Difference Between Metadata & ID Tags

[brettmendes]

I'm using PerfectTunes 3.1 for Windows 64-bit (fully registered) and I'm hoping someone can help to explain the difference between track metadata and ID tags. I would think that they are the same thing, however, after having taken quite a bit of time to clean up the tags in my collection of classical music, I still see it being organized using the 'old' metadata that it has always used. I think it's easier to understand if you can see for yourself, so please take a look at the following screenshots to see what I'm talking about.

Here's the tags as they are currently organized (in the desired manner):


And yet, this is what's seen in the metadata (and this is how it is organized in a number of media players, such as OPPO's network media player or Synology Audio Station):


Note that the album artist in the metadata is listed as 'Ades' and yet the ID Tag for album artist shows 'Thomas Ades; London Symphony Orchestra'. Why would that be? Shouldn't the changed ID Tag equate to a change in the metadata? If not, how does one go about changing the metadata so that music is organized in a consistent manner?

Thanks so much!

[garym]

Re: Difference Between Metadata & ID Tags

I'm using PerfectTunes 3.1 for Windows 64-bit (fully registered) and I'm hoping someone can help to explain the difference between track metadata and ID tags. I would think that they are the same thing, however, after having taken quite a bit of time to clean up the tags in my collection of classical music, I still see it being organized using the 'old' metadata that it has always used. I think it's easier to understand if you can see for yourself, so please take a look at the following screenshots to see what I'm talking about.

Here's the tags as they are currently organized (in the desired manner):
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2243[/ATTACH]

And yet, this is what's seen in the metadata (and this is how it is organized in a number of media players, such as OPPO's network media player or Synology Audio Station):
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2244[/ATTACH]

Note that the album artist in the metadata is listed as 'Ades' and yet the ID Tag for album artist shows 'Thomas Ades; London Symphony Orchestra'. Why would that be? Shouldn't the changed ID Tag equate to a change in the metadata? If not, how does one go about changing the metadata so that music is organized in a consistent manner?

Thanks so much!

metadata is the info (fields) contained in the ID Tag. So yes, they are essentially the same thing. In your case, I suspect you have multiple tags in your files. For example an mp3 file might have ID3v1 tags, ID3v2 tags, and APE tags. Sometimes when you edit one of the tags, it doesn't change the other tags. Best approach is to clean this up and make sure you have only one ID Tag in each file. Different tools can do this (I use mp3tag to see the tags in a file and automatically clean this up but there are other tools as well).

EDIT: What type of files do you have? I can't tell from the screen shots.
EDIT2: Or maybe your problem is not multiple tags. Maybe your music server needs to do a re-scan of your files in order to get rid of old information that the server may be using that came from the tags before you edited them.

[brettmendes]

Re: Difference Between Metadata & ID Tags

metadata is the info (fields) contained in the ID Tag. So yes, they are essentially the same thing. In your case, I suspect you have multiple tags in your files. For example an mp3 file might have ID3v1 tags, ID3v2 tags, and APE tags. Sometimes when you edit one of the tags, it doesn't change the other tags. Best approach is to clean this up and make sure you have only one ID Tag in each file. Different tools can do this (I use mp3tag to see the tags in a file and automatically clean this up but there are other tools as well).

EDIT: What type of files do you have? I can't tell from the screen shots.
EDIT2: Or maybe your problem is not multiple tags. Maybe your music server needs to do a re-scan of your files in order to get rid of old information that the server may be using that came from the tags before you edited them.

Ahhhhh, that would make a lot of sense - the multiple types of tags, that is. I've re-indexed files several times on my NAS so that would seem to rule out the re-scan possibility. The vast majority of my files are FLAC, although some are AIFF, WAV, and DSF. The example I provided was in FLAC.

[garym]

Re: Difference Between Metadata & ID Tags

Ahhhhh, that would make a lot of sense - the multiple types of tags, that is. I've re-indexed files several times on my NAS so that would seem to rule out the re-scan possibility. The vast majority of my files are FLAC, although some are AIFF, WAV, and DSF. The example I provided was in FLAC.

hmmm.

FLAC files typically have only one type of tag (called VORBIS COMMENTS). Were these FLAC files created by dbpa? If so, it only adds the correct tags. When you say reindexed the files on your NAS, clarify as to what music server you are using to organize and play these files? For example, I use LMS and reindexing on the NAS wouldn't help me, as I'd have to re-read the files via my LMS server to pick up changes in tags. Also, depending on how your music server works, it may not pick up changes in the files if they don't show as new or updated. In my own case, i have to have my tag editor change the date modified of my files, otherwise my server thinks the file hasn't changed.

edit: Also if you right click on a file that you think hasn't picked up your tag change, and then select "EDIT ID TAG", what shows up in all the tag fields? Correct info? or the old info?

[garym]

Re: Difference Between Metadata & ID Tags

This is an example of what I'm talking about. You could be having this same issue.

https://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?41684-How-to-re-index