I'm having a problem with ID3 tags that someone may be able to help me with.

I rip CD's with EAC, which generates the tags for me. I then make FLAC's from the wav files for backup, using FlacFrontEnd to add the tags. Finally I use Foobar2000 (0.83) to touch up the tags in both sets of files - I havn't been able to get the auto-tagging in EAC & Flac to work exactly as I want it, particularly withg Various Artists albums. I'm only using the standard tags, nothing fancy.

I have always assumed I was generating ID3V2 tags in all three packages, as the artist and album names are often >30 chars, and I use a 5 char track number (ie 03/12) which aren't supported by ID3V1. But I have noticed the tags on the mp3 files were not being displayed correctly in Winamp, nor Windows Media Player. These players indiacte I only have ID3V1 tags. The flac files all seem fine. DAMN!

If this is the case, how does Foobar continue to show the tags in all thier glory, and does anyone know how to convert these correctly into ID3V2tags? The utilities I use show the ID3V1 tags truncatred to 30 characters, as I would have expected them to be, so I can't use them to do the conversion.

Thanks.

Obvious question: do you have foo_id3v2 installed, and if so, is ID3v2 selected under "Preferences->Input->Standard Inputs"? Once that is done, you should be able to just right-click the tracks in Foobar2000 and select "Database->Rewrite file tags from database" (since they are displayed correctly in fb2k).

Foobar2000 stores metadata in its database, and/or (I'm not sure on this) in the playlist files themselves, so that is how you can see the full tags even if only ID3v1 tags are being written.

It would be nice to know in detail exactly how you're creating the .wav, .flac, and .mp3 files to really get to know what's happening.

I think foobar2000 0.8.3 writes APEv2 and ID3v1 tags to MP3 files, and native FLAC comments to .flac files.

FLAC files can have ID3 tags, but this is discouraged in favour of native comments.

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....ndpost&p=324956

You Beauty!

There is an entry called ID3v2 Tag Support Under Preferences -> Components, but ID3v2 is not selected under "Preferences->Input->Standard Inputs". I'm pretty knew to Foobar and thought I had gone through most preference options, but its difficult to appretiate what many of the options do without some research.

Anyway, after some initial tests, your sugestion seems to work perfectly, meaning I haven't waisted the hours/days/weeks(?) of time invested in ensuring the tags for all my CD's are correct. So THANK YOU, gfngfgf, you are a life saver, or at least a sanity saver.

Until I have created all the ID3v2 tags, I'm a little hesitant to stuff arround with the database when I don't know what I'm doing. so I have 2 further questions, if its not pushing the friendship.

1. what is the easiest way to batch the process of re-writing the tags from the database? Is there an easy way to get all my mp3 files (lots) or at least a good chunk of them displayed in a playlist?

2. When I drag a bunch of files into a playlist, it shows all the details of the files correctly, but when I look in Preferences -> Database, it is restricted to a few directories that no longer exist. And when I use the Album List to put some files into a playlist, it shows old, invalid tag info, even though the correct info is shown when I drop the files themselves into the playlist. I tend to create/edit the tags in a temporary directory and when all the work is done, I copy them into my main music directory structure, which also gets moved around and modified periodically. So whilst I'm not complaining, I'm a bit confused how foobar's database has managed to keep track of all the files. Now, can I get Foobar to re-scan my files, without stuffing up the existing entries that contain all my valuable tagging? Or shoud I leave well alone until I have created the ID3v2 tags.

Once again, so many thanks.

I think maybe gfngfgf has put his finger on this nail, but here is the process I am following anyway. It would be nice to have some comments from someone who knows what he is doing - this is the approach I have stumbled into through trial, error and knowing no better.

I have configured EAC to rip to a temporary directory and I've customised the Filename settings under EAC Options to match the convention I use (different options for Various Artist CD's). I have also adjusted the ID3 Tag settings under Compression Options to write an ID3v2 V3.0 tag with a 4KB padding, using a file layout string that corresponds with my naming coinvention. I use lame.exe to compress the files (%l--alt-preset 128%l%h--alt-preset standard%h %s %d) and keep the .wav files it generates, so I can drag them into FLACfrontend 1.7.1 (with a customised tag configuration) to generate the .flac files.

Once that is all done, I drag both the mp3's and flac's into foobar (0.83) to touch up the tags. The mp3's tags are usually spot on (or at least I thought they were!), except for a comment tag that contains "Track n", whcih I remove. I have to do a bit more work on the flac tags, mainly to add /nn to the track numbers and to split the artist from the song title on Various Artist CD's which I have quite a lot of (would be nice to have a separate tag config for this type of album). Finally the mp3's and flac's get moved to their correct locations and the .wav's get deleted.

Any sugestions or improvements you can sugest would be greatfully appretiated. Also thanks for the info on Flac file tagging. EAC was configured to write APEv2 and ID3v1 tags - I have (hopefully) changed this to ID3v1 and ID3v2.

Cheers, Owl

If all your mp3s are under one folder, it'd be easiest to just drag that folder into foobar2000, select all (ctrl+a) and then right-click and "rewrite tags from database" as I mentioned above.


When you add the files using Album List, can you actually play them, or is Album list perhaps just pointing to invalid file paths? If I'm not mistaken, the database keeps track of files only by file path. The only way I know to move a file to another folder and keep the database up-to-date in foobar2000 is to use the Masstagger component.

As for the last question, I'm not sure what you mean by getting fb2k to re-scan your files. There is the "Remove dead entries from database" button in preferences which would check for invalid paths (which I'm guessing is what's happening when you add files from Album List). Also, I'm pretty sure if you just add all your files to a single playlist, your existing database entries won't be overwritten.

If you're really paranoid, I'd suggest backing up your database.foo file and your playlists directory (in your foobar2000 installation folder, or under "Documents and Settings" on WinXP if you have user profiles enabled) before you start messing around with the database settings.

Thansk for you help and patience, gfngfgf. Much appretiated.

Unfortunately they are in many different folders (1 folder per album, with a range of parent folders). But I noticed that if I drag the parent of the Album List into a playlist, I got all the tracks contained within the album list, which led to my second question.


They are just invalid ferences that won't play. I have moved just about every mp3 file I have, after editing the tags in foobar, and most have also changed drives a few times, as well. But when I drop those files into a playlist, it shows all the tagging information, including album, artist etc with >30 characters. I've double checked a few of them in several applications and they all indicate the files only contain an ID3v1 tag. I even made a copy of some of the files onto another drive and foobar still displays the full tags, beyond the 30 character limit (?).


I wanted to update the album list so it contained my full mp3 collection, without killing any entries in the database (Yes I'm REALLY paranoid - the tagging took a longgggggg time). I could then drop the lot into a single playlist and re-write the tags from the database en-masse, as you sugest. With a backups of the database as reassurance I will use the Scan option to re-build the database, then re-fresh the Album List (I presume this is the correct way to update the album list).

Once again, thanks for all your help. I'll give it a go this evening.
Owl [We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give]