I was reluctant to post this, but I tried almost everything I can think of...

My problem is that about a dozen of my MP3s lose (can't find a better word) some of their properties over time.

For example, all my collection is tagged using ID3v1 and APEv2 and these somehow revert to ID3v2. Another thing, these files have a LYRICS tag (like many others in my collection) but that's missing in the Properties dialog (but I can see them, with a text editor, at the end of the file in the APE section). Lastly, Album names are truncated at 30 characters and Track Gain info disappear.

I already fixed this problem 3 or 4 times in the past (corrected all tracks, rebuilt MP3 stream, closed and reopened Foobar and confirmed they are ok) but after a few weeks/months I'm back to square one.

I have no components that silently update my tags (that I'm aware of, that is) and all files where ripped from CD using EAC and Lame 3.96 -V2.

I understand this is a rather weird problem and I'd appreciate any suggestion to find its cause (short of re-ripping, which I could do of course, but I'd really like to understand what's going on with these files, if possible).

TIA.

Alessandro

This almost sounds like a bad overclock. Are you overclocked? If not, when was the last time you tested your system (specifically, the memory) for stability via something like OCCT or Memtest86+?

foobar2000 does not support Lyrics3 tags.

That sounds a lot like the limitations imposed by ID3v1.

Obviously something does modify and retag your files. If you are unsure whether this is the doing of some foobar2000 component, it might help if you posted the list of component you use (use the Copy button on the Components preferences page). Do you (or some other person who uses the same computer) use other audio software that might alter the files with or without your consent?

No, it doesn't. Overclocking can lead to hardware malfunctions, but it doesn't cause files to be rewritten like that.

Thanks both for taking time to reply.I wasn't clear, sorry: I meant an APEv2 tag containing LyricsNope. I have, for example, installed iTunes to upgrade my iPod firmware, but I only use Foobar (currently v0.9.5.1) both for tagging and listening.

What's puzzling me is the fact that it only happens with those specific files, and I have ~2000 in my library.

Again, thanks for your time.

Regards.

Alessandro

[Edit]I can upload one of those corrupted files if needed...

I haven't investigated it systematically, but I too use ITUNES for transferring data to my ipod. And in some cases (not all strangely enough), when I look at file info within itunes and don't change anything, the tag format is changed. In my case, all my tags are ID3v2.3, UTF-16 (maintained with mp3tag for the most part). Itunes will modify my tags in some cases to be ISO 8859-1 instead of UTF16. Every so often I load up all my files within mp3tag, sort on tag type and resave the files that have been changed so the tag types are correct. At least in my case, the content of the tags (metadata) is not changing.

I'd suspect something happening with your files and ITUNES.

Hi garym and thanks for your assistance.

I understand your point, but if this was the case, why only for some files and not for others? Moreover, I'm almost sure it happened also before iTunes install.

Cheers.

Alessandro

not sure. only happens to some of mine as well. are you positive that ALL your files have exactly the same tags. You should install mp3tag and set it up to show the detail of tag types for each file. Then sort on tag type. I was quite surprised at the variety of different tags I had with some of my files even though I thought they were all identical from using foobar. p.s. the loss of long file names, etc. is a function of using ID3v1 (these tags have I think a 30 character limit).

Well, that's what foobar reports: I have a colums (in CUI) containing %__tagtype% and when I sort clicking on its header ONLY those files are marked as ID3v2 while the rest of my collection is marked as APEv2 | ID3v1.Yes, it's as if the APEv2 tags aren't recognized anymore, but they're apparently there (inspecting one of the tracks with a text editor).

Alessandro

Just to check, in Preferences -> Lyric Shows Panel:
Settings -> When found lyric from directory is not set to "embed to file".
Internet -> Save scheme is not set to "embed to file".

I would assume that it wouldn't change your tag type, but just in case.

Hi Purple Monkey and thanks for you reply.

I don't use that plugin actually, anyway I just checked and When found lyric from directory is set to Do nothing and, under Internet, Download automatically is unchecked and Save scheme is set to Save lyrics to directory.

