I have finally decided to start renaming all the mp3 files scattered across my computer for easier recognition. What tagging formats are the best? there is id3v1 id3v2 and some others too from what i understand. What is the most common format or the best format?

the best tagging format depends on music format (somewhat)

APEv2 tags are best
id3v1 tags are probably most popular
id3v2 tags are of the devil (some like them)

if you are going to use foobar for playback, you can pretty much use APEv2 exclusively on anything... somewhat breaking things for other players, but great if you are a foobar-only type of dude.


later

Why exactly?

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=18879

...some people hate 'em, and some people love 'em - you can make yer own decision...


later

He could make his own decision if all those ID3v2 threads weren't so full of shit^Wunbacked claims.
I wouldn't be surprised if some software and hardware players had problems with them (not because of ID3v2 itself, but rather because of a lack of compatibility), but none of the posters in those threads have posted a comprehensive list of faulty players.
FWIW, both my software (Quod Libet) and hardware (Nomad II MG) players handle ID3v2 tags just fine.
I have also written a partial implementation of ID3v2 myself, and I can't see what makes it so evil. Most of the posters ranting in those threads are mere users who have had bad experiences will faulty players and have drawn the wrong conclusions.

ID3v1 is okay, but has a lot of limitations, ID3v2 removes these. Some software i've used didn't read the id3v2 tags, but i've never found it causing any playback problems.

APE tags are not supported by any DAP, and only a few players on the PC, personally i've never found a need for them.

I tag my mp3's with v1 and v2.

ID3v2 fixes a number of limitations, but the iRiver ifp Flash DAPs choke on them... I've heard some others do too. It all depends on what you will be playing back on...

For example, one problem with ID3v2 is that each version is forwards and backwards incompatible with the other versions. If any, that proves some extremely stupid designing process is going on there.

I'm curious, what does foobar read faster? ID3V1 or ApeV2? Their both written at the end of the file afaik.

I personally use ID3v2 because some filenames are too long for ID3v1. So, I am forced to use ID3v2. Nevertheless, why not use ID3vx tags or any tags?

The Neuros supports APE tags -- well technically it's the Sorune (synch) software that supports APE -- but it does work.

I've once looked at the specifications of ID3v2. Although it seems good in theory, its also a little to complex and i noticed some programs just dont keep to the standard. IMO it wants to be to perfect, and as a result it became a disaster. Its just full off crap. But this is from an engineering point of view . My portable doesnt even read tags, so i dont care really care about them either

I use ID3v1 + APE tags - The ID3v1 is for hardware compatibility, wheras the APE tag is supported by the software I use (Foobar, MP3Tag, and MPEG Audio Collection) and doesn't interfere with software (or hardware) that can't read it.

Also, since all my audio gets Replaygain-ed, it has an APE tag anyway

If any file has ID3v2 information, it gets re-written to ID3v1/APE, and the ID3v2 gets tossed.

I also vote for ID3v1 + APE, for the same reasons as unmake. If I'm not using foobar or some other APE-aware program to play music, I don't care about truncated names. Sure I can't see the full title for some tracks on my DAP, but who cares? The characters limit on its screen is a lower cutoff than the ID3v1 tags.


ID3v2 is not pure evil, but I don't like it at all.
#1 If you do a mass retag it takes forever because the entire file has to be re-written.
#2 I had a bunch of files corrupted, but that was because some stupid software put ID3v2 tags on non-mp3 files. Musepack is *not* happy with ID3v2 tags on it.
#3 On my first hardware player it caused problems.
#4 It's just not an elegant solution to the problem.

If you use ID3v2.3 tags (with padding), your files will work flawlessly in 99% of cases, with full features (no length limits, ability to add custom frames etc, quick updates etc).

There is an HA.org crusade against ID3v2, which confuses me... not because APE tags are worse (they're better, technically), but because if a person is using MP3, they are doing it for compatibility reasons. You should therefore choose a tag format also based on compatibility reasons.

or, conversely:
If you're using APE tags in Foobar, why are you using MP3? Use MPC!

(Id3v2 is ugly from a coder's point of view - i've written parsers myself. This won't affect you though most of the time, as MP3 decoders have supported ID3v2.3 for a long time. Don't use ID3v2.2 or 2.4, and don't use unicode).

#1 Not if you use padding. I recomment 1kb unless you are adding album art.
#2 Don't use stupid software that adds tags to non-mp3s! Would you want APE tags on jpegs? don't blame the tag format!
#3 Most (if not all) current mp3 players and car decks read id3v2 just fine. NONE OF THEM READ APE TAGS!
#4 This is true. ID3 tags are not elegant if you spend a lot of time viewing your files in a hex editor, rather than listening to them.

Since no one yet summed it up really simple:
- id3v1: widely supported and clean - but very limited
- id3v2: widely supported and flexible - but may cause problems sometimes
- apev2: clean and flexible - but badly supported by other players

That it turn leads us to(advantages only):
- id3v1: clean AND widely supported
- id3v2: flexible AND widely supported
- apev2: clean AND flexible

Choose your poison...
- Lyx

APEv2 works fine on my ipod, provided I use foobar w/ foo_pod.

Is iPod natively support APEv2 or foo_pod convert tag format to ID3v2 ?

I have no personal control over what padding gets put on my files. It's up to the software, and few give details about exactly how they implement tagging. By avioding ID3v2 I avoid the problem.

It was cdex, actually, which I still use. But now I just turn off its built-in tagging and use a batch file. It wasn't the fault of the tags that they got stuck on the wrong file. But if ID3v2 had been a better design it wouldn't have distroyed the file. You can put an APE tag on just about anything (including a jpeg!) and the file will survive.

It got me in the habit of avoiding v2. I don't care that my current player will read ID3v2 and won't read APE. Point me to a player with a screen that can display more characters than ID3v1 can hold.

Good comeback. But the point is that ID3v2 has caused me real inconvienience, and in one case data loss. Wheras the worst thing that has ever happened to me with the APE+ID3v1 scheme is not seeing the 'g' at the end of "The Official Ironmen Rally Song". Big f'ing deal.

On #3, IRiver IFP 700 and 800 series flash players will choke (i.e. constantly coming to a literal screeching halt and rebooting) on vbr mp3s with ID3v2 tags on them. The only way around it I have found is to strip off the ID3v2 tags. When I do that my files play fine. These are current players that were released in mid-2004.

The ipod doesn't support any tags at all. It just reads whatever is in its database. Using foobar you can load stuff from the file name or even MP3 encoder settings for all it cares.

#1 Lots of id3v2 tagging software lets you choose padding and/or change the size of the padding. lame's internal tagger does, id3.exe does, tag&rename does, just to name the ones off the top of my head that I have used. Even if they don't, most taggers worth their salt just add some padding anyhow, just in case.

#2 Your files weren't any more destroyed with id3v2 tags on them... you could easily delete the tags with a hex editor in fact. That your jpeg software choaks less with invalid data at the end rather than the beginning is your jpeg software's issue... the file itself is no more "damaged" one way or the other.

#3 My car deck has a scrolling display when titles don't fit entirely on the screen. Also, genres can be customized rather than the id3v1 default values.