m4a Tags issue

[geebob]

Hello,
This issue seems to have been previously addressed here: https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=18775.0

But I am running 3.2.6902 on Win10 and I am facing this same issue again. This time, when I am transferring the file to my android device over MTP (android oreo). The tags are lost for all m4a files upon transferring and viewing in the device folder.

Example m4a file has been uploaded here: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AsUVl0WxDwgddXiAci39dQNrLxM along with some screenshots.


Thanks!

[phred]

The first thing to try is patching to 3.3. See my sig.

[Steven]

When you sync to an android device and show the files from the device in MusicBee, MusicBee was relying on the data supplied by the device via the MTP interface. Its been my experience that android devices do not actually show the tags when viewed via the MTP interface.
One way to be sure is to copy a file from the device to a windows folder and then open the file in a tag editor. I expect it will show all tags.

[geebob]

Thanks for the pointers.
@steven, this is only happening with m4a files. Once i converted them to mp3, they worked perfectly. For the record, I first tried converting m4a to FLAC (not sure if that's a compatible one), the FLAC files also had similar issues as m4a.

I will try with the patch and see if m4a continues to be an issue.

[psychoadept]

Thanks for the pointers.
@steven, this is only happening with m4a files. Once i converted them to mp3, they worked perfectly. For the record, I first tried converting m4a to FLAC (not sure if that's a compatible one), the FLAC files also had similar issues as m4a.

What happens with different file formats depends on the software receiving the files as well as what MusicBee does. I recently tried an experiment with m4a files and gave up on them because MusicBee is the only software that handles them at all well. Since m4a is proprietary apple format, it's pretty clunky with Windows/Android systems. It doesn't handle multiple values well at all, among other things. So I suspect it's the Android app that's at fault, more than musicbee.

[geebob]

Okay, if you say so.
I don't remember having this issue before, so... I don't know.

Thanks for the replies!

[geebob]

The first thing to try is patching to 3.3. See my sig.

I have the windows app, how do I patch it up?

[phred]

The first thing to try is patching to 3.3. See my sig.

I have the windows app, how do I patch it up?

If you're referring to the Windows Store version, you can't. One of the disadvantages of that version is that it can't be patched. Also installable (from the Store) updates to it lag way behind the true installable and portable versions. It might be worth downloading and installing the portable version and then uninstalling the Store version.