer is no. That's not to say that there's no value in adding as much info as you want to your files. But even a tag like "Style," which many users treat as a "sub-genre" of the sort you described, will not be recognized by most players.

There's really no "standardized" set of tags, but there is a relatively-universal basic set that is common to most tagging systems and recognized by most players...ARTIST, ALBUM, TITLE, etc. Beyond that generalization, you really need to know the specific codec, as garym asked, to start devising a tagging system that accomplishes what you want within the limitations of the tagging system and player(s) you're using.

[MarkW]

Re: Question about tags

The key part is your last question.....will they be recognized by the playback device. In most cases, I'm afraid, the answer is no. That's not to say that there's no value in adding as much info as you want to your files. But even a tag like "Style," which many users treat as a "sub-genre" of the sort you described, will not be recognized by most players.

There's really no "standardized" set of tags, but there is a relatively-universal basic set that is common to most tagging systems and recognized by most players...ARTIST, ALBUM, TITLE, etc. Beyond that generalization, you really need to know the specific codec, as garym asked, to start devising a tagging system that accomplishes what you want within the limitations of the tagging system and player(s) you're using.

Thanks for the info. I've been ripping to uncompressed FLAC. But, I haven't bought my player yet. I've been doing a lot of research and have pretty much decided on an Auralic Aries. Obviously, at this time I don't know what tags it will recognize. I should probably go ahead and buy it and experiment.

Mark

[garym]

Re: Question about tags

Thanks for the info. I've been ripping to uncompressed FLAC. But, I haven't bought my player yet. I've been doing a lot of research and have pretty much decided on an Auralic Aries. Obviously, at this time I don't know what tags it will recognize. I should probably go ahead and buy it and experiment.

Mark

Yes, good idea. Probably the worst thing one can do is rip/tag everything before testing on a system one expects to use. And rip/tag a good variety of things to see how they work. Off the top of my head, things like:

CD with single artist
CD with multiple artists (soundtracks, compilations, etc.)
CD with only one or two tracks with multiple artists
CDs with common names (e.g., Greatest Hits)

and all the above with both single disks or multiple disks

[BrodyBoy]

Re: Question about tags

I cannot emphasize strongly enough how important the GUI and library management functions are.

A couple recent experiences reminded me of this...I've been helping set up a new system for a friend (where the top priority is ease-of-use), and trying to find a high quality portable player for my son's birthday (to replace his beloved but aging iPod Classic). In both cases, I've seen products that seemed to be ideal...on paper. But delving into the details of actual use, it was obvious that the software side of these products has not kept up at all with the hardware. Some very high-end portable players I looked at illustrated a common phenomenon in "audiophile" class products: Boutique shops develop and build with an intense focus on audio technology and making beautiful hardware, but often give very short shrift to software development and the user interface. (Some practically feel like you're navigating in DOS!) Products on the more "mass-market" end of the spectrum, on the other hand, reflect manufacturers' apparent belief that consumers won't know or care about such things, employing "pretty" but extremely basic, limited GUIs.

To me, the whole point of this digital music adventure is the incredible convenience of abandoning physical media and having your entire music library at your fingertips. It's nothing short of a revelation when it works right! But if players make actually using your library a constant exercise in frustration and inconvenience, it kind of defeats the purpose.

So again, after narrowing it down to to the hardware options you like, I'd urge you to pay particularly close attention to the software. You'll be interacting with it a lot (hopefully), so make sure it meets most of your usability expectations.

[garym]

Re: Question about tags

I cannot emphasize strongly enough how important the GUI and library management functions are.

A couple recent experiences reminded me of this...I've been helping set up a new system for a friend (where the top priority is ease-of-use), and trying to find a high quality portable player for my son's birthday (to replace his beloved but aging iPod Classic). In both cases, I've seen products that seemed to be ideal...on paper. But delving into the details of actual use, it was obvious that the software side of these products has not kept up at all with the hardware. Some very high-end portable players I looked at illustrated a common phenomenon in "audiophile" class products: Boutique shops develop and build with an intense focus on audio technology and making beautiful hardware, but often give very short shrift to software development and the user interface. (Some practically feel like you're navigating in DOS!) Products on the more "mass-market" end of the spectrum, on the other hand, reflect manufacturers' apparent belief that consumers won't know or care about such things, employing "pretty" but extremely basic, limited GUIs.

To me, the whole point of this digital music adventure is the incredible convenience of abandoning physical media and having your entire music library at your fingertips. It's nothing short of a revelation when it works right! But if players make actually using your library a constant exercise in frustration and inconvenience, it kind of defeats the purpose.

So again, after narrowing it down to to the hardware options you like, I'd urge you to pay particularly close attention to the software. You'll be interacting with it a lot (hopefully), so make sure it meets most of your usability expectations.

I couldn't agree more. And BrodyBoy and I use entirely different systems, so it's not that we're pushing anything in particular. But the software/music server side of things has to work, and work well.

[MarkW]

Re: Question about tags

Thanks to both of you. I've done most of my research online. Fortunately, there are 3 or 4 dealers in town with different product lines, so I will spend some time playing with the control software. I know if I went with a computer based system I would have several good choices for software. But, then there is a lot of tweaking. I'm not afraid of tweaking, but I would rather not at this point in time.