I have a 60GB 4G iPod that is almost full.

I have been having a the dreaded iPod problem where it will not play any tracks; it just simply skips through the songs and won't play anything. I have found out this is because of the iTunes software trying to do something with gapless playback that does nothing but screw things up. Basically if I have iTunes open for more that a few minutes with my iPod connected to the computer it will screw it up to where I get the playback issues. I hate iTunes.

The only way to fix this problem I have found is to have have Anapod Explorer, my standard iPod interface software, run a scan for "mislabeled tracks". It will find errors where the embedded track info is different from the edited tag info I have fixed. It's mainly track errors like the artist's names being Coheed & Cambria and Coheed and Cambria . Stuff like that.

After running "mislabeled tracks" to fix the playback issues I have to go in and hand edit about 30 artist/albums with the correct tag info so that everything show up correctly and stays organized on my iPod.

I have had to do this about 10 times in the last month because of playback problems.

I would like to be able to permanently change the embedded tag info on these mislabeled tracks so that I will not have to go back and edit the info every time my iPod screws up and I have to fix it. I HATE iTunes but I do have to occasionally use it when convert mp3 audiobooks to a book markable format.

I would like to do this while the tracks are still on the iPod, but I realize that's probably not possible. Ananpod will allow me to move track on and off of the iPod, so I could move the tracks off, fix the tags, and then put them back on the iPod.

So, what (preferably free) software could I use to permanently edit the embedded tag info?

Thanks in advance.

Did I mention how much I hate iTunes?

It might be possible with everything on the iPod, but it's going to be a lot harder/slower. I think moving everything off, resetting the iPod, clearing the iTunes library, fixing all your tags, and then re-adding everything will be a better long-term solution.

Have you looked at a utility like mp3tag?

<--- likes the Rockbox

I would prefer not to move everything thing off because I have 55 GB of files on the iPod, 8200+ artists and about 280 albums. Removing everything, fixing it, and putting it back on would take forever. Pls there are only about 40 artisits/albums that need to be fixed.

I do use dbPoweramp Music Convertor. Will its tag editor change the tag info for good?