ID Tags

[RMJFlack]

[not sure where to post this, hope its not too far astray here]

I have a small problem... I need to be able to mark files converted down from FLAC to mp3 for iTunes. It needs to be done in a way that iTunes can use, ideally in a smart playlist, or less than ideal, as a column in a list view. Id also like to be able to sort on this field in Windows Explorer.

The db converter program very carefully populates a "Source" field with a nice description that has exactly what I want. I was shocked, shocked I say. to discover that iTunes does not pick up this field.

Someone had suggested the "Grouping" field in iTunes, which I was mildly surprised to discover is the "Style" tag in the real world. Seemed like a good idea as Im not using that field, or so I thought. However I see that just about all of my recent rips with dbpoweramp (and its web-sourced metadata) has in fact populated this filed, with a copy of "Genre" or in some cases a "sub-genre".

Now I'm getting to my real question...

So I began to wonder about the "correct" uses of the various tag fields. Come on down, Mr Google. Which didnt really get me very far. I had expected to find some sort of authoritative document defining the various tags and their usage, But no luck,

Can some one please point me to the ID Tag "Bible"? Also, what sort of trouble am I likely to get into if, nonetheless, I "co-op" a field for my purpose.

Fnally, and htis is probably for the Apple forum, is there any sort of kludge or workaround that would make iTunes aware of the "Source" field?

[RMJFlack]

Re: ID Tags

Post Script

I think Ive found a good candidate for a field to hi-jack for my purpose.

iTunes has a field called "Programme" (on the "Sorting" tab of the track info pop-up), which it maps to the "TV Show Name" tag. (and there I was thinking 'programme' on a sorting tab would have values like bubble or merge or quicksort, so much for making assumptions).

Can anyone see any problems in my Hijacking this for MUSIC files?

My original question still stands - is there a "Bible" on ID tags?

[Spoon]

Re: ID Tags

Sadly I do not think there is one as there a multitude of tagging standards and a multitude of programs which read those tags.

[RMJFlack]

Re: ID Tags

Really, thats interesting. So its open season then.

Can you see any probs in using "TV Show Name" for my purpose?

[Spoon]

Re: ID Tags

If it works no.

[garym]

Re: ID Tags

no, as long as you don't need it to represent tv show name, you can use it any way you might want.

[Fmulvey]

Re: ID Tags

New Question - Same Topic

My car accepts a USB drive. All files on the Passport drive are WMA files, however the auto system only seems to recognizes ID3v2.3 tags.

Can I keep the WMA format and tag with ID3v2.3? Or should I convert to MP3?

I used WMA for higher bitrate and less compression. Is MP3 lossless comparable to Windows Media Audio 10 Pro ?

[garym]

Re: ID Tags

New Question - Same Topic

My car accepts a USB drive. All files on the Passport drive are WMA files, however the auto system only seems to recognizes ID3v2.3 tags.

Can I keep the WMA format and tag with ID3v2.3? Or should I convert to MP3?

I used WMA for higher bitrate and less compression. Is MP3 lossless comparable to Windows Media Audio 10 Pro ?

There is no mp3 lossless. mp3 is a lossy format. I assume the WMA format you used was a lossy WMA (and not some sort of lossless WMA similar to FLAC or ALAC)? I'm not familiar enough with WMA to know whether you can have ID3 tags with a WMA format.

edit: you should try to add ID3v2.3 tags to the WMA. You can use dbpa ID tag editing. You can also try mp3tag and see if you can add an ID3 tag to WMA. No idea whether this might work....

[Fmulvey]

Re: ID Tags

Thanks - how do you add the ID3v2.3 tags to WMA? I looked at "Convert" - ID Tag Update - but then what do you do?

[garym]

Re: ID Tags

id tag update is changing tag field contents, not from one type of tag to another. No idea really how to do this and I mostly suspect it is not possible. Try googling "add ID3 tag to WMA file" and see if you find anything.

[Fmulvey]

Re: ID Tags

Thanks again - I have not found anything - it appears that the tag and format are linked. WMA tag - WMA format, etc...

What is the highest quality format to use with ID3v2.3? I may have to convert 9,600 songs, Ugh...

[garym]

Re: ID Tags

Thanks again - I have not found anything - it appears that the tag and format are linked. WMA tag - WMA format, etc...

What is the highest quality format to use with ID3v2.3? I may have to convert 9,600 songs, Ugh...

You're a bit confused. ID3v2.3 is just a tag format, not an audio codec. So there is no "quality" issue. But you're concerned about converting the WMA to mp3 (which will then have ID3v2.3 tags). This is a quality issue. Normally, it is a bad idea to convert from one lossy format to another (e.g., WMA to mp3). This is why it is better to rip to lossless (e.g., FLAC) and then later convert to lossy (eg mp3) if needed for portables, car, etc.

This said, you'll probably be fine with converting the WMA to mp3 (i.e., you won't likely be able to actually detect any quality drop in listening...especially if these are rock/pop/country type songs vs classical music, and even with this, unlikely to be a problem for most tracks). To be safe, I'd use the highest possible mp3 bitrate. So use the mp3(lame) codec, convert to 320kbs CBR. Be sure to setup your preferences in dbpa before this to use ID3v2.3 tags for mp3 files.

[Fmulvey]

Re: ID Tags

Okay that's exactly what I was resigned to do. How do I ensure that it tags using ID3v2.3 How do you set this preference?

Thanks for your patience - I have always used these WMA files to stream within a home network and have not have this ID tag restriction to deal with...

[garym]

Re: ID Tags

Okay that's exactly what I was resigned to do. How do I ensure that it tags using ID3v2.3 How do you set this preference?

Thanks for your patience - I have always used these WMA files to stream within a home network and have not have this ID tag restriction to deal with...

run the program "dbpoweramp configuration", then select codecs tab, then at bottom select advanced options. Find mp3 section, and

tag: id3v2
id3v2 version: v2.3
text encoding unicode 16

I'd do a bit of testing before converting everything. Some cars are really bad in that they only recognize ID3v1 tags. convert an album to mp3 with id3v2 and see if car can read. If not, try with id3v1 instead. Only problem with id3v1 is that it only allows 30 characters. But anyhow, I'd keep the WMA orginal files for use elsewhere. And going forward, I'd rip CDs to FLAC.

[garym]

Re: ID Tags

I may have to convert 9,600 songs, Ugh...

Good news though is you load up all 9600 in dbpa batch converter, click convert to, choose mp3 (lame), CBR 320, and go. Come back the next day and you have 9600 mp3 files.

note, given that your car probably doesn't handle ReplayGain tags (to make auto volume adjustments for different loudness of different albums), you might want to do volume normalize on these "car only" tunes. In screen where you are doing the mp3 conversion, toward the bottom in the DSP affects section, choose ADD, then add the DSP, ReplayGain (Apply). Note that this does actually change the audio content (volume adjustment). But since these are second generation lossy for the car only, I wouldn't worry about this, and you'll enjoy not having to change the volume up or down on every song played!