Author Topic: Which MP3 tagger do you use? (Read 71273 times)

xtabber · « **Reply #50 on:** November 19, 2009, 12:09 PM »

I use Mp3tag when editing tags, but since a lot of my tagging is done when I rip or convert audio, I should add Easy CD-DA ( http://www.poikosoft.com ) to the list. It's an audio ripper/converter/burner, but it also handles tags nicely while dong so.

superboyac · « **Reply #51 on:** November 19, 2009, 12:34 PM »

I've always been a huge fan of Tag&Rename, and I've talked about it many times here. You can't beat it. I know MP3tag is a lot more popular, but I've tried it and I feel it's more popular because it's free, not because it's the better program. Tag&Rename has just the right balance of power and convenient interface for most mp3 tagging operations.

Darwin · « **Reply #52 on:** November 19, 2009, 12:38 PM »

+1 for Tag&Rename

I've tried a myriad of alternatives, FOSS and shareware, and Tag&Rename just "fits" for me.

Innuendo · « **Reply #53 on:** November 19, 2009, 05:48 PM »

At first glance, IMHO, when comparing Tag&Rename to mp3tag the easy answer is Tag&Rename, but mp3tag has a deceptively simple interface. Lurking under the surface is a scripting language that is compatible with Foobar2000's Tagz scripting language. Users are free to write their own scripts for many things including tagging from web sources that don't come stock with the program. Actions may also be scripted that can perform any number of operations on your files with the scripting language being powerful enough that your imagination is the only limiting factor. You don't have to reinvent the wheel, either, as their forum is full of actions and scripts you can add to your installation easily.

What cinched me as a user is unlike most tagging programs, Tag&Rename included, you are not boxed into a pre-determined set of tags that the program author feels should be all you will need. You can use mp3tag to create, edit, and delete any tag. I'm talking any tag written by any tagging program ever & you are free to even create your own tags. Even if you have no interest in creating your own tags maybe you have some music files that were tagged by some other program you were using 5-10 years ago.

Who knows what weird tags are lurking in your files that your old program utilized that your new one doesn't? Well, mp3tag knows and gives you the ability to look at the raw list of tags & add, edit, or delete any your new tagging scheme & tagging program don't use. For a specific example, this is especially useful for those who used MusicMatch back at the height of its popularity. MusicMatch used a LOT of custom tags that no other tagging program uses. Loading up these files in mp3tag will allow you to nuke those relics from the past with impunity.

Darwin · « **Reply #54 on:** November 19, 2009, 06:04 PM »

For a specific example, this is especially useful for those who used MusicMatch back at the height of its popularity. MusicMatch used a LOT of custom tags that no other tagging program uses. Loading up these files in mp3tag will allow you to nuke those relics from the past with impunity.
-Innuendo (November 19, 2009, 05:48 PM)

This is good to know! I used MusicMatch for a number of years.

superboyac · « **Reply #55 on:** November 19, 2009, 06:06 PM »

At first glance, IMHO, when comparing Tag&Rename to mp3tag the easy answer is Tag&Rename, but mp3tag has a deceptively simple interface. Lurking under the surface is a scripting language that is compatible with Foobar2000's Tagz scripting language. Users are free to write their own scripts for many things including tagging from web sources that don't come stock with the program. Actions may also be scripted that can perform any number of operations on your files with the scripting language being powerful enough that your imagination is the only limiting factor. You don't have to reinvent the wheel, either, as their forum is full of actions and scripts you can add to your installation easily.

What cinched me as a user is unlike most tagging programs, Tag&Rename included, you are not boxed into a pre-determined set of tags that the program author feels should be all you will need. You can use mp3tag to create, edit, and delete any tag. I'm talking any tag written by any tagging program ever & you are free to even create your own tags. Even if you have no interest in creating your own tags maybe you have some music files that were tagged by some other program you were using 5-10 years ago.

Who knows what weird tags are lurking in your files that your old program utilized that your new one doesn't? Well, mp3tag knows and gives you the ability to look at the raw list of tags & add, edit, or delete any your new tagging scheme & tagging program don't use. For a specific example, this is especially useful for those who used MusicMatch back at the height of its popularity. MusicMatch used a LOT of custom tags that no other tagging program uses. Loading up these files in mp3tag will allow you to nuke those relics from the past with impunity.
-Innuendo (November 19, 2009, 05:48 PM)

i agree with you. That's I always say "for basic purposes" for these tagging programs. Most users do not encounter situations like you described. For basic tagging with normal fields, it's very quick and easy in Tag&Rename, and because that's 90% what I do, it's my favorite program for it. now, sometimes i do need something fancier, and I do use other programs for that. (I still don't know what to do about classical music). But a few years ago, i railed against programs like Godfather, which turned something as simple as managing mp3 tags into a phd class in programming...just completely unintuitive and nonproductive.

