HI Guys

Over the years I have kept my Mp3's fairly tidy and just about all have a nice ID3v1 tag.

I am upset with the limitations of ID3v1 - namely in my case the fixed name field is just not long enough to get many song titles in it.

So I am thinking about converting to ID3v2.

What I would like to know is

If you were doing this would you leave the ID3v1 tags in so each file has both ?

Or would you delete the v1 tags ?

Are there any disadvantages to using v2 ?

I use Foobar as my player and sometimes WMP.

I know that it means my files will have new and different file sizes (this has sharing implications)

But are there any other downsides to my going for v2 ?

Regards

Digby
NZ

No, not to my knowledge.

I'd keep the ID3v1 tags for compatibility reasons (some portables might not be able to read ID3v2 tags).

Best regards,
~ Florian

ID3v2 tags are written at the beginning of the file (instead of the end as it is with v1), so every time they are updated, a whole file must be rewritten, so if you retag big files or a lot of them, it may take quite some time. You can workaround this issue by padding though.
If you don't care about compatibility, I'd use APEv2 tags (eventually with ID3v1).

EDIT: slow ID3v2 updating seems to be a no-problem with newest fb2k?

Yes, foobar2000 uses the ID3v2 padding on rewrites so updates are instantly most of the time.

As far as I saw, ppl don't like id3v2 tags because you can cram various stuff in them, including pictures, but if you use them ONLY for tagging mp3s like you used v1 tags, I don't see any problems.
I use v1 AND v2 tags, and I haven't had any problems whatsoever.

H.

I tried. It's not really the case:
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....ndpost&p=364433

if you like tagging mp3's why not use APEv2?

Because few programs besides foobar2000 can read them, really.
I personally use ID3v2 tags, same functionality as APEv2, and lots more programs can read them.

Thanks Guys

Your replies were very helpful.

I think I will follow your advise and go with ID3v1 and ID2v3.

I am not worried about speed, and I will only have basic information in the ID3v3 tags the possibility of having longer title names apeals to me.

I will stay away from APEv2 as they do not appear to be very common yet.

Now I have to work out if ID3v3 over-rides v1 ie which tag do various apps read or give preference to ?

Kind Regards

Digby
NZ

In general, I've found that programs supporting ID3v2 will read an ID3v2 tag if available and ignore the ID3v1 tag.

Digmen1,

why

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