Author Topic: Puzzling tagging issue  (Read 5051 times)

Skoop

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Two PCs, both running MB 2.1.4924.  Each with its own library.  PC2 gets synced manually from PC1 when something new gets added to PC1.  There are no shared file sources, nothing networking the two PCs together. 

There are over 400 albums that went over to PC2 when that PC was acquired and MB installed. 

All albums but one transferred successfully, meaning fully fleshed out with complete tags.  But that one album is just so weird.  Copying the album tracks either in Windows Explorer or with a syncing app sends all the tracks to the Inbox on PC2 and they are completely stripped of tags.  No matter how I get the files from PC1 to PC2, they end up  tagless.

Deleting from PC and/or library and doing it again makes no difference. 

What is with that album's tags on PC1 that presents this issue?  How can I troubleshoot?

ma_t14

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Have you checked if they are set as "read-only"?
Last Edit: June 26, 2014, 01:42:41 PM by ma_t14

Skoop

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Read-only tags?  How would I know?

Here's another data point I just discovered.  If I look at the album with Tag Inspector, there are none.  Nothing at all in what should be the list of tags.  And yet they are complete in the Edit window. 

ma_t14

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I meant, check if the actual files are set as read only in windows explorer. Select the file(s)>Right-click>Properties>check if read-only is selected

Pingaware

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What format are the files in? If it's WAV, tags do weird things on a regular basis.
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Skoop

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Files are not read only.

And, yes, they are .wav.

Skoop

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Another data point:  if i play one of the original tracks, record it simultaneously with Audacity, export it as a wav file filling in the tags in Audacity, and then copy it to PC2, then the track appears and acts normally with all tags intact.

Something is really weird with the original album, which I ripped as wav files from the CD using MB. 

psychoadept

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Are all your files WAV?  Why not convert it to FLAC, which supports tags better and will have a smaller file size.
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Skoop

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Not all, no. 

I'm done screwing around with these 12 files.  I'm converting them.

Steven

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What format are the files in? If it's WAV, tags do weird things on a regular basis.
thats shouldnt be the case with MB v2.3 or above unless you meant when using the .wav files between different applications then yes there is very little in the way of tagging standards

Pingaware

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What format are the files in? If it's WAV, tags do weird things on a regular basis.
That shouldn't be the case with MB v2.3 or above unless you meant when using the .wav files between different applications then yes there is very little in the way of tagging standards

That's great to know Steven. Haven't used WAV files in a long time. Nice to know they're an option again.

And that may answer your question Skoop. Try upgrading to a vaguely recent version. 2.1 is well over a year old now.
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Skoop

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I like the version of MB that I'm using.  It does everything that I want (except maybe tag some assorted wav files ;)  ).  

I have read the discussions of later versions and I view a lot of what has been added as bloat.  I don't care about prettying up the display or playing videos or other enhancements.  2.1 was the sweet spot for MB as a basic player and file manager for me.  

I don't offer this as gratuitous criticism.  I think it's a terrific application that outshines the competition.  But it has had different flavors and continues to have different levels of fan enthusiasm.  I like it where it's at.  If it has limitations compared to newer versions, then I'm either not aware of them or they don't matter for my usage case.  If anyone can offer a compelling reason to upgrade, I'd be happy to entertain it.

With that out of the way, I report that converting that album to flac addressed the wonky tag issue that those particular wav files presented.  I have many GB of wav files and that one album was the only one that MB stumbled over.  Beats me.  

By the way, thanks to scampbll for the suggestion.  You've always been a good advisor here.