Curt · « **Reply #56 on:** November 19, 2009, 06:07 PM »

I use AudioShell ...
-dhuser (November 05, 2007, 07:48 AM)

What is the situation today - with AudioShell not been updated since July 2007 (XP > Vista > Seven) ?

Dormouse · « **Reply #57 on:** November 19, 2009, 06:10 PM »

I use mp3tag & J River. Also use Replay Music.
Can't say I'm that heavily into tagging though. I listen to a wide range of music, and usually just have the player set to shuffle from the whole collection of whatever gadget I'm on. Or listen to 'radio' streams. If I want to check out a particular artist, I use Spotify.

Innuendo · « **Reply #58 on:** November 19, 2009, 10:29 PM »

i agree with you. That's I always say "for basic purposes" for these tagging programs. Most users do not encounter situations like you described.
-superboyac (November 19, 2009, 06:06 PM)

I disagree. Most people have been collecting digital music for years and they haven't used one program throughout the entire process. Heck, different programs can't decide which tag to use for the artist when it comes to MP3s.

For basic tagging with normal fields, it's very quick and easy in Tag&Rename, and because that's 90% what I do, it's my favorite program for it. now, sometimes i do need something fancier, and I do use other programs for that.

This is what I like about mp3tag. You can set it up to be as simple or as elaborate as you wish. You don't have to switch gears and learn a different program.

(I still don't know what to do about classical music).

You don't use the MP3 format. You use Ogg Vorbis or FLAC which has a much more versatile tagging format & then use a media player that can understand how you tag.

But a few years ago, i railed against programs like Godfather, which turned something as simple as managing mp3 tags into a phd class in programming...just completely unintuitive and nonproductive.

The Godfather was the most powerful & most counter-intuitive program of its day. Throw in a retro Windows 95 style GUI and you had something that was frustratingly powerful; emphasis on the word frustratingly.

Innuendo · « **Reply #59 on:** November 19, 2009, 10:30 PM »

This is good to know! I used MusicMatch for a number of years.
-Darwin (November 19, 2009, 06:04 PM)

Then if you tagged any of your music with MusicMatch they got all sorts of weird things in there. You'd be surprised what you'd find.

Innuendo · « **Reply #60 on:** November 19, 2009, 10:36 PM »

What is the situation today - with AudioShell not been updated since July 2007 (XP > Vista > Seven) ?
-Curt (November 19, 2009, 06:07 PM)

Basic functionality is in the Windows 7 Explorer. If you want fancy features (even fancier than AudioShell) there's always the payware dbpoweramp.

Xenonym · « **Reply #61 on:** November 21, 2009, 08:45 AM »

I used to use MusicBrainz Tagger, but I have since switched foobar2000 with foo_discogs (honestly, it's an awesome plugin).

Innuendo · « **Reply #62 on:** November 21, 2009, 10:02 AM »

I used to use MusicBrainz Tagger, but I have since switched foobar2000 with foo_discogs (honestly, it's an awesome plugin).
-Xenonym (November 21, 2009, 08:45 AM)

Foobar2000's tagging abilities are truly awesome. Start adding components like the foo_discogs one you just mentioned and you go from awesome to crazy-powerful quickly. My only beef with Foobar's tagging, and this is my own personal quirk, is that there's no way to tag files without modifying the file dates.

This behavior of mine goes all the way back to the very first mp3 I got my hands on. I may have to try to break this habit in order to use some programs I can't otherwise.

paarkhi · « **Reply #63 on:** November 21, 2009, 10:04 AM »

MP3tag

Innuendo · « **Reply #64 on:** November 21, 2009, 10:06 AM »

Not really my thing, but someone may be interested in this. Helium Music Manager 7 has been released. I haven't tried it out myself extensively yet, but lots of things look encouraging. They've re-wrote a lot of the code so everything is Unicode-aware now. The GUI has been streamlined a bit. Also gone is the 30-day trial mode. That's been replaced with a free mode that never expires and if you find you want to shell out the bucks for paid mode you'll be pleased to find out that the price has been lowered from $44.95 to $29.95.

