Author Topic: Need help with ID tags  (Read 1490 times)

musicmafia

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 35
Not very tech savvy newb here. Recently switched from Winamp to MB to manage my massive music collection, which is mostly FLAC and some mp3 files.

Since switching to MB, I've noticed a lot more files are showing up with no tags. I know zilch about tag "versions" but is there a preferred setting or anything I can do that will help read more files?

That brings me to my second question. I also see that MB is capable of auto-tagging from online sources. I saw 4 sources listed somewhere on the MB site but  when I go to preferences, the only option I see is Musicbrainz. How do I get more options?

The only option I could find in the forum was to add Discogs, so I followed instructions and unpacked the zip file mb_discogs.dll into the MB main program folder and it's not working. Was it supposed to go into a subfolder?

Thanks, MM
Last Edit: January 13, 2022, 05:20:27 AM by musicmafia

sveakul

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 2438
..so I followed instructions and unpacked the zip file mb_discogs.dll into the MB main program folder and it's not working.
Instructions from the plugin's page:

    Unzip into the Plugins folder where MusicBee is installed
    When MusicBee is started, the plugin will open a discogs authorisation page in your default web browser - you need to have created a discogs account beforehand
    Authorise MusicBee and copy the PIN number that is displayed and paste into the dialog window that MusicBee is displaying, and then hit Proceed
    The plugin should automatically be added to the Tag providers in the Tags(2) preferences page but you may want to change the priority settings

The Incredible Boom Boom

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1269
Not very tech savvy newb here. Recently switched from Winamp to MB to manage my massive music collection, which is mostly FLAC and some mp3 files.

Since switching to MB, I've noticed a lot more files are showing up with no tags. I know zilch about tag "versions" but is there a preferred setting or anything I can do that will help read more files?

If you have tags missing that were present in Winamp, it means they're not mapped over to MB or (most likely) you are using tags that don't play nice with the modern "standard" the major music software developers have loosely adopted. There's not really an easy way to go about reworking them without getting your hands dirty. To start off, I would drag my files into MP3TAG and make sure they're all adhering to one tag standard, depending on their format. All FLAC files should use VORBIS tags - or ID3 if, for some odd reason, you prefer that - and all MP3 files being wholly consistent in whichever ID3 standard you adopt. From there comes the process of figuring out which tags are missing, how they are tagged in your files and then mapping them to MB.

musicmafia

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 35
..so I followed instructions and unpacked the zip file mb_discogs.dll into the MB main program folder and it's not working.
Instructions from the plugin's page:

    Unzip into the Plugins folder where MusicBee is installed
    When MusicBee is started, the plugin will open a discogs authorisation page in your default web browser - you need to have created a discogs account beforehand
    Authorise MusicBee and copy the PIN number that is displayed and paste into the dialog window that MusicBee is displaying, and then hit Proceed
    The plugin should automatically be added to the Tag providers in the Tags(2) preferences page but you may want to change the priority settings

THANKS! Once I put in the plug-in folder (duh!) and followed your instructions, I can see the discogs option in my preferences.

When I use the auto-tag feature, will it automatically search via both methods or do I need to manually choose an option to search via #2 if I don't see the results I am looking for? Which one offers the best results? Thanks again!

musicmafia

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 35
Not very tech savvy newb here. Recently switched from Winamp to MB to manage my massive music collection, which is mostly FLAC and some mp3 files.

Since switching to MB, I've noticed a lot more files are showing up with no tags. I know zilch about tag "versions" but is there a preferred setting or anything I can do that will help read more files?

If you have tags missing that were present in Winamp, it means they're not mapped over to MB or (most likely) you are using tags that don't play nice with the modern "standard" the major music software developers have loosely adopted. There's not really an easy way to go about reworking them without getting your hands dirty. To start off, I would drag my files into MP3TAG and make sure they're all adhering to one tag standard, depending on their format. All FLAC files should use VORBIS tags - or ID3 if, for some odd reason, you prefer that - and all MP3 files being wholly consistent in whichever ID3 standard you adopt. From there comes the process of figuring out which tags are missing, how they are tagged in your files and then mapping them to MB.

Thanks! BTW I have over 140,000 music files, so this is definitely something I want to learn more about and I want to make sure if I change anything, I'm doing it right the first time. I'm trying to understand what you are saying. So my goal should be to somehow find out the version of tags on all my files and somehow convert them all to one version?

I do have MP3TAG and have used it lightly to add song titles but don't really know how to use it proficiently. I have seen some of the tags display as ID3v1 or ID3v2.3, so I assume those are the types or versions you are referring to?

Given the size of my collection (a mix of FLAC and mp3) is there some type of tutorial you might recommend so I can do this right and not screw up anything?

Thanks again!
Last Edit: January 13, 2022, 08:08:32 PM by musicmafia

The Incredible Boom Boom

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1269
I would strongly suggest cleaning up your tags before adding more via any plugins.
I also assume you have a backup handy in cases things get messy? That would be the first priority if not.

Thanks! BTW I have over 140,000 music files, so this is definitely something I want to learn more about and I want to make sure if I change anything, I'm doing it right the first time. I'm trying to understand what you are saying. So my goal should be to somehow find out the version of tags on all my files and somehow convert them all to one version?

Yup, that's correct.
These are my MP3TAG tag options.
The first one is less important to you if your tracks only consist of FLAC and MP3 files.
The second picture is important for MP3 files. By no means are my preferred options "standard," but, in my opinion, these function as very good set and forget settings.





There are no options for FLAC files, because they use VORBIS tags. However, it is possible to write ID3 tags to them, which is where the cleanup process begins.
I'm actually doing this right now. Fortunately, with MP3TAG, it's very simple.
You'll want to load the files into the window, press F3 to bring up the Filter bar, and input...
Code
%_tag% HAS "flac id3"

...and wait for the filtering process to finish or press Enter to start it. In a few seconds, if any of your FLAC files have ID3 tags, they will appear.
There, I confirm by clicking on a few files and pressing ALT + T to display the Extended Tabs panel, where the title bar displays the file format and type of tags present. You want to see "FLAC (FLAC)" there. To replace the ID3 tags, select all the filtered files, right-click and click "Copy tags" (or press CTRL + C), then right-click again and press "Remove tags" (or CTRL + R). Once that process is finished, right-click and click "Paste tags" (or CTRL + P) and MP3TAG will add your tags back, but without the ID3 ones present.

I haven't done this with MP3 files, but I'm assuming it works similarly, but you should test and confirm to be sure. I'm replacing any and all MP3 files I've ripped or downloaded with FLAC files anyway, so their tag status hasn't much mattered to me.

After you've cleaned up the tags, then you can determine which ones you consistently saw in Winamp that are missing from MusicBee.
Last Edit: January 14, 2022, 01:13:45 PM by The Incredible Boom Boom

sveakul

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 2438
@Boom Boom:  just curious to know why you decided to use ID3 tags on FLAC files when there already is a well-defined native format for these?  Do you have devices that aren't compatible with Vorbis metadata?

The Incredible Boom Boom

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1269
@Boom Boom:  just curious to know why you decided to use ID3 tags on FLAC files when there already is a well-defined native format for these?  Do you have devices that aren't compatible with Vorbis metadata?

I'm not actually sure how ID3 tags got into most of my FLAC files.
I've been collecting music for almost two decades now, but I wasn't as interested in maintaining clean tags when I first started out as before.
I might have been thinking that it would be much less work to use the ID3 tags, than convert them to their VORBIS equivalents. Can't be sure.