Tags, Questions regarding tags and tagging Options

[Sebastian Mares]

1. Which tag fields are supported by Mp3tag?
 
2. Which tag types are supported by Mp3tag?
 
3. How can I edit single tag fields?
 
4. How can I remove single tag fields?
 
5. How can I copy whole tags to other files?
 
6. Why does it take so long to write ID3v2 tags?
 
7. How to I edit tags or file names of multiple files?
 
8. How do I transfer tag information from one tag format to the other?
 
9. How do I select multiple files?
 

[Sebastian Mares]

Which tag fields are supported by Mp3tag?

Mp3tag's tag panel supports the following fields for all tag types:

• Artist
• Album
• Title
• Year
• Genre
• Track Number
• Comment

Extended tag fields can be edited by either selecting View > Extended Tags... or by pressing [Alt+T].

You can also add additional file list columns for extended tag fields via View > Customize Columns... and edit the tag fields directly in the file list.

You can also add more tag fields to the tag panel via Tools > Options > Tag Panel.

You can find a list of all ID3v2 tag-field names and their mappings to other application at this topic in Mp3tag's help file.

This post has been edited by Sebastian Mares: Aug 2 2009, 20:19

[Sebastian Mares]

Which tag types are supported by Mp3tag?

This depends on the file type. Here is a small overview:

AAC - Advanced Audio Coding
Read: ID3v1, APEv1, APEv2
Write: ID3v1, APEv2
Remove: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2

APE - Monkey's Audio
Read: ID3v1, APEv1, APEv2
Write: ID3v1, APEv2
Remove: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2

FLAC - Free Lossless Audio Codec
Read: Vorbis Comments
Write: Vorbis Comments
Remove: Vorbis Comments

MP3 - MPEG Audio Layer 3
Read: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2
Write: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv2
Remove: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2

MP4 - MPEG-4
Read: MP4/iTunes Metadata
Write: MP4/iTunes Metadata
Remove: MP4/iTunes Metadata

MPC - Musepack
Read: ID3v1, APEv1, APEv2
Write: ID3v1, APEv2
Remove: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2

OFR - OptimFROG
Read: ID3v1, APEv1, APEv2
Write: ID3v1, APEv2
Remove: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2

OFS - OptimFROG DualStream
Read: ID3v1, APEv1, APEv2
Write: ID3v1, APEv2
Remove: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2

OGG - Ogg Vorbis
Read: Vorbis Comments
Write: Vorbis Comments
Remove: Vorbis Comments

SPX - Speex
Read: Vorbis Comments
Write: Vorbis Comments
Remove: Vorbis Comments

TAK - Tom's Audio Kompressor
Read: ID3v1, APEv1, APEv2
Write: APEv2
Remove: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2

TTA - The True Audio
Read: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2
Write: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv2
Remove: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2

WMA - Windows Media Audio
Read: WMA Tag
Write: WMA Tag
Remove: WMA Tag

WV - WavPack
Read: ID3v1, APEv1, APEv2
Write: ID3v1, APEv2
Remove: ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv1, APEv2

[Sebastian Mares]

How can I edit single tag fields?

In order to do this, select the audio files you want to change the tag field (e.g. Comment) in and select < keep > in the remaining input fields.

Now edit the text in the field you want changed and select File > Save tag. All fields will be updated, except the ones where < keep > was selected.

This post has been edited by Sebastian Mares: Dec 17 2005, 18:31

[Sebastian Mares]

How can I remove single tag fields?

Select all files you want edited and set the input fields you want stripped to < blank >. All other fields should read < keep > so that they remain unchanged.

If you now select File > Save tag, all fields with the property < blank > will be stripped from the tag.

For extended tag fields, use the extended tag dialog which you call with [Alt+T] or View > Tags....

This post has been edited by Sebastian Mares: Dec 17 2005, 18:31

[Sebastian Mares]

How can I copy whole tags to other files?

Select the files you want the tags to be copied from and press [Ctrl+C]. This will copy the files' tag to the clipboard.

By pressing [Ctrl+V], Mp3tag will then copy the tags from the clipboard to the desired files.

[Sebastian Mares]

Why does it take so long to write ID3v2 tags?

The ID3v2 tag is placed at the beginning of an audio file. If there isn't any ID3v2 tag in a file, there is also no space reserved for it. That is why a new temporary file needs to be created which will store the tag. Then, the audio data from the old file needs to be appended to the newly created one. This procedure will stress the hard disk, resulting in a long operating time. If you want to edit an existing ID3v2 tag, the editing procedure will take less.
Deleting an ID3v2 tag will also take long, as the audio data from the tagged file needs to be copied to a new file.

If you don't mind the ID3v1 30 characters limitations of the Artist, Album, etc. fields, you can use the ID3v1 tag type instead. This is placed at the end of the file and with its 128 bytes size it is very quickly written.

Mp3tag also supports the APEv2 tag for MP3 files, which can be written, edited and read quickly. Its only disadvantage is that the only player capabile of dealing with it is foobar2000.

[Sebastian Mares]

How to I edit tags or file names of multiple files?

In order to edit a filename, please press the [F2] key in the file view. After editing the file's name, press the [RETURN] key to jump to the next file.

For editing the tags, it is recommended to use the input fields of the Tag Panel. You change a title for example and then press the keys [CTRL+S] to save the tag (or File > Save tag). After that [CTRL+N] jumps to the next file.

If you don't want to manually save after each change you can enable the Save tags when using arrow-keys/single mouse click option under Options > Tags. It will save you from clicking the Save icon or pressing the key combination [CTRL+S] to write the changes to the files.

This post has been edited by Florian: Oct 11 2009, 20:42

[Sebastian Mares]

How do I transfer tag information from one tag format to the other?

Open the configuration dialog by pressing [CTRL+O] and navigate to Tags. There you will find two nodes: Mpeg and Ape, Mpc .... The first node will tell MP3Tag how to deal with MPEG Audio files, while the second node is responsible for all other supported formats (Monkey's Audio, FLAC...).

If you want to transfer APEv2 tags to ID3v2 and ID3v1 tags for example, you select the reading of APEv2 tags and the writing of ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags. After applying the settings by pressing the OK button, select the files which should be re-tagged, press [CTRL+X] and then [CTRL+V]. If you don't want to remove the APEv2 tag format after the transfer, press [CTRL+C] instead of [CTRL+X] or simply select the tag formats to write from the MP3Tag options, select the the files and click on .

Please notice that not all formats support ID3v2 tags. In that case, only ID3v1 and APEv2 tags will be available.

This post has been edited by Sebastian Mares: Jan 6 2006, 10:52

[Sebastian Mares]

How do I select multiple files?

Although this should be the same in each Windows program (including Windows Explorer), I will describe the steps required in order to select multiple files.

In order to select a block of files, click the first file of the block, hold the [SHIFT] key pressed and select the last file of the block. If you don't want to select a block, but individual files, hold down the [CTRL] key while clicking on the desired files.

In order to select multple file blocks...

1. Select the first file of the first block.
2. Hold the [SHIFT] key pressed, select the last file of the first block and then release the [SHIFT] key.
3. Then hold the [CTRL] key pressed and select the first file of the second block.
4. After that hold both the [CTRL] and the [SHIFT] keys pressed and select the last file of the second block.

By repeating the last two actions, you can select as many blocks as you want.

This post has been edited by Sebastian_Mares: Aug 3 2004, 14:21