Regards.

Alessandro

I have noticed this happening to some of my mp3s as well recently. A couple of tracks in an album will lose some id3v2 tags randomly. In particular, they lose ReplayGain info and MusicBrainz tags. Sometimes they will lose the date tag. I don't use iTunes for anything or anything else to listen to music. Here is my list of plugins:

Core (2008-04-19 07:30:22)
foobar2000 core 0.9.5.2
foo_albumlist.dll (2008-04-19 07:29:24)
Album List 4.2
foo_audioscrobbler.dll (2008-01-16 12:26:32)
Audioscrobbler 2.3.1
foo_cdda.dll (2008-04-19 07:29:16)
CD Audio Decoder 2.1.2
foo_comserver2.dll (2006-07-31 12:13:20)
COM Automation server 0.7 alpha 6
foo_converter.dll (2008-04-19 07:29:16)
Converter 1.1.1
foo_dop.dll (2008-03-24 11:08:40)
iPod manager 0.5.7.0 TEST
foo_dsp_std.dll (2008-04-19 07:29:30)
Standard DSP Array 1.0
foo_facets.dll (2008-04-17 11:12:43)
Facets 2008-02-25
foo_input_std.dll (2008-04-19 07:29:52)
Standard Input Array 1.0
foo_rgscan.dll (2008-04-19 07:29:20)
ReplayGain Scanner 2.0.5
foo_ui_std.dll (2008-04-19 07:29:42)
Default User Interface 0.9.5

@Coeus: well, at least now I feel a bit less stupid!

Any further suggestion?

Alessandro

I've had a similar strange occurance recently. I copy mp3's back and forth from home to the office or from home to my flash drive (I delete the copies when I freshen the secondary collection unless I add/update a tag, then I replace). After the last time I copied files here (some duplicated) I noticed a few that have been there have been stripped of all tags, and can't be played (In foobar or wmp). These corrupted files are not the duplicates. Additionally, Safter-Networkings FileAlyzer reconizes a couple of these files as some sort of image with EXIF data including a camera model I had breifly.

The corrupted mp3's were transfered on the same flash drive that would have been used to transfer pictures...any chance the flash drive is going nuts?

I am still noticing this issue, and it seems to be getting worse. At first, it only appeared to happen when I moved tracks from one playlist to another. Then it started occurring whenever I closed and reopened Foobar. Now, when I switch between artists using facets, I get random ReplayGain loss. I am trying to figure out how to make it reproducible to get an exact step by step of what I am doing that might cause the loss...

None of these actions cause the file tags to be reloaded, much less rewritten.

I've lost tags twice during the past week. Although I use other tagging software (mp3tag, BPM analyzer by Mixmeister, audio fingerprinting from last.fm), I'm pretty sure now that foobar or one of its plugins is the culprit. Unfortunately I don't know how it happened either, my tags were just gone on foobar startup.

The last incident cost me over 10 hours of tagging work (everything since my last backup two days earlier), so needless to say I'm not very happy about this.

In my case, all ID3v2 tags for all MP3s in all open playlists were deleted. No ID3v1 tags and no AAC tags were lost. All MP3s that were *not* listed in foobar's playlists were intact. Incidentally, this is why I believe this is a foobar problem. I ran all three other tagging programs on my entire database, which was mostly untouched. Only songs (and all songs) in foobar's playlists were corrupted - I doubt this is a coincidence.

I run foobar 0.9.5.3 beta 2 on Windows XP SP3, default UI only. Plugins: Facets, Quicktagger, ReplayGain, foo_run (all used extensively), plus foo_abx, foo_fileops and foo_utils (installed but not used).

Of the plugins, the main suspect is ReplayGain - because I used it on all my playlists. Quicktagger is also used frequently, but only on one file at a time. Facets is my main search/browsing aid, and foo_run is only used to send files to a separate instance of foobar. (I run a dual foobar setup for DJing. The main one is used for browsing, listening with headphones and building playlists, the other one plays a single playlist through an external USB soundcard for the dancers. They have independent configs, so I doubt this caused the problem. I'll detail my setup in a separate post later if people are interested.)

