Taggin' MP3 v1.4.5 Help
by Justin Pasher
Lazor Software
April 14, 2001
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Supports the ID3v2 spec! |
Lazor Software or any of its members will not be held responsible for any damage
caused by this program, either accidental or intentional, that leads to loss of data
or revenue. Lazor Software will not be held responsible for any damage caused to your
MP3 files, including accidental or intentional file renaming or ID3 editing/deleting.
For what it's worth, you can consider this program for educational and entertainment
purposes only. I can tell you that I have used this program on hundreds of MP3 files
with no problems.
Taggin' MP3 is a program that allows you to manipulate ID3 (v1.1 and v2.3.0)
tags for MP3. This includes adding, editing, deleting, and even renaming files
based on those ID3 tags. It even allows the importation of artist, title, album,
and comments based on filenames for files without ID3 tags.
Before you begin using Taggin' MP3, read the Disclaimer!
With the many different programs out there to manage your MP3s, one may ask the
question, "Why should I choose Taggin' MP3?" There are a few advantages to using
Taggin' MP3 over the competitors:
- Fast
- Taggin' MP3 was designed with speed in mind. For example, if you have a batch
of 100 MP3s, all with correct ID3 tags but bad filenames, you can rename all
of the files in a uniform fashion in seconds. Many of the other programs out
there are so overrun with options that it makes it very difficult to try and
do something very simple.
- Easy to use
- It is true that Taggin' MP3 might have a SLIGHTLY larger learning curve in
comparison to other ID3 managers. However, once you get the hang of using
the program (which just takes a little experimenting and playing), you can
EASILY fix up all of your MP3s quickly and efficiently.
- Free!
- What can I say? It's FREE! If you don't like it, you don't have to use it.
You lose NOTHING by just trying the program out. If you do like it, you have
a nice ID3 tag manager that didn't cost you a penny (except the download time
:)
Taggin' MP3 does have its limitations. Here are a few of the things that
the current version of Taggin' MP3 does NOT do or support:
- Limited Unicode support. Taggin' MP3 will TRY to decode Unicode tags.
However, if the Unicode information is actually stored in a different
language, then it probably won't be intepreted correctly.
- Compressed tags are not supported.
- Encrypted tags are not supported.
- Only the standard tags are currently editable. The ability to edit many
more tags will eventually be added.
v1.4.5
- Updated the help file so the release would be final!
v1.4.5 Beta 2
- Added better support for Unicode tags
- Added a few more options to the options menu.
- Sometimes the labels that indicate the ID3v2 tag version would not fully update.
- The Picker tab has been removed (and probably won't come back).
v1.4.5 Beta 1
- Added an options menu with some additional options
- Fixed some display bugs when renaming or saving files with ID3v2 tags while
having ID3v2 editing disabled
- Added a quick delete button to delete the currently loaded ID3v1 or ID3v2
tag. Now you don't have to mess with enabled and disabling the ID3v1 and
ID3v2 editing checkboxes to delete tags.
v1.4.0 (never release outside beta)
- Added ID3v2 support!
- Added a progress bar to the "Reading" dialog box which show while Taggin' MP3 is
reading the MP3 tags.
- Redid the icons next to the MP3s indicating presence of ID3 tags.
- Fixed most (I hope) of the MP3 song length calculation routines. If the file
wasn't MPEG-1 Layer 3, there is a very good chance the song length was
incorrectly calculated. VBR MP3s are still not calculated correctly.
- If you used $GENRE in the Import scheme and Taggin' MP3 tried to import the
data, it would hang.
- "Current Filename" box wasn't updated when renaming a single MP3
- Added "on-the-fly" MP3 info, including title, filesize, bitrate and length
- Many more changes were made in beta releases that are not documented here.
- Many other cosmetic changes (MANY changed made during beta releases)
v1.3.0
- Added a "Character Filter." This makes it much nicer to rename files
that have "invalid" filename characters in the ID3 tag (such as ?, /, *, etc). You
can also specifiy character filters for the Import scheme
- Added a "File Info" button to obtain more information on a particular file
(such as full path and filename, bitrate, size, etc)
- Added the ability to execute (play) and MP3 by double-clicking on it in the file list
while on the Namer tab.
- Added an "Undo Rename" feature! Now you can undo any filename changes you make when
renaming files!
- Fixed the "Alternative" genre selection. I made some changes last time and I
broke it accidentally (it only affected the Alternative genre)
- Fixed the "Apply to All" for the genre (it didn't always work)
- Fixed the tab ordering when you press the TAB key
- Fixed bug that occurred when you were importing ID3 tags and a particular macro was
filled with no data (i.e. filename is artist--title.mp3 and the Import Scheme is
$ARTIST-$TRACK-$TITLE). When this occurred, the program would give an "empty error"
dialog box.
- Redid the way the list boxes are handled for selected MP3s. It should be a little
quicker now. You can also select all MP3s in the list on the Namer tab by pressing
Ctrl+A (when the list box has the cursor focus).
