CD Input giving me trouble

[Agrajag]

Spoon,

I just got done ripping a slew of songs into my library. They were ripped and converted into WMA 9.1 Lossless format (I still marvel at how great that part functions).

Anyway, I noticed part way through that many of the tags were missing large chunks of information. Say I ripped 5 songs from a CD and that CD was called "The Greatest". Song 1 (but it could be any of them) would have all its tags but two other songs would be missing the album title, the year of the CD and the track number. I don't understand how 1, 2 or more songs could have the Title info and year right and then others from the same CD not have it right.

I've had to go into dozens of entries and manually enter the title info, year and track info.

[ChristinaS]

Re: CD Input giving me trouble

It looks like the freedb database didn't have complete information on all the tracks of that cd.

I've seen it happen a lot - especially with cd's of classical music where several tracks each represent a different movement of the same symphony or concerto. Whoever entered the information into freedb only bothered to put it for the first track of the set. I'd have then to manually fill in the rest myself.

[Agrajag]

Re: CD Input giving me trouble

This is NOT a Freedb issue. I've just finished ripping a dozen "Eagles" CD's and out of the entire group only 1 song pulled a complete tag. I went to Freedb and verified that the tag info was there for several of them. CD Input simply is blowing the copying of that data.

In fact, on the CD Input screen, the correct data is SHOWING in the fields! The year, the artist, the album, the track number, etc. It's just not making it into My Music Collection.

Spoon, can you please look into this? This is a HUGE inconvenience.

[ChristinaS]

Re: CD Input giving me trouble

My Music Collection apart, have you checked the actual audio files you ripped to see if they have proper tags?

What tagging method are you using (from dMC Configuration) ?

[Agrajag]

Re: CD Input giving me trouble

They don't have proper tags. I'm ripping to WMA 9.1 Lossless and suspect that's the issue here.

I never touched that but it's set to Smart Ape 2 & ID3v1. That doesn't sound right.

[ChristinaS]

Re: CD Input giving me trouble

No, that's not tagging for WMA, it's for MP3. Check in dMC Configuration.

Are the file names OK?

[Agrajag]

Re: CD Input giving me trouble

Christina, Here's exactly what it shows for Tag Options. (the filenames are all fine) Note also that as a test I changed MP3 tagging to ID3v1, which as you know, didn't help.

I only have 3 options in there (never touched those) and none seem all that correct for this issue. TrackNumber is there but I don't get track numbers.

What makes this even more annoying is that once in a while, a track gets a correct tag. It's rare, but it happens.


===ID Tag Options===
Mp3
Tag Creation: ID3v1
Write ID3v1 Version: v1.1
ID3v1 UTF8 Read: Yes
ID3v1 UTF8 Write: No
Write ID3v2 Unicode: No
Write ID3v2 Version: v2.3

Windows Media Audio
Write Track Number as: WM/TrackNumber

[Agrajag]

Re: CD Input giving me trouble

Any updates on this? Christina?

I just did several more CD's and not one of them included the Tag data except for song title. I have to constantly enter the album name, the year and the track number. It's getting to be annoying.

[ChristinaS]

Re: CD Input giving me trouble

I'm sorry. I don't seem to have any problem myself with tag information when ripping to wma files (lossles included). Of course that's as long as the CD was found in Freedb or I bother to put full informaiton in dMC Audio CD Input.

Here's my dMC Configuration:

Version Information
dBpowerAMP Music Converter: Release 11.5
Power Pack & Mp3 License: [ Registered: Yes ]
dBpowerAMP Audio Player
dBpowerAMP CD Writer: Release 2 [ Registered: Yes ]
Sveta Portable Audio: Not Installed 'enhance your portable player'

Contact Information
Web Site: http://www.dbpoweramp.com
Support: http://www.dbpoweramp.com/support.htm
Support Forum: http://forum.dbpoweramp.com
Codec Central: http://www.dbpoweramp.com/codec-central.htm
Add extra [en/de]coding abilities such as m4a, wma, etc.