[EDIT: plugin details added]

Might I suggest running the program Process Monitor (a free tool distributed by Microsoft) to check on any filesystem activity going-on when you experience replaygain loss etc.

To do this without being overloaded by reports off unrelated activities, create a filter by going to "Filter" -> "Filter...", and then choosing 'Path' 'begins with' '<your music directory. eg., E:\Music>' then 'Include' (so it looks something like this). Also, so you don't get output whenever the file is read, create another filter, but this time have it as: 'Operation' 'is' 'WriteFile' then 'Include'. These two filters will ensure that you only recieve reports of programs that write to a file located in your music folder, and, in theory, will show if and what is accessing the files when you change facets etc. Hopefully, this can give some clue as to what's happening.

Excellent idea. I've configured Process Monitor as you suggested. Hope PM will help us get to the bottom of this.

Note to others doing this: 'Path' needs to be 'begins with', not 'is' (as in Hengest's screenshot above).

Question: I'd like events matching the filter logged to a file. I tried specifying a log file using File/Backing files/Use file named, but that seems to log all events, not just filter matches. (At least I suppose so, since the file grew to 40 MB within 3 minutes.) If I log events to the Pagefile instead (as per default), will it remember filtered events after a few days and system restarts? Or do I need some other software to do this?

Goto "Filter" -> "Drop filtered events". This will ensure that only events matching the filter conditons are remembered.


Fixed

Only Quick Tagger and the Replay Gain Scanner modify tags, and only if you explicitly invoke the relevant command, i.e. they do not automatically rewrite tags in response to some (playback) event. Both use the standard tagging routines provided by foobar2000 to get their job done. If that would cause problems, you should also experience them when using the properties window in foobar2000.

foo_run does not write to tags, however the programs it invokes may very well do that.

Facets does not write to tags at all as far as I know.

I have some updates on this. I am continuing to see my tags disappearing intermittently. I have been trying to run ProcMonitor as Hengest suggested. However, it is hard to run the program 24/7 without my memory being eaten up. I have tried to replicate the problem while running ProcMonitor, but nothing has come up. I do have a video now to show you exactly what I am seeing. I have uploaded it to youtube.

Here is exactly what is going on in the video:

• This is a freshly opened instance of Foobar. I opened the program and then began the screen capture.
• I select all of the songs to show that they all have ReplayGain information. Also note the date for each track as this gets affected too.
• I play the first track. Notice I lose ReplayGain, Total Tracks, and the Date gets truncated.
• I play a few more tracks to show that each time I play a track, it loses information.
• I then go into the properties of one of the tracks with lost information. It doesn't show any ReplayGain info or any of the other tags that I lost.
• I then go into a track that I haven't played yet. It has all of my tags and ReplayGain information. Also note that all of my MusicBrainz tags get lost as well.

Playing a track will reload its metadata: I don't believe that has anything to do with your tags changing. You should have a similar effect with the Reload info command in the shortcut menu.

Have you checked WMP is not set to background update tags for files in its library?

That's what I figured might be happening, just wanted to be sure. I don't use WMP. The only other software that touched my mp3s is the Zune software. However, I have it setup to not update any meta data. I have also used Process Monitor while syncing and updating the library in the Zune software and nothing comes up. I guess I will just keep using Process Monitor as much as possible to hopefully catch the problem.

Yes that's definitely a good idea.

I am maybe stating the obvious, but also if whatever is doing it is not completely evil the last modified date would be different on those files. So before you go retagging them etc. check that - you may have some idea what was going on then or correlate it with something in the event log or process monitor or something.

Also some software can leave traces of itself in the ID3v2 tag, so when you notice this take a look at the file with a hex editor or Strings (also on the Sysinternals site) and see if there is anything obvious..