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Support => Questions => Topic started by: phred on April 06, 2021, 11:49:59 PM

Title: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: phred on April 06, 2021, 11:49:59 PM
Is there an easy way to search for, and find, all tracks that have APE tags? I know how to get rid of them once found, but apparently there are hundreds. And they seem to be causing an issue with my Logitech Music Server.

Thanks.
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: The Incredible Boom Boom on April 07, 2021, 12:33:27 PM
CTRL + F, then setting ".Ext is 'ape'" not working?
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: phred on April 07, 2021, 01:44:04 PM
CTRL + F, then setting ".Ext is 'ape'" not working?
a) CTRL + F takes me to the search box (top left) where there are no options. It's possible I remapped it. What's the default action for CTRL + F?
b) I tried a Custom Search (should -this- be CTRL + F?) and there is no ".ext".
c) ".ext" is file extension. The files I'm looking for are all MP3 and have APE tags embedded. And that's what I'm looking for. So searching for ".ext" isn't going to help. Unless I am misunderstanding what you're suggesting.
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: vincent kars on April 07, 2021, 04:13:52 PM
Maybe this one: https://help.mp3tag.de/options_ape.html
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: phred on April 07, 2021, 05:22:24 PM
Maybe this one: https://help.mp3tag.de/options_ape.html
That looks promising, Vincent. Thanks.
I'm in the middle of a 38k track scan right now, so I will test it later today.

All my tracks have ID3vx tags. In addition, some have APE. I found and removed the APE tags from about 200 tracks yesterday, but I'm not convinced that's all there were. From the looks of your link, I see that I can (probably) remove the APEs in one operation. But I'd like to see how many there are (might be) before I start deleting. Do you know if that can be done. I have MP3TAG installed, but haven't used it in years. I should probably update it before doing anything e lse.
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: vincent kars on April 07, 2021, 05:25:39 PM
Quote
but haven't used it in years.

Me too  :)
Can't help you on this one.
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: phred on April 07, 2021, 05:27:40 PM
Me too  :)
Can't help you on this one.
I'll give it a shot later and report back.
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: hiccup on April 07, 2021, 06:46:11 PM
Does it happen that there is a commonly present ape tag in these files that is not present as an id3 tag in these files?
Then you could use that specific tag as a filter?
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: sveakul on April 07, 2021, 07:22:11 PM
But I'd like to see how many there are (might be) before I start deleting. Do you know if that can be done. I have MP3TAG installed, but haven't used it in years. I should probably update it before doing anything e lse.

After you update mp3tag, set it up so that it will read all tags but erase only APE tags (when instructed):

(https://i.imgur.com/0rpAUJK.png)

Then add your music folders to it with "Tag" as one of the columns;  sort by Tag, and you can see everything with an APE tag.  To delete them all, select all and choose File/Remove Tag;  all the APE tags will be removed (be sure you set up your options first to erase ONLY APE tags!!).  The third file in the image shows an mp3 with both ID3v2 and APE tags, prior to deleting the APE tag.

(https://i.imgur.com/ueVKWiD.png)
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: frankz on April 07, 2021, 07:35:32 PM
I've been following along.  FYI I didn't have a tag column by default I had to add it under Customize Columns (Name: Tag Value: %_tag% Field: %_tag%)
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: sveakul on April 07, 2021, 07:44:20 PM
Yep, thanks for pointing that out, I've had some stuff there so long I can't remember whether I added it or it came "stock."

Edit: FWIW my Tag column's value is constructed as %_tag_read%[ (%_tag%)] ;  the reason lost in time
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: frankz on April 07, 2021, 07:56:17 PM
Go with sveakul's column values I barely know what I'm doing on the more advanced mp3tag stuff even though I use it almost every day.
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: The Incredible Boom Boom on April 07, 2021, 08:04:05 PM
CTRL + F, then setting ".Ext is 'ape'" not working?
a) CTRL + F takes me to the search box (top left) where there are no options. It's possible I remapped it. What's the default action for CTRL + F?
b) I tried a Custom Search (should -this- be CTRL + F?) and there is no ".ext".
c) ".ext" is file extension. The files I'm looking for are all MP3 and have APE tags embedded. And that's what I'm looking for. So searching for ".ext" isn't going to help. Unless I am misunderstanding what you're suggesting.

Oops. I think I saw "APE" and stopped reading. I don't remember remapping the Custom Search hotkey, but the default could very well be something different.

To add onto @sveakul's instructions, in you MP3TAG, you can F3 to filter tracks and use %_tag% HAS "ape" (if I remember correctly) to grab the ones that have APE tags.
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: phred on April 07, 2021, 08:09:45 PM
Does it happen that there is a commonly present ape tag in these files that is not present as an id3 tag in these files?
Then you could use that specific tag as a filter?
The few that I paid attention to yesterday, while deleting the APEs from about 200  tracks, had "MINMAX" or something like that. I think they all related to replay gain. Your suggestion is a good one, but sveakul gave some good pointers on MP3TAG's use and I'm loading 36,397 tracks into it right now. I'll report back later.
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: phred on April 07, 2021, 08:13:46 PM
After you update mp3tag, set it up so that it will read all tags but erase only APE tags (when instructed):
Thank you.

