dBpoweramp "ID Tag Editor" ???

[d2b]

The website boasts that dBpoweramp includes a tag editor function. I cannot find anything in any of the module interfaces that displays tags and allows one to edit them. What am I missing here, or what don't I understand about this topic.

I see this listed in several places on your website. In one place, it says it's part of PerfectTUNES.

Thanks for any insights you can provide.

-d2b-

[Spoon]

Re: dBpoweramp "ID Tag Editor" ???

Select file, right click on it >> Edit ID-Tag

PerfectTUNES will bring a new tag editor the like of which as not been seen before, I hope to finish it in December.

[d2b]

Re: dBpoweramp "ID Tag Editor" ???

Spoon

Thanks for a quick reply. I was able to quickly check out the existing ID-tag functionality. I have a couple of observations about it, keeping in mind that our focus is on editing FLAC files with both standard and extended (invented) Vorbis comments.

1. The current version maps DATE to Year and ALBUMARTIST to Album Artist. We feel quite strongly that a tag editor should not map one field name to another. It should ALWAYS display exactly what is in the file, and correspondingly it should always write field names and values as entered, including the field name and value letter case (UPPERCASE --> UPPERCASE, for example).
2. Keeping the above in mind, the current version combines multiple fields with the same field name into a single field with combined values separated by a semicolon and space. Again this does not represent what is actually in the file as one would see with a hex editor/file viewer.
3, It would be convenient if the field names were displayed in alphabetical order, like in mp3tag's extended tag (Alt-T) view, making it easier to locate a field.
4. the current version maps DISCNUMBER and DISCTOTAL to this format: Disc=x/y. Like other comments above, this is naughty behavior.
5. The "Clear" button makes it too easy to remove all of the tags when trying to edit a file.
6. Limiting the ability to edit only one file at a time is a drawback, as some of the tags are album-specific and apply to all of the tracks in an album. For a 12-track album, it's a pain to have to edit each track one at a time in sequence in order to correct, say, the name of the ALBUMARTIST. Perhaps there's a means to do this in the current version but it's not obvious

A proper tag editor should never misrepresent the metadata through mapping, combining and lettercase alteration, and it should always write it as entered, including lettercase.

That's my two-cents worth for now. I'm looking forward to the newer version. While mp3tag isn't totally perfect, it represents an enormous challenge to your claim "the like of which has not been seen before."

Thanks...

-d2b-

[Spoon]

Re: dBpoweramp "ID Tag Editor" ???

You are a different market to that of which we target, most people are over joyed to get standard tags presented, this means you can go FLAC >> WMA >> ALAC and the tags are in the right fields, no manual mapping.

[garym]

Re: dBpoweramp "ID Tag Editor" ???

there is no limiting of editing one file at a time. I can select an entire album of tracks, right click, and edit album level info all at once (i.e., genre, album name, date, etc.).
edit: although I have to be at the point in the file listing where I select the tracks themselves to be able to get the right click context menu for edit id tag. This is unlike mp3tag, where I can right click an artist or album folder, and this will open ALL the underlying files for editing without having to select the individual tracks first.

[d2b]

Re: dBpoweramp "ID Tag Editor" ???

garym

I never said you could not 'select' more than one track at a time. Regardless of how many tracks you choose in the manner you describe, you can still only edit (i.e., change) the metadata on each track, one at a time.

-d2b-

[garym]

Re: dBpoweramp "ID Tag Editor" ???

garym

I never said you could not 'select' more than one track at a time. Regardless of how many tracks you choose in the manner you describe, you can still only edit (i.e., change) the metadata on each track, one at a time.

-d2b-

you misunderstand my response perhaps. I can SELECT multiple files (e.g., all tracks from an album), and right click, select ID TAG EDIT, then I can change fields such as ALBUM, GENRE, ARTIST (i.e., fields that relate to all the tracks) with a single edit, then save. Thus I've made a single edit that affected multiple files. I don't have to change the metadata one track at a time (unless of course I'm changing metadata that ONLY relates to that track).

edit: And to confirm, I just selected 10 tracks from an album, changed the album name with a single edit and save, and all 10 tracks metadata changed.

[d2b]

Re: dBpoweramp "ID Tag Editor" ???

Spoon...

I respectully have to disagree with the direction you take in your response above. Editing tags takes place within whatever file format is being addressed at the time. A tag editor should be faithful to the metadata field 'standards' used for that format and not map those field names to some idealized, common standard, which in itself is not a universal standard anyway. Nothing that I suggested had anything to do with mapping field names and values BETWEEN formats.

Maintaining the integrity of any sizable library requires that the 'librarian' know what he or she is doing when viewing and editing tags. Mapping between file formats is a totally different issue which has no bearing on managing tags within each of those formats.

I am aware that there are differences in the so-called metadata standards for the commonly-encountered file formats. None of these variations are actually under any kind of any formal, rigorous version control by an accepted international standards organization. The ad hoc organizations that claim responsibility for this role are not actively doing anything useful or more apparently, they're doing nothing at all. And as usual, Apple's internal workings are of course proprietary and documentation is hard to find. On-line metadata sources are inconsistent as well and do not provide sufficient data. None that I can find report the record label for example, and few report composer/song-writer information. I've seen no good evidence that ISRC codes are reported, yet radio stations and webcasters in the United States are supposed to report airplay to SoundExchange using those codes to identify the tracks played. But that's another issue not directly related to the integrity of the tag editing process, except to point out that it creates additional problems trying to develop searchable libraries that have enough correct metadata in consistently-named fields.

The biggest issue confronting the creation of digital music libraries is not storage or network bandwidth. It's the lack of thorough and meaningful metadata and it's integrity.

Our particular application is to replace our radio staiion's physical library of CDs with a server-based FLAC library. In the long run, that will amount to 30,000 CD equivalents or nearly a half million tracks and growing. Our slogan used to be "Rip Once, Rip Right!" but it's been expanded to include "Edit Once, Edit Right."

-d2b-

[d2b]

Re: dBpoweramp "ID Tag Editor" ???

garym...

You are right, of course, and I was wrong. I was mislead by the button that says Edit Single. It was not clear to me what happens when you click it. It would probably be clearer if the button text toggled between Edit Single and Edit All.

This is helpful but it doesn't solve the main issue I tried to address with Spoon, a WYSIWYG interface.

-d2b-

[garym]

Re: dBpoweramp "ID Tag Editor" ???

garym...

This is helpful but it doesn't solve the main issue I tried to address with Spoon, a WYSIWYG interface.

-d2b-

Agree. And although I only have my personal collection to worry about (albeit about 10,000 CDs), I too find it very confusing as to how different programs do "behind the scenes" mapping, etc. (and also change this mapping over time). This often throws me with dbpa, mp3tag, and foobar2000.

[itadc]

Re: dBpoweramp "ID Tag Editor" ???

Select file, right click on it >> Edit ID-Tag

PerfectTUNES will bring a new tag editor the like of which as not been seen before, I hope to finish it in December.

Hey, i will try alot, but i can't use it, "FLAC >> WMA >> ALAC"