I have recently begun archiving my entire CD collection using EAC v0.95pb3 & MAC.exe from Monkey's 3.97 release. From what I understand, wapet is required for APE tags if EAC is used, but I have chosen to instead add ID3v1.1 tags. The reason being is that the only other format I would use would be MP3, and I enjoy the ease of having those ID3 tags automatically transfered over to my mp3's when using MA's GUI. Why MP3? Abundant hardware support, and nothing more. MPC is just fantastic (gapless encoding alone caused me to raise a brow a few months ago), and I wouldn't have even discovered it if it wasn't for this excellent site. Better late than never...

I have noted on a few threads over at MA's site that make references to ID3 tagging as a bad choice for .APE files. I honestly can't remember which forum I was browsing, when I came across a few posts insinuating that ID3 tags have the potential of damaging .APE files or even reduce sound quality. Reduce sound quality?? Ofcourse, the posters gave no explaination as to just how this is possible, so I couldn't help but to feel suspicious of their claims. So I have finally decided to ask the audiophile's here:

What are the real cons of adding ID3 v1.1 tags to .APE files through EAC (besides a 30 character limit)?

Thanks for your time.

MPC is not APE. I assumed there was some confusion, because the issue has nothing to do with MPC but Monkey's Audio Monkey's Audio files have .APE extension.

Monkey's Audio (the latest alpha version) and MPC uses APEv2 tags. Previous versions of Monkey's Audio used APE tags. Thus they are intended to be tagged with APE(v2) tags. If you use ID3 tags, then the decoder/decoder plug-in might encounter problems. Because either it would assume files with no ID3 tags or their ID3 tag support would not be as good as the native APE tags. Thus you may be forced to use a different decoder which have worse quality. But I think all decoders and plug-ins should support ID3.

I can't compare the tagging systems to you, but I'd assume APEv2 tags should technically be much better a design than ID3 (otherwise Frank Klemm wouldn't be using it). And SV8 of MPC is supposed to have a different tagging system, which might be adopted by Monkey's Audio maybe. But if you like these codecs (like I do and as you mention you do), I think it's a better idea to stick to their tagging conventions. I do so because I want to have strict MPC SV7 files with native tags.

You can use Case's Tag to remove your ID3 tags. And Monkey's Audio frontend should place APE tags for you.So when you have the ID3 tags, retag them with APE (APEv2 preferably with the latest Monkey's Audio version) and then remove the ID3 tag if necessary.

Yes, I understand that. I was just mentioning MPC as my favorite lossy format. If it had enough hardware support, I wouldn't even think about MP3.

Thanks for info. I'm currently using MA's winamp plug-in, but your mention of possible decoder problems is probably enough to change the way I think about ID3 for .ape files. Another question I'd like to ask is:

Do you think the latest alpha release of MA is stable enough to archive my collection, or should I wait for a beta?

Hmm you mention about hardware support and then use lossless? You can use a high quality MPC setting and then transcode if you wish. It would be almost perfect.

I don't think the difference in file size of the latest Monkey's Audio alpha is worth it. It was discussed here. And if you'll use lossless the more relevant question is: "Which format?". Because the filesizes are around the same, and therefore it boils down to decoding speed and platform support in which LPAC was ahead. But I guess MAC is easier to use and I'd probably have used MAC too because of MPC affiliation and APE tags. Just read the past articles and make a decision

just a suggestion, if you'll be transcoding or burning discs, use FLAC, it's faster decompressing, about 2X in my system compared to Monkey's Fast Mode.

Hey, can't a guy have both? To be honest, the primary reason I use MA is so that I don't have to touch my originals when the next best lossy format/revision hits. I stick with Normal compression for my .ape files as it was recommended to me prior to my archiving. I've come across many posts here at this site that insinuate the process of transcoding from one lossy format to the next is not a very good idea. A decision on which lossy format to use isn't really a problem for me...MPC for PC, and MP3 for portablility/versatility.

This reminded me of Polygamy Porter

Of course storing in lossless is perfect. If you have space to waste away go for it

I disagree - I think this is a choice of encoder and alotment of resources (HD space). I have some CDs that I've backed up in lossless format because I will never see them again and I choose lossless so that I can always transcode into the codec-de-jour.
As well it is a hell of a lot easier to transcode when the files are sitting on your HD you can script them into producing mp3 with Lame vx.xx, instead of loading all your CDs into the CD-ROM for yet another ripping session.

I agree that they take up a lot more space than an mp3, or mpc rip of a CD but I would not consider that a waste of space.

Sure you can: FLAC

Josh