Hi all,

It seems I'm a newbie again, since I haven't been around for a long while...

I have a bunch of "bad last frame" mp3 files... It seems that you folks recommend mp3trim to fix this. Any know issues with this particular program ? I also saw recommendations for mp3 utility, it seems to detect bad frames like encspot, but doesn't it fix them (I hate to install lots of apps) ?

Reading through topics discussing bad frames and mp3trim, I stumbled upon signs of id3v2 hate. Why is id3v2 such a bad thing ? And what would you recommend over it ?

Thanks for any insight, and sorry about asking so many questions in one go...

I'd just remove all ID3-Tags and add them again using mp3Tag -> http://www.mp3tag.de/en/index.html if the problem still exists use mp3trim. I use it too. It chops off the last (bad) frame, which is absolutely no problem.

Also, I used to use ID3v2 + ID3v1 to tag my files. However, I switched to ID3v2 + APE Tags. Personally, I never had any problems using Id3v2 Tags, but I guess if the program that tags your files sucks there could be a problem. That's why I'd use mp3Tag. Most people here will tell you to use APE Tags. However, APE tag support is very limited. Foobar can read it, but all other programs I tried, including Windows Media Player and iTunes can't read APE Tags. That's why I use ID3v2 in addition to APE-Tags. If APE-Tags will ever become more supported - or at least if iTunes can read it, I'll just get rid of the ID3v2 Tags...you can do all that with mp3Tag

Thanks Jojo for recommending mp3tag. It seems pretty good. Up to now I had been using TagScanner, which was quite decent but a little sketchy at times.

I will follow your advice and retag my bad mp3s. I'll let you know if it works.

Well, it seems that just stripping the tags and rebuilding them doesn't do it.
I have to use mpTrim. But my files are too big, and I have to register. But damn it's so expensive to just sort out a few mp3s ! How can you people use it so commonly without running into "file too big" limitations ?

I've already answered to a similar question in another thread, check this...
I hope it will help you!

Thanks k.eight.a, I've answered in the thread you pointed me to.

Did you download mp3Tag and removed ALL Tags? You probably have to take a look in the options. After you stripped all tags (ID3v1 + ID3v2 + APE), you can tag your file again. How do you know that the last frame is still bad? If you use EncSpot, make sure to rename your file after stripping all tags since it will always cache results and doesn't update it unless the filesize differs significant (which isn't the case if you just strip tags).

How big are your mp3files?

OK, so I did it all :
- removed all the tags (APE tags weren't set to be removed but there weren't any)
- retagged with foobar masstagger
- rescanned with encspot after directory change

Now, Encspot says that only one (the first) track has a bad last frame (indeed, this track has an "abrupt" ending according both to mptrim and to my ears ).
With mptrim, in the Advanced Info box, it says "last frame incomplete : yes".

Which leads me to believe that your solution of stripping tags then retagging properly only apparently solves the problem in Encspot, but still leaves bad last frames...

If I strip the tags again, "bad last frame" reappears on all tracks !!!

So, I need mptrim ! But I have many files above the 10 Mb limit (including a 110 Mb mp3, yes it's a 192 kbps, just happens to be a 74 minute long track : 1 album, 1 track, full to the brim CD !)