Newly Added Files Unplayable After Editing Tags

[cooperbh]

Files that were added to my music library prior to mid-June still play just fine and can be edited or re-edited without consequence. If, however, I edit metadata, album art and/or replay gain tags of files that have been added in the last few days, I receive the following error message when attempting playback...

"Unable to play this file - it has an unsupported format or is corrupted."


I get the same results/error messages when attempting playback in WMP or Groove.


It appears that instead of altering data values when editing tags, Musicbee is now just deleting them altogether, as can be seen in the following screens...


The first track of this album has been edited and will not play. Note the missing info (track#, title, artist, album.)



Properties/Details tab for an unaltered track.



Same tab for altered track. All values missing.



Any help resolving this issue would be greatly appreciated.

[frankz]

First thing I'd do is run a chkdsk on my drive. Sounds like corruption when the files are being overwritten with the new tags.

[cooperbh]

First thing I'd do is run a chkdsk on my drive. Sounds like corruption when the files are being overwritten with the new tags.

Thanks for the reply. Ran the chkdsk and no errors were found on the HDD.

[frankz]

Wait - are these WAV files?  The bitrate looks like WAV files.  What is the format of the files?

[cooperbh]

Wait - are these WAV files?  The bitrate looks like WAV files.  What is the format of the files?

Yes, they are WAV, ripped from CDs.

[phred]

Instead of ripping to WAV use FLAC. If I recall corectly, WAV files cause lots of problems with tags. (I may be wrong on this, but there's definitely something in my brain about not using WAV for a reason.)

If lossless is what you're looking for, use FLAC.

[sveakul]

phred your memory matches mine in that MusicBee cannot tag *.wav files and trying to do so may mess up what may have been there in the first place.  AFAIK they can hold some kind of "chunk data" at the beginning or end of the file but most players have problems reading it.  "RIFF data" or something like that.

[cooperbh]

Instead of ripping to WAV use FLAC. If I recall corectly, WAV files cause lots of problems with tags. (I may be wrong on this, but there's definitely something in my brain about not using WAV for a reason.)

If lossless is what you're looking for, use FLAC.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll keep it in mind if this issue doesn't get sorted otherwise. I've always liked the idea of smaller file sizes, but was under the impression that Windows and FLAC don't play well together and thus have never pursued it further.

That said, I currently have over 10K WAV files in my library that have had replay gain, album art embeds and metadata tag edits applied and still play flawlessly. The last batch of CDs I ripped and edited without incident occurred about a week before 3.3.7115, so I have to think this latest patch is at least a factor.

[frankz]

Found this recent entry:
https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=28490.msg158171#msg158171

Seems like something is funky.  Don't know if it's an MB change or a Windows change or "just one of those things."

Take what I'm about to say with caution if you're on this version of Windows 10 and see if you're having the problem on a few tiles before going wild and converting everything.  It was supposedly fixed 6+ months ago, but who knows how pervasive the fix is VS how pervasive the problem was?

IMO FLAC is the way to go.  You, literally, lose nothing and gain better tagging and a bunch of space.  And, you can have your bit-for-bit wav back any time you want just by converting it back.  

People get weird about FLAC - I did too at first - because it's hard to believe you can gain so much space and lose nothing in the process.  But it's true.  It's like putting your data into a ZIP file, except the ZIP container in this case (FLAC) is functional and you can read the data without first extracting it back.  You can go WAV->FLAC->WAV->FLAC->WAV infinite times and always wind up with exactly the data you started with.

[cooperbh]

Found this recent entry:
https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=28490.msg158171#msg158171

Seems like something is funky.  Don't know if it's an MB change or a Windows change or "just one of those things."

Take what I'm about to say with caution if you're on this version of Windows 10 and see if you're having the problem on a few tiles before going wild and converting everything.  It was supposedly fixed 6+ months ago, but who knows how pervasive the fix is VS how pervasive the problem was?

IMO FLAC is the way to go.  You, literally, lose nothing and gain better tagging and a bunch of space.  And, you can have your bit-for-bit wav back any time you want just by converting it back.  

People get weird about FLAC - I did too at first - because it's hard to believe you can gain so much space and lose nothing in the process.  But it's true.  It's like putting your data into a ZIP file, except the ZIP container in this case (FLAC) is functional and you can read the data without first extracting it back.  You can go WAV->FLAC->WAV->FLAC->WAV infinite times and always wind up with exactly the data you started with.

No weirdness with the format at all. Only issue is with the extra time it would take to convert to FLAC after ripping. Especially considering that I already convert all my rips to MP3 for use with mobile devices/speakers. But I'll do what I gotta do.

Hopefully, there's a fix that allows me to use Musicbee the way I always have.



Edit: I just discovered that FLAC is indeed a format option when ripping CDs in WMP. Now that I know better, this appears to be the solution to my problem as there are no issues playing the ripped FLAC files after tag editing in MB. And as I said before, the 10K WAV files added before mid-June still play perfectly, so no need to convert them. At least for now, anyway. 🤞

Much thanks for yours and everyone's help.

[psychoadept]

The trouble with WAV is there is no tag standard for WAV, it's borrowed from mp3 and applied differently by different systems. You can read up on MusicBee and WAV here: https://musicbee.fandom.com/wiki/Tagging#Tag_Standards

Glad FLAC is working for you now.

[sveakul]

Only issue is with the extra time it would take to convert to FLAC after ripping.
Hopefully, there's a fix that allows me to use Musicbee the way I always have.

Edit: I just discovered that FLAC is indeed a format option when ripping CDs in WMP.

You do know that you can rip CDs directly to FLAC using MusicBee, not just WMP, right??

[cooperbh]

The trouble with WAV is there is no tag standard for WAV, it's borrowed from mp3 and applied differently by different systems. You can read up on MusicBee and WAV here: https://musicbee.fandom.com/wiki/Tagging#Tag_Standards

Glad FLAC is working for you now.

Thanks for the info. Looks like I'm a FLAC convert, even if most of my library won't be.

[cooperbh]

Only issue is with the extra time it would take to convert to FLAC after ripping.
Hopefully, there's a fix that allows me to use Musicbee the way I always have.

Edit: I just discovered that FLAC is indeed a format option when ripping CDs in WMP.

You do know that you can rip CDs directly to FLAC using MusicBee, not just WMP, right??

Unlike other players, I get no indication at all that Musicbee is ever aware of when there is a CD in the drive. Could it be because my drive is external? Do I need to add a tab or something?

[Steven]

Tagging WAV files is supported by MB but its not well supported with other players.

@cooperbh, could you send me a link to a zip of a wav file (before you edit it)?
Also what MB version are you using?