Registered Helium 6 owners need to check their receipts. If you bought Helium 6 anytime in the last year you're entitled to a free upgrade to a version 7 network license.

Innuendo · « **Reply #65 on:** November 21, 2009, 10:08 AM »

MP3tag
-paarkhi (November 21, 2009, 10:04 AM)

That's what I've been trying to tell these people. I probably should mention at this point the mp3tag I've been raving about is the one at http://www.mp3tag.de/en/ .

The MP3 Tag Pro made by Maniac Tools is rather craptacular.

mouser · « **Reply #66 on:** September 28, 2013, 04:23 AM »

Just had a chance to use mp3tag and it is an incredibly powerful and easy to use tool. I was shocked at how good it was.
It's donationware and after using it I immediately went to donate. Well deserved.

Curt · « **Reply #67 on:** September 28, 2013, 05:16 AM »

November 2007:

-this was the poll that made me install mp3tag ~~late 2007~~ April 2008. Today I am a fan of mp3tag, the program, it has tagged more than 100.000 audio files of mine :-) However, I am not a fan of their donation system; I haven't received any confirmations. Did they ever get the money? I don't know, so I stopped donating!

mouser · « **Reply #68 on:** September 28, 2013, 05:28 AM »

I should say that I have not compared any of the other taggers, so i have no idea how mp3tag stacks up against the other tools.

I only know i was able to use it to do all kinds of things like parsing tags from the filename in different ways, sorting and filtering, and cleaning up tags using regular expressions, etc. It had a way to do everything i wanted to do.

Tuxman · « **Reply #69 on:** September 28, 2013, 08:15 AM »

I switched from the (long dead) ID3Tag to Mp3tag years ago. I tried AudioShell, AIMP's internal tag editor and The GodFather, but none of them worked so well for me. Still, Picard has a reason to live on my hard disk as it can find tags by checking the fingerprint, but for my daily, uhm, "work" Mp3tag might be the best choice.

Vurbal · « **Reply #70 on:** September 28, 2013, 10:32 AM »

Mp3Tag is also my go to choice for every day tagging but like Tuxman I keep MusicBrainz Picard around for its fingerprint capabilities.

tomos · « **Reply #71 on:** September 28, 2013, 01:39 PM »

Picard has a reason to live on my hard disk as it can find tags by checking the fingerprint
-Tuxman (September 28, 2013, 08:15 AM)

like Tuxman I keep MusicBrainz Picard around for its fingerprint capabilities.
-Vurbal (September 28, 2013, 10:32 AM)

I was going to ask what this meant, but I found this in the documentation:

Scanning (fingerprinting) files

Instead of using release-oriented and metadata-dependent lookups, Picard can try and tag your files 1-by-1 based on their audio fingerprint. If you select a set of files in the left-hand pane and click "Scan", Picard will find PUIDs for your files and query MusicBrainz to find a track that matches them.
-http://musicbrainz.org/doc/MusicBrainz_Picard/Documentation#Scanning_.28fingerprinting.29_files

1) so IIUC, that's mainly used to identify unknown tracks?
2) Can it be used to identify similar tracks?

Tuxman · « **Reply #72 on:** September 28, 2013, 01:43 PM »

1) Yes.
2) I'd recommend Similarity for that.

tomos · « **Reply #73 on:** September 28, 2013, 02:07 PM »

1) Yes.
2) I'd recommend Similarity for that.
-Tuxman (September 28, 2013, 01:43 PM)

thanks!

xtabber · « **Reply #74 on:** September 29, 2013, 02:05 PM »

I only know i was able to use it to do all kinds of things like parsing tags from the filename in different ways, sorting and filtering, and cleaning up tags using regular expressions, etc. It had a way to do everything i wanted to do.
-mouser (September 28, 2013, 05:28 AM)

Perhaps the most awesome ability is that tags selected by a user defined template can be exported to a text file which can be manipulated any way you want, then imported using the same or a different template into the same, or different music.

Without MP3Tag. life would be too short to even think about providing consistent labeling across multiple versions of Bach's Well Tempered Clavier, which consists of either 48 or 96 files, depending on whether the preludes and fugues are combined or separate.

Poll

Which MP3 tagger do you use?

Author Topic: Which MP3 tagger do you use? (Read 71273 times)