File tags automatically reverting to original tags - MB Version 3.3.7491 Store

[ParaGnosis]

MusicBee Version: 3.3.7491 Store
OS: Windows 10


Problem

Step 1: Files were added to MusicBee. They show up under Artist & Album Artist as [Unknown].

Step 2: I spend time re-tagging those files with all the correct information. They now show up under the correct Artist & Album Artist. Everything is fine.

Step 3: I continue to use MusicBee and things continue to be fine for an unknown amount of time. I genuinely don't know how long it is, but it's definitely less than a year.

Step 4: I open up MusicBee one day and those files have randomly reverted back to their original (untagged) state.


The first few times this happened I got vaguely annoyed and just retagged the files because I just assumed it was a random issue, but this is the 3rd time it has happened and I'm getting super frustrated!


I believe it's always the same files but I can't be 100% certain on that. I know for certain though that it keeps happening to particular artists, so it's "consistent" in that way.



Below is a screenshot of how the files look in MusicBee and I've got a link to a Spreadsheet with all the file data (using the Additional Tagging Tools plugin).


If you need any more information then let me know but unfortunately I'm not that well versed in MusicBee or the ins and outs of file tagging etc. etc. so please let me know how to get the information and I'll see what I can do.



The link to the spreadsheet with the file data is here


Screenshot of problem files in my MusicBee Library

[psychoadept]

Just to eliminate the obvious, have you checked these files out with the tag inspector?

[phred]

And to add to what psychoadept suggested - have you checked to make sure the files aren't read-only? Although MB should pop up a warning if they were. But since you're using an old version, it's possible the warning was added afterwards.

And before you ask, no, you can't update the Store version until an entirely new release is issued. I'd suggest downloading and installing the Portable version (in a location like c:\MusicBee) and you'll have all the recent updates.

[ParaGnosis]

So, I've just had a look in the tag inspector and all the files that are "officially released by a big record label" (e.g. Prodigy or The Cinematic Orchestra) have tags in the tag inspector.

However, all the other files are released via a free psytrance net-label (Ektoplazm) and they don't have any tags in the tag inspector, but I'm not surprised by this because they're an independent net-label and everything I've downloaded from there in the past has needed tagging.


Not too sure if there's any information I might be able to find in the tag inspector (for the files that are tagged) that might be useful, but let me know if so and I'll see what I can find.



Also MB hasn't said that the files are read-only but I'll try and install the portable version of MB and see if anything changes.

[psychoadept]

So, I've just had a look in the tag inspector and all the files that are "officially released by a big record label" (e.g. Prodigy or The Cinematic Orchestra) have tags in the tag inspector.

If the tags are there, you should just be able to rescan the files and the tags will be updated.

For the ones actually missing tags, can you verify that the tags show up in the tag inspector after you edit them? What file format are they?

[ParaGnosis]

Ok, so I rescanned the files with tags and they returned to normal!
For the other files I tried to edit the information but none of that showed up in the tag inspector, which is weird.

Any ideas?

Ps. The files without tags are .wav files

[hiccup]

Two suggestions if you are interested in getting serious with MusicBee and putting work and effort in maintaining a music library using all it's features and getting expected results:

1.
Avoid having wav and aiff files in your library.
Convert them to flac, and remove the wav and aiff versions.
Wav and aiff are both known to be problematic with regards to metadata (tagging).
Flac is the pretty much the standard for lossless audio and has very good and consistent metadata support.

2.
Remove the Store version, and use MusicBee portable, or the normal installation version.
They get updated much more frequently than the Store version, and it makes it easier to get appropriate support on this forum.

[ParaGnosis]

Thanks for the suggestions Hiccup. I have now uninstalled the store version of MusicBee and am nowusing the normal installation version.

As for converting files to Flac, do you have any suggestions on the best way to do that?


Ps. Thanks for the help so far folks!

[hiccup]

As for converting files to Flac, do you have any suggestions on the best way to do that?

Just leave the conversion settings as default.
While it is possible to make some changes in the File Converter settings for flac conversion, they have no impact on sound quality, nor on tagging support. There is no sensible reason to fiddle around there.

B.t.w., do keep copies of your original wav and aiff files somewhere for a short while.
As soon as you are confident the conversion to flac went fine, and everything is working as expected, then delete them.

[sveakul]

As for converting files to Flac, do you have any suggestions on the best way to do that?

Right click the file(s), choose Send To->Format Converter, set encode as to "FLAC", other options as you choose.  The command line settings for flac.exe can be optionally tuned to your liking in Preferences/File Converters; you may want to go there first to verify that "FLAC enabled" is checked as one of the options or it won't show in Format Converter as a choice (can't recall if that is checked by default or not).

hiccup beat me to it, but posted anyway in case the other stuff above helps.

[ParaGnosis]

Oooooh, I had no idea that MusicBee had the native ability to convert files to Flac, I thought I'd have to use another program or something. Hahaha.


Thanks for all the fantastic information folks!  

I'll let you know if anything goes wrong or I need any more help at all, but for now I'm super happy!

[hiccup]

you may want to go there first to verify that "FLAC enabled" is checked as one of the options or it won't show in Format Converter as a choice (can't recall if that is checked by default or not).

Yes it is. Flac is included, free and and not restricted by authorities or companies that want to make a buck on it and control how people use it.

(that's probably one of the reasons companies such as Apple don't like it or support it)