Seemingly this is all I needed to get started. The existing version of MP3TAG wasn't as old as I thought it would be- mid-2020. But I'm using the latest now and in a quick test before loading in my entire library, the tag column already was present and showed ID3 and APE tags in a few of the small sample files I loaded.

It has now loading in 9000 of 36,397 and I will look very carefully before I pull the trigger. Apparently there are more tracks with APE files that Logitech Media Server didn't choke on yesterday. Full report to follow later.
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: phred on April 07, 2021, 08:15:50 PM
Oops. I think I saw "APE" and stopped reading. I don't remember remapping the Custom Search hotkey, but the default could very well be something different.

To add onto @sveakul's instructions, in you MP3TAG, you can F3 to filter tracks and use %_tag% HAS "ape" (if I remember correctly) to grab the ones that have APE tags.
Not a problem. I've done the same thing more than once.

I will see what F3 brings (along with the filter you suggested) once the scan into MP3TAG is complete.

Thanks.
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: phred on April 07, 2021, 08:58:14 PM
Of almost 37,000 tracks, there are (were) about 4,000 that had APE tags in addition to ID3v2.3. The APEs are now in the process of being removed quite easily thanks to MP3TAG.

In the process of doing this, I've found a number of tracks where MP3TAG is showing tags as !BAD ID3v2

(http://i.imgur.com/LEw0ePZl.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/LEw0ePZ.jpg)

And two with RIFF ID3v2.3

(http://i.imgur.com/J4M57Cpl.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/J4M57Cp.jpg)

Any idea what these are and should they be removed? And if so, how? MP3TAG didn't remove those marked !BAD and I haven't tried the ones with RIFF.

EDIT: I also just found these stragglers

(http://i.imgur.com/21u3RW2l.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/21u3RW2.jpg)
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: hiccup on April 07, 2021, 09:03:59 PM
Any idea what these are and should they be removed? And if so, how? MP3TAG didn't remove those marked !BAD and I haven't tried the ones with RIFF.
According to the MP3Tag forum that indicates metadata corruption.
A tool such as MP3Diags is likely able to solve that.
http://mp3diags.sourceforge.net/
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: phred on April 07, 2021, 09:10:57 PM
Thanks hiccup. My own digging (post post) using MB's wonderful Tag Inspector, showed some funkiness in some tags in each file. deleting the suspect tags, cleared the !BAD flag.
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: sveakul on April 07, 2021, 10:03:02 PM
Glad the APE tags were easy to get rid of.  Mp3tag won't remove RIFF separately (AFAIK), but Kid3 will display and allow removal of just the RIFF tags from files that have a "combo" once you've actually selected the file within Kid3 (which means vs. seeing it marked as "RIFF" in a file list like with Mp3tag).

Gotta say I never heard of "Lyrics3" tags until you showed those examples, had to Google it and it seems like they are a PITA to remove.
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: sveakul on April 07, 2021, 10:09:38 PM
Hmm, see:  https://github.com/Moonbase59/rmlyrics3 (https://github.com/Moonbase59/rmlyrics3)
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: phred on April 08, 2021, 01:28:00 AM
Gotta say I never heard of "Lyrics3" tags until you showed those examples, had to Google it and it seems like they are a PITA to remove.
MP3TAG couldn't do anything with the RIFFs. When I opened them in Tag Inspector, MB threw an error saying all files need to be the same format. Which led me to file explorer where I saw that the two files in question were WAV. Had MB convert to MP3, retagged the two files, rescanned the album, and refreshed in MP3TAG and the RIFF is gone.

It looks like LYRICS3 is WinAmp's implementation of .LRC, stored within the MP3 file. I rid of a number of them with MB's Tag Inspector, but there may be more. MP3TAG is rescaning the entire library and then I'll know if there are any remnants. If not, I' m done. If there are some, it shouldn't take much to make them disappear.And they're all gone.

The only minor issue, and I do mean minor, is that I've got tracks like the one in red that are not like the other 36346. And despite what you see about ID3v1, there are -no- tags in that format according to the Tag Inspector.
(http://i.imgur.com/yRy5U7jl.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/yRy5U7j.jpg)

And  these were also easily  removed with MP3TAB by just changing the the 'remove' option to ID3v1. And whoosh they're gone.
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: The Incredible Boom Boom on April 08, 2021, 03:41:11 AM
Y'all would be like, "WTF Get a life" if you saw my MP3TAG Actions. 😂 It's great program used in combination with a great music manager and player.
Title: Re: Looking for Files with APE Tags
Post by: phred on April 08, 2021, 03:55:14 AM
Y'all would be like, "WTF Get a life" if you saw my MP3TAG Actions. 😂 It's great program used in combination with a great music manager and player.
I now agree 100%.
What started me on this journey down a rabbit hole was that I noticed a few albums had tags with typos or incorrect data. Then I noticed some problems with my music files being picked up by my Logitech Music Server. Spent a good deal of time on their forum and discovered the APE issue. Using MP3TAG I noticed a few other issues with tags. And now that the drugs have worn off, I'm out of the rabbit hole with 37,000+ tracks with tags they way I want them.