- Redid the way the selection box works on the Namer tab. In the past, it would keep
the "focus" on the currently loaded MP3. This made it act a little funny when you
had more than one page full of MP3s and started deselecting some of them (the focus
would jump around in the box). Now it keeps track of the currently loaded file, but
does not keep the focus on that MP3 in the list
- Now when you do an "Apply to All" for a given attribute and "Import Scheme" is
checked, all fields (except the "Apply to All" field) are filled in with generated
information.
- When selecting multiple MP3s and the first one you select does not have an
ID3 tag, the "Delete ID3" tag button would remain disabled. I pretty much
removed that "feature" to make it a little easier.
- If you try to do an "Apply to All" for the genre and the box is empty (no
genre selected), it would work, even though it shouldn't have. I went ahead and added
the ability to set a null genre (so you can clear the genre without deleting the
ID3).
- When renaming a file for which you just typed in a Track number, it would not
append the leading zero to the filename, if this option is enabled.
- When performing an Apply to All and an MP3 did not have an ID3 tag, the genre
would not be set to null ("no genre specified")
- When renaming files and importing the ID3 tag with a track number, it simply
did not work like it was supposed to (it would leave out the track number
sometimes). Not sure HOW I missed this. Thanks to "Dejan" for pointing this
out.
- When you rename files and import ID3 tags based on filenames, it wouldn't
strip the leading and trailing spaces (so your MP3s would get ALL KINDS of
extra spacing :)
v1.2.0
- Updated support to ID3 v1.1. The only change from v1.0 is the ability to save
the track number for a song (by shortening the Comment field by two
characters). ID3v2 coming soon!
- The configuration options are now saved when you close Taggin MP3.
- I fixed the format in which the ID3 tags are written (I was appending SPACES
on the end instead of null characters. oops!)
- Previously, if you rename files based on information imported via the Import
Scheme, the resulting filename would cut each field off at 30 characters.
Now, each field of the *ID3* is cut off at 30 characters, but the resulting
FILENAME is not limited to any number of characters.
- Read-only files are handled better now. When saving a file, Taggin MP3 will
first try removing the Read Only attribute. If successful, the ID3 tag will
save, and the attributes will then be restored
- It's about time I made the "Delete ID3" option delete the ID3 tags a LOT
quicker, so I did. Now it's SUPER fast!
- Added a label that lets you know when an MP3 has an ID3v2 tag. You won't be
able to edit it just yet, but at least you can know.
- Added an option to confirm the new filename before performing the rename
procedure when renaming MP3s.
- Added a few more "confirmation" boxes to make you less likely to get undesired
results.
- I redid the help system as a web page, because it's easier to update, very
versatile, and easy to navigate. I also added a FAQ sections
- Rewrote some internal code in an attempt to make it faster.
v1.1.4
- When you press enter to save an ID3 tag, it wouldn't update the "Delete ID3"
button status if the next song did or did not have an ID3.
- When you clicked "Rename" with only one song selected, it would not act
right (if you had it set to "ignore ID3 tags").
- Added some more years to the Year box.
- Finally got around to making the program use the original program's path to
load the background image and help file. This lets you change the "Start in"
folder in the shortcut and everything still loads OK. As a tip, if you want
to make your own custom backgrounds, you can replace the backgr1.bmp image
in the Taggin' MP3 directory. The "Picker" page will try to load backgr1.bmp
if it exists. The "Namer" page will try to load backgr2.bmp first, and if it's
not found, it will try to load backgr1.bmp.
v1.1.0
- Fixed the filer box (it wasn't showing MP2 files also, for some reason.
- When you click on the Save, Rename, or Delete buttons, it gives a little
more detailed description of what's about to happen.
- Made the bitmap handling for the "Yes" and "No" pictures handled more
efficiently (the pictures representing whether an ID3 tag was found).
- Added an "Ignore ID3" option for renaming/saving files. If you rename
multiple files at once, you can check this box to tell Taggin' MP3 to
totally ignore the ID3 tag (if any) for each file. This causes Taggin' MP3
to use the import scheme when renaming the files. It's most useful when you
have a bunch of MP3s with bad ID3 tags, but the filenames are good.
- Added the ability to save multiple ID3s at once. If you select more than one
MP3 in the list and click save, the ID3 tags will be updated by the 'Import
Scheme' specified (if no ID3 tag is found for the specific file). If you also
select the 'Ignore ID3' option, it will update the ID3 tags for all selected
MP3s based ENTIRELY on the 'Import Scheme' defined (ignoring any existing ID3
tags).
- I actually made the "Import Scheme" checkbox work now. :)
v1.0.0
Visit Lazor Software on the web at http://come.to/lazor.software/. Any and all
suggestions, comments, bug reports, feature requests, etc are welcome! Send an email
to the address below to get in touch with me.
Before you can beging editing your ID3 tags, you will need to choose the
files you wish to edit. From the main window, you can select files either by
clicking File -> Add Files or clicking the first icon on the toolbar.
Upon doing so, the "picker" window will open up.
You can select a specific drive/directory from the left box (the directory box). You
can select the MP3 files from the middle box (the MP3 box). Your selected files will
appear in the right box (the "selected" box).
The