how to restore Tags only and leave untouched the rest of the library and UI

[Joe King]

I am new to MusicBee and have been setting up the library. Changing the tags of a particular album's tracks yesterday, it seems i somehow changed those tags (album and artist) for all 10k+ tracks in my library. I did generate a MusicBee Library backup the day before. How can i restore my library's Artist and Album tags without changing the Library UI--the panel configuration, field configurations, customizations, etc.? I include a screenshot of the backup files that were generated.


https://i.imgur.com/yaUX3Jg.jpeg

[phred]

Tags are embedded in each track's file. They are not in MB's database. So unless you have backups of your music files from before you changed all the tags, you are probably out of luck.

There's a very slight chance I'm missing something and if so, a fellow user will correct me.

[boroda]

i think restoring .mbl file will do the trick, but i'm not sure that no settings will be affected. backup existing .mbl file (to new backup location) first.

EDIT:

@phred, you are wrong all tags are stored in MB database (at least for caching), and some tags are stored in MB database only.

EDIT 2:

@Joe King, if you succeed, then you will have to re-write tags in tracks by database tags (select all tracks (ctrl+A), tools> advanced> synchonise tags).

[phred]

@phred, you are wrong all tags are stored in MB database (at least for caching),

Interesting. I never knew that tags were cached. Where is the cache located?

and some tags are stored in MB database only.

Typically custom tags which are assigned to "standard" tag. I'm assuming since the OP is a new user, they haven't created any custom tags yet.

So let's wait and see what the OP is able to accomplish.

EDIT: Typo

[sveakul]

@phred, you are wrong all tags are stored in MB database (at least for caching),

Interesting. I never knew that tags were cached. Where is the cache located.

phred the regular embedded tags are cached inside the *.mbl file itself, like the custom tags.  For example, if you open MusicBeeLibrary.mbl in a text editor, you'll see that a song file entry looks like this, where despite the binary you can see the album name, date, and other ID3 metadata:

E:\New Mx\Letters To Cleo - Dangerous Type.mp3âJ_ D¬   ã \ ‘ÖakÕH
Ú–{¿³ÖH   F:\Zstorage\folder.jpgÿADangerous Type Letters To CleoWhen Did We Do That?X2008;Rock
27Lame3.97­engW12IDot Rat RecordsV
7 
ÿ
^|èZòÌÕH

The situation resembles the case with lyrics, which even when embedded are cached externally in the file "MusicBeeLibrary.lyrics."

[phred]

The situation resembles the case with lyrics, which even when embedded are cached externally in the file "MusicBeeLibrary.lyrics."

Thanks sveakul for further expanding on the explanation.

I stand corrected.

[Zak]

But if the tags in the music files themselves are now wrong, what use is having the previous values saved in MusicBee's database?
How do you use that to save the correct values back in the files? 

[tjinc]

But if the tags in the music files themselves are now wrong, what use is having the previous values saved in MusicBee's database?
How do you use that to save the correct values back in the files?  

EDIT 2:

@Joe King, if you succeed, then you will have to re-write tags in tracks by database tags (select all tracks (ctrl+A), tools> advanced> synchonise tags).

This function forces the data stored in fields in the MusicBee database to be written to the files (where applicable).

[sveakul]

EDIT 2:
@Joe King, if you succeed, then you will have to re-write tags in tracks by database tags (select all tracks (ctrl+A), tools> advanced> synchonise tags).

This function forces the data stored in fields in the MusicBee database to be written to the files (where applicable).

That's cool, like a "reverse re-scan."  Was completely new to me!

[Mayibongwe]

That's cool, like a "reverse re-scan."  Was completely new to me!

That's what I'm saying to myself here as I read this!
Thanks tjinc and boroda, and to Zak for asking the technical question to begin with.

Edit:
Definitely a worthy candidate for the MB's Hidden Features thread

[The Incredible Boom Boom]

That's what I'm saying to myself here as I read this!
Thanks tjinc and boroda, and to Zak for asking the technical question to begin with.

Edit:
Definitely a worthy candidate for the MB's Hidden Features thread

I knew file tags were ached in the MBL, but I didn't know the function of Synchronise Tags... Always learning something new with @Steven's amazing software.
I wonder now... can Synchronise Tags work for selected files and if not, how much of a task would it be to add the ability to scope the task to selected files? 🤔

[boroda]

yes, "sync tags" works for selected tracks only.