Problem with Edit ID-Tag

[nostromo53]

Hello. Newest of newbies here. Just signed up about an hour ago.
I'm running R2024-05-30 [64 bit].

Here's my problem:
After recording some vinyl, or doing anything that results in a folder of un-tagged sound files (WAV, MP3) that make up a particular album, I use Edit ID-Tag (right click in Explorer, select Edit ID-Tags), select all the tracks and set Artist, Album, Year, Genre, Album Artist, and Album Art, either by using a file on my PC or from the Internet. Now, I go to each track to set the track title, but when I do so, I notice that the Album Art is blank as is the Album Artist. The other fields I set persist. The Album Art and Album Artist apparently didn't "stick". But, then, by chance I look at track 1. On track 1, the Album Art and Album Artist that was set did persist. All the other tracks, not.

Am I missing something? Thanks in advance.

[BrodyBoy]

Welcome! The best way to edit metadata is to use a dedicated editor, especially for situations like you describe, where you're starting from scratch and have to add new tags to a set of files. (But it's also great for correcting, completing, refining existing metadata.)

There are several out there, but I highly recommend mp3Tag. It's an incredibly powerful program if you eventually learn its more sophisticated features, but you don't even have to do that. Just open your folder of files in mp3Tag, select all files (or any subset) and add the data you want. (It's free, but if you find that you like it and use it a lot, send Florian a contribution! He's made a great program and he supports it well.)

The Windows Explorer approach can be really tedious and frustration, as you've discovered.

[nostromo53]

Welcome! The best way to edit metadata is to use a dedicated editor, especially for situations like you describe, where you're starting from scratch and have to add new tags to a set of files. (But it's also great for correcting, completing, refining existing metadata.)

There are several out there, but I highly recommend mp3Tag. It's an incredibly powerful program if you eventually learn its more sophisticated features, but you don't even have to do that. Just open your folder of files in mp3Tag, select all files (or any subset) and add the data you want. (It's free, but if you find that you like it and use it a lot, send Florian a contribution! He's made a great program and he supports it well.)

The Windows Explorer approach can be really tedious and frustration, as you've discovered.

Hello Brodyboy!
Thank you for your reply! So, basically you're saying that Edit ID-Tag (which is part of dBpoweramp, right?) doesn't work. I installed mp3Tag years ago. I found it to be non-intuitive and quite clumsy. Perhaps that has changed since I have not updated it for a long time. Thank you for the suggestion. I will revisit mp3Tag.

[Spoon]

It does work, you need to find out why the changes do not stick, perhaps the files are restricted writing? Ensure they are on the local computer, not a network.

Validate a tag edit by doing it, and straight away right click >> edit id tags, you should see the tags.

[nostromo53]

It does work, you need to find out why the changes do not stick, perhaps the files are restricted writing? Ensure they are on the local computer, not a network.

Validate a tag edit by doing it, and straight away right click >> edit id tags, you should see the tags.

Hi Spoon...
Thank you for your reply.
No, the files are not restricted, and they are not on a network. And, I do as you suggest; validate and check right away.

Allow me to go through the steps:

1. Select all 12 WAV files in the folder: e.g., [Artist]Skydiggers ->[Album]Just Over the Mountain
2. Right click -> Edit ID Tags

[ dBpoweramp: Edit ID-Tag for multiple files ]
[ Editing Combined Tags For 12 Files ]

3. Fill in Artist, Album, Year, Genre, Album Artist, and Album Art [OK]
4. Run Edit ID Tags again on any one of the files (except for the file which in this case is the first track)
5. Artist, Album, Year, Genre are set correctly, but Album Artist and Album Art are now blank
6. Run Edit ID Tags on the first track of the album
7. All fields *are* filled in, including Album Artist and Album Art (unclear to me why it's the first track)

It appears that those two fields (Album Artist, Album Art) only persist in one of the files
processed. In this particular case it was the file that is the first track on the album.

Also, after I do a multiple file edit, if I repeat the same multiple edit, the Album Artist displays
<different> as does the Album Art field. I assume this is because one file has the data persisted
while the other 11 (in the example) do not.

FYI, I have been struggling with this for several months now and what I end of doing is to
edit the tag for Album Artist and Album Art for each file. After doing this for an album with
36 tracks, I said, "enough".

[Spoon]

It is likely your files already have an WAVE LIST tag which cannot accommodate Album Artist and Album Art, check the settings in dBpoweramp control centre >> Audio Codecs >> list

and see what is set for Wave files, it should be id3v2+list

then if those files already have just a list chunk, simplest way is to edit tags, delete all tags, then edit again and add the ones you want.

[nostromo53]

It is likely your files already have an WAVE LIST tag which cannot accommodate Album Artist and Album Art, check the settings in dBpoweramp control centre >> Audio Codecs >> list

and see what is set for Wave files, it should be id3v2+list

then if those files already have just a list chunk, simplest way is to edit tags, delete all tags, then edit again and add the ones you want.

Hello Spoon...
Thank you for your reply. It is much appreciated.
I assume you have been unable to duplicate the problem, which would indicate something at my end.

After a bit more investigation, it appears that there may indeed be an issue with WAV files. A folder of MP3 files do not experience the problem. I even changed the file extension of a folder of WAV files which did have the issue to MP3, and the problem went away.

In the Control Center -> Audio Codecs -> List, here are my current settings for Wave ID Tagging (are these the settings you are referring to?):

Tag Creation (default - LIST & ID3)
LIST Chunk Position [data][LIST]
LIST Album Tag IPRD
LIST Track Tag ITRK
LIST Padding Type 'JUNK' Chunk
LIST Padding Size 2 KB
ID3v2 Version v2.3
ID3v2 Text Encoding ANSI

Choices for Tag Creation are:
LIST
(none)
ID3

I so not see any option for id3v2+list. Again, thanks in advance.

[Spoon]

>LIST & ID3

That is good, it means your wave files already have LIST tags which are limited.

[nostromo53]

>LIST & ID3

That is good, it means your wave files already have LIST tags which are limited.

Hello Spoon...
Thank you for clearing this up. I did not realize, if I am understanding correctly, that the WAV codec does not support full tagging. I've done a bit of quick research on a number of forums (Hydrogen Audio, MP3Tag Community, etc) and I now understand the issue. Thanks very much for your help and insight.

-mm [retired IT professional]

[Spoon]

Wave files can support full tags, but only in a ID3 chunk, however not many players will read that.

[nostromo53]

Wave files can support full tags, but only in a ID3 chunk, however not many players will read that.

Got it! Thanks again for your assistance.