Genre tag discrepancies between FLAC / MP3 libraries

[sjc]

Hello, I'm in the process of ripping a clients CD collection to both FLAC and MP3 using the Multi-Encoder feature of CD ripper. The ripping process is going fine, I have separate folders setup for the FLAC and MP3 libraries and the CD rips are going where they should. However, I'm using Foobar2000 v1.3.17 to monitor the genre categories to make sure they are correct, and when I point Foobar2000 to the FLAC folder and then the MP3 folder I'm getting discrepancies in the number of CD's that are categorized to a certain genre. For example, in FLAC I see R&B as 508 and in MP3 I only see 171 items categorized as that genre. The same is occurring for several other genres. Using Beyond Compare I have confirmed that the FLAC and MP3 folders have identical information in both. So I'm perplexed as to why the FLAC and MP3 folders are not presenting the same number of items in the various genre categories. I hope this makes sense. I've attached screen shots labeled FLAC Foobar and MP3 Foobar for comparison. I'm not sure if this is a problem with using Multi-Encoder or if with Foobar not reading the genre tags correctly. Using the example of the R&B genre I would be inclined to believe that the 508 number in FLAC is correct based on the number of R&B CD's I've ripped.

Thank you for any assistance or thoughts you may have on the subject.

[Dat Ei]

Re: Genre tag discrepancies between FLAC / MP3 libraries

Which version of ID3 tags do you use for the mp3 files? Could it be a problem with multiple tags?


Dat Ei

[sjc]

Re: Genre tag discrepancies between FLAC / MP3 libraries

Hi Dat, thanks for the reply, I've been using CD Ripper for some time now but I'm not aware of how to check the version of ID3 tags, could you elaborate. The strange thing is that it seems that both FLAC and MP3 folders have the same information, its not like there are a bunch of artist folders missing from one side or the other.

[mville]

Re: Genre tag discrepancies between FLAC / MP3 libraries

For versions, go to dBpoweramp Control Center >> Audio Codecs : List / Options >> mp3 ID Tagging

[sjc]

Re: Genre tag discrepancies between FLAC / MP3 libraries

Thanks, I've attached the screen shot of the Audio Codecs. Also, I'm wondering what other player or program I can use to view the genre categories like I can in Foobar2000, just to make sure if Foobar is the problem?

[Dat Ei]

Re: Genre tag discrepancies between FLAC / MP3 libraries

Could you please check a track or album which can be seen with foobar as flac but not as mp3. Look at the tags (i.e. with right click -> "Edit ID-Tag"). Any differences?


Dat Ei

[sjc]

Re: Genre tag discrepancies between FLAC / MP3 libraries

Ok, upon further investigation I figured out what the genre discrepancy was that I was seeing. It had to do with CD's that get tagged as "various artists" in the Artist field of CD Ripper and with the Album Artist field is left blank, and the Compilation tick box checked. When this occurs Foobar2000 usually displays that CD as "Various Artists - The Name of the Album" and then you see all the tracks listed under that album entry (see attached image and iTunes sees these and creates a Compilation category). Foobar counts that as a single entry under the specific genre. This is how it looks when Foobar is looking at MP3 or ALAC, etc. When dealing with FLAC files, for some reason Foobar was displaying all of the tracks separately under the respective genre instead of displaying a complete album so it looked like there was more entries under certain genre categories. The fix was to go back and edit the ID Tags of the affected CD's and put "various artists" into the Album Artist field as well as in the Artist field. Not sure if this constitutes a problem or if it is just a think about FLAC files but at least I know what is happening and how to fix it.