Ok, I just noticed something weird when extracting a CD. I'm using PlexTools Pro XL w/ external encoder selected for FLAC since they haven't updated their FLAC engine for some time...

My current FLAC version is 1.2.1. The external encoder's path is C:\Program Files\FLAC\flac.exe, which is the common default. This is definitely version 1.2.1, and I've checked it several times.

However, the metadata in the FLAC file says version 1.1.2 and is dated 2005. You can see this by opening a FLAC file with a text editor, or by viewing audio details in dBPowerAmp.

For some reason, the file is getting labeled as 1.1.2 instead of 1.2.1, but I just don't understand it. I've uninstalled/reinstalled FLAC just in case there was any old version stuck in there somehow, but it didn't fix the problem. Moreover, I was ripping some CDs a few weeks ago and everything was fine. And I don't think anything on my system has changed between now and then.

This really bugs me, as I do like to keep tabs on which files I've encoded with which version for future reference.

I really don't see how the fault could be in PlexTools, as it's just using the FLAC Frontend to encode, and I can even see the Frontend's window pop up after each track is extracted (it's definitely version 1.2.1).

Like I said, I extracted some CDs not too long ago using the exact same method and they reported as the correct version. So I'm just really confused.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

FLAC Frontend uses Tag 2.0.39, which rewrites the vendor string on any tag update.

This was fixed in my version 2.0.51. You could replace the version of Tag that you have with my latest build.

Edit: Here's a thread on the subject.

Edit: Hmm... on re-reading your thread I may have the wrong end of the stick when you say "FLAC Frontend". My response above may be relevant, but I'm doubting it right now.

Actually, you helped me figure this out.

The internal tagging engine from PlexTools is the culprit here, as it re-writes everything as 1.1.2 since that's the built-in version on the program. The reason I never had this problem before is because I wasn't adding any tags to those files.

So I've come up with a couple workarounds for this. When selecting an external encoder in PlexTools you can select "Tag info is included in the command line arguments" and add your own tagging commands there. This works ok, but I'm starting to think it might be easier to just extract the tracks with no tags and add them later with an auto-tagging program.

As much as I've been using tagging programs recently, I never really thought of using them for making tags from scratch. But it seems like a really efficient method!

So thanks for the response, it really was helpful.