I'll try to be as concise and as clear as possible.

• I have fb2k v0.667
• Using masstagger, I add a new tag (LYRICS) to a MP3 and fill it with the complete lyrics of the song
• I play the file and display the lyrics with tama's plug-in
• I make a copy of the file and add it to my playlist
• I play the copied file and the lyrics do not appear (opening the file with a text editor, I see the lyrics are there: they are simply ignored)

Note that this doesn't happen with all my files: I therefore suspect that something happened when v0.666 was released. In fact, the most recently modified working MP3 is dated 28-may-2003 and my foobar0666.exe is dated 29-may-2003.

Also note that I can reproduce this bug on two different PCs, one with Win2k and one with WinXP.

Alessandro

Do you have APEv2 tags enabled? You say you can see them in the file, in what tag? (ID3v2/Lyrics3v2/APEv2 etc., are you sure it came from foobar?) Does reload file info (on a "non-copied" file) kill the lyrics too? Do you get the same effect on some other custom fields? Sounds like the info is going in the database rather than the file. And the "LYRICS" tag is not displayed in foobar's file info window? (Since you talk of the lyrics plugin.)

Do you have database enabled? (And not write modifed tags to file disabled?) And files are not read-only?

Dunno: where do I check?
Can't say for sure: all I know is that I opened the file with a normal text editor and found the lyrics toward the end of the file, right after Title, Artist and Genre there was Lyrics tags and all the text. And yes, it came from foobar, as I also tried to remove the tag (it was actually removed from the file) and add it back with foobar.
Yes. What does it mean?
I don't have any, and I wouldn't know how to check it: if you suggest me how, I'll be happy to test.
Nope.
"Don't write modified tag to files" is NOT checked.
Nope.

Reloading doesn't affect pre-v0.666 tagged files.

Alessandro

I dont get it, does tha tag show up in foobar's file info or not , or are you only going by whether the plugin displays it ?

How are you loading the files, with .fpl playlists ?? Or are they staying permanently in foobar's playlist ? I.e. does clearing foobar's playlist, (maybe restarting it) and adding a file (with "LYRICS" field) to playlist have missing lyrics field ?

I suggest you get a Hex editor for a start, rather than using a text editor. if its apev2 it will say something like "APETAGX" at the beginning of the tag, I forget what lyrics3v2 is but something like "LYRICSTAG"

If reload file info kills the info too, it suggests its not stored in the file (or foobar isnt reading it). [current playlist is stored on exit (i think) to a .fpl file with all metadata]

Custom field was probably a bad choice of words, try something like this, open the file info box, add a field with a random name (NOT something like artist that can go into other tags), click update, and press reload file info. Does that dissappear ? Same for a "LYRICS" field ?

Apev2 tags: I mean the option under standard inputs in foobar.

Is there any reason you dont have the database enabled? Maybe you should try enabling it..

Does it also happen on a clean install?

I dont know if there were any tagging changes in 0.666 as you describe (there is something about corrupt tags in the changelog), I dont have any problems, maybe some setting changed after 0.666 install ?? Maybe some third party component even ?

Does Tag.exe show the Lyrics info ?? ( www.ca5e.tk ) I think it should display the diff. tags too.

When it shows up in file info, I also correctly see it in the plugin.
I have a permanent single playlist, yes. And completely clearing it and reloading the folder(s) didn't help.
That's it: at the beginning of the tags list I have this string: APETAGEXÐ
I'd say the latter: I can't believe that the tag is removed by simply copying the file.
Right, but it looks like culprit files have no lyrics info in the fpl.
Yes.
Thank you: I have "APEv2 and ID3v1" here and "Remove ID3v2 tags..." is NOT checked.
Er... I simply haven't investigated this option yet... I can of course try it, but I'd rather fix this strange behaviour before...
I'll try this tomorrow if/when I get my hands on a "clean" machine.
It displays the Lyrics info (under the "Comment" tag, but I guess that's normal) only for the working files.

Thank you for your time, I really appreciate your help.

Alessandro

The point of that was to see if it made them dissappear.


Aparrently they're going to thin air ?? (edit: make sure their values weren't blank)

I was thinking, maybe it would fix it..
You just need to unzip it to a new folder.



Im not sure about that, but apparently something wierd is going on. I think testing on a clean install is the way to go first..

If I understood everything correctly, the APEv2 tag is being written by foobar but not read back, correct?

I installed fb2k to a new folder and now everything seems to be working properly: tomorrow I will try and add the other components I was using with the old instance. I'll post back if the problem reappears.

Thank you very much for your support.

Alessandro

[EDIT]You hit the mark!

No problem

If it was a third party component, try to work out which one and post back.

Otherwise glad eveything worked out for you

It looks like there's a problem with foo_id3v2.dll. If I add it to my folder and try the test you suggested (open the file info box, add a field with a random name, click update and press reload file info)... BANG! Same as before. I also tried downloading it again (in case it was corrupt) but made no difference.

This makes more sense to me, as I had the same problem on two different machines: chances that both foobar installations were corrupted the same way were extremely low, IMHO.

Now, if I may take advantage of your expertise, would you mind outlining the benefits (and contraindication, if any) of foobar's database?

Thanks again for yout patience.

Alessandro

PS: should I report this problem (and where)?

Hello, I thought that might be where it was coming from.

Well, I think it will be fixed for 0.7 since it has "improved" tag reading/writing apis, otherwise kode54 (the author of plugin) probably would have said something.. You can test now if you want, both 0.7 beta and new foo_id3v2 links are in forum.. (Hmm it doesnt seem to have writing support now)

If you enable the Database, foobar will not have to re-read metadata from files when you add them to the playlist = speedups, they are stored in the database and read from there. You've probably found "Add Directory" (or adding many files) to be slow right now, that's because it is reading the metadata from each file individually, which is a time consuming process.

The only thing you should be aware about with the database, is that if you externally tag the files (i.e. outside of foobar), foobar will not know (as it will read metadata from database) and so you will have to use reload file info.

If you just keep the same playlist forever, you wont really notice the difference..

Latest foo_id3v2.dll supports reading, writing, and removing. foo_input_std, as of this writing, only supports the reading and removal. In fact, as of this writing, ID3v2 tags will be removed regardless of how you configure removal, as my remover is registered as a tag_remover service. (Plug-in uses tag_remover::g_run(reader*); before writing ape and/or id3v1 tags, which calls all registered tag_remover services.)

foo_input_std will have to be updated to detect and support id3v2 writing.