Smart Install Codecs
Musepack: .mpc
Monkeys Audio: .ape
OptimFROG: .ofr
Shorten: .shn
WavPack: .wv


===Shell Integration===
Convert To (right click): On
Edit Tag (right click): On
Popup information Tips: On
Explorer ID Tag Property Page: On
Explorer Columns: On


===Codecs===
Installed Compression Codecs (Write)
[Arrange Music]
[Channel Split]
[Multi-Encoder]: Release 1
[Rename Extension]
[Tag from Filename]: Release 1
[Update ID Tag]
AAC to Mp4: [ .mp4 ]
Advanced Audio Coding (CLI): Release 5 (Faac v1.24.1) [ .aac ]
Aiff: Realease5 [25/7/2004] [ .aif ]
Audio cd
FLAC: Release 5.3 (using FLAC 1.1.2) [ .flac ]
m4a (FAAC CLI): Release 3.5 (Faac v1.24.1, AppleLossless 0.1.5) [ .m4a ]
Mp3 (Lame): Lame Version 3.96.1 [ .mp3 ]
mp3PRO (CLI): [ .mp3 ]
Mp4 to AAC: [ .aac ]
Raw Audio File: [ .cda ]
Real Audio: Release 3 [ .rm ]
Test Conversion (No Write)
Wave: [ .wav ]
Windows Media Audio V9.1: Release 1 [ .wma ]


Installed Input Codecs (Read)
AAC Decoder: Release 5 [Faad v2.1] .aac
Apple AIFF Input Decoder: .aif; .aiff; .aifc
NeXT/Sun Audio File (*.au;*.snd): .au; .snd
Auxiliary Input Decoder: .aux
CD Input Decoder: .cda
DirectShow Decoder: Release 1 .ra; .rm; .rpm; .ram; .rmvb
Flac Input Decoder: .flac
Midi Input Decoder: .mid; .midi
Mp3 Input Decoder: .mp3; .mp2; .mpga; .mpa; .mpx; .mpg; .mp1
mp3PRO Input Decoder: .mp3; .mp2; .snd; .mpga; .mpx; .mpg
mp4 Decoder: .mp4; .m4a; .m4b
Ogg Input Decoder: .ogg
Raw Input Decoder: .raw; .bin; .pcm
Wave Input Decoder: .wav
Windows Media Audio Input Decoder: .wma; .asf; .wmv


===Options===
dBpowerAMP Reference Options
Pro. Frequency Conversion: On (slower but high quality)

Flac Input Decoder
Associate with .FLA Files: No

Mp3 Input Decoder
CRC Errors: Ignore
Decode To: 16 bit (dithered)

Wave Compression Codec
More than 16 bit or 2 Channels: Write WaveFormatEx Header



===ID Tag Options===
AAC
Tag Creation: Ape2
Write ID3v2 Unicode: No
Write ID3v2 Version: v2.3

Flac
Tag Creation: Vorbis Comments
Write ID3v2 Version: v2.3

Mp3
Tag Creation: Smart Ape2 & ID3v1
Write ID3v1 Version: v1.1
ID3v1 UTF8 Read: Yes
ID3v1 UTF8 Write: Yes
Write ID3v2 Unicode: No
Write ID3v2 Version: v2.3

Windows Media Audio
Write Track Number as: WM/TrackNumber

[Agrajag]

Re: CD Input giving me trouble

Well, needless to say it doesn't work here at all and I'm game to try anything to fix it. It sounds like, however, I'm on my own here. That's disappointing.

The album is listed in FreeDB, I see all the data in Audio CD Input so that shouldn't be a problem. If I see it there, it should have the information to tag the files.

How difficult would it be to do a check to see why this isn't working for me? I'm willing to run a debug version, etc.

[xoas]

Re: CD Input giving me trouble

It doesn't sound like a codec problem though you can test this by trying ripping to a different codec. But the problem does not replicate for me.

It also doesn't sound like a CD problem or a FreedB issue since it is happening so frequently.

If you were getting absolutely no tag information all, then you might want to check that you in fact have Record Tag Information in your Audio CD Input Options menu.

You could also check your cd.ini file to see if this is storing your cd information or if it is not getting there. This might help to isolate the problem.

You could also try doing a complete uninstall/reinstall procedure deleting the Illustrate registry entries as described in Razgo's FAQ here: http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?t=6828
(unless you've already done so).

If you have installed dMC to other than the default location, perhaps something is stored where it shouldn't be in relation to other portions of the program.

Hypothectically, is there some setting in WMP that might interfere with tag writing (I'm not aware of such but then I almost never use WMP)?

Those are a few ideas, though you may have already looked into these.

Best wishes,
Bill

[Agrajag]

Re: CD Input giving me trouble

Thanks for trying to help Bill. This has been VERY frustrating.

Just for clarification, the really annoying thing that points me to a bug is that every so often it writes a flawless tag. It'll just randomly pick a track and, presto, that track has a perfect tag while others in the same album get incomplete ones. Even more rarely more than one track on an album will get a complete tag. Lately nothing has been getting it. Go figure! <grin>

The Audio CD Input option in question is, I think, called "Write ID Tags" and that's checked. I also have it adding the songs to MMC (could it be that MMC is a beta version??? Actually now that I look it's the Audio Player that's beta.) Oh, and I'm using the Winamp 5 skin if that might be a part of it.

For CD.INI, where can I find it? The only CD.INI I recall is the one from Media Player Classic going back several years. I suspect you're talking about one from Illustrate. I didn't find a CD.INI in the Illustrate folders or under any of the Windows folders.

You also may be onto something with a complete re-install but it took me a long time to get things working so well and thus, I'd like this to be a VERY last resort. <grin>

The programs are installed in E:\Illustrate (non-standard)

For WMP, I use it but not during the time I'm ripping. That's all being done by Illustrate.

[LtData]

Re: CD Input giving me trouble

The file is actually "CDPlayer.ini" and should be in your Windows directory (default to C:\Windows).

As for dAP being beta, its been perfectly fine for many people for a while. However, it is beta so you could have found a new bug, but it seems more likely the problem is writing the tags, not reading them.

[Agrajag]

Re: CD Input giving me trouble

Here are the last 3 entries in the CDPLAYER.INI file. These are indeed the last 3 CD's I ripped and the info there all looks 100% fine. I assumed as much since the CD Input program showed all of this within the program as being correct.

Is it just me or does it seem obvious that the issue here is a tag writing issue (like Data above said)?

Spoon? Are you out there? Is there anything I can do to help you find this? I would love to see a screen or log file showing me what CD Input THINKS it's writing as tag info. That would at least help identify where in the process the breakdown is occuring.

[A93A61]
artist=Van Halen
title=Van Halen
genre=Rock
comment=
year=1978
EntryType=1
numtracks=11
numplay=11
0=Runnin' With The Devil
1=Eruption
2=You Really Got Me
3=Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
4=I'm The One
5=Jamie's Cryin'
6=Atomic Punk
7=Feel Your Love Tonight
8=Little Dreamer
9=Ice Cream Man
10=On Fire
[8B4113]
artist=Van Halen
title=Women and Children First
genre=Rock
comment=
year=1980
EntryType=1
numtracks=9
numplay=9
0=And The Cradle Will Rock...
1=Everybody Wants Some!!
2=Fools
3=Romeo Delight
4=Tora! Tora!
5=Loss Of Control
6=Take Your Whiskey Home
7=Could This Be Magic?
8=In A Simple Rhyme
[8EA523]
artist=Van Halen
title=Fair Warning
genre=Rock
comment=
year=1981
EntryType=1
numtracks=9
numplay=9
0=Mean Street
1=Dirty Movies
2=Sinner's Swing!
3=Hear About It Later
4=Unchained
5=Push Comes to Shove
6=So This Is Love?
7=Sunday Afternoon in the Dark
8=One Foot Out the Door

[Spoon]

Re: CD Input giving me trouble

The WMA codec is soon to be updated to the new R12 standard, as it is complete rewrite it is unlikely any bug will be duplicated. Kepp you eye on the Beta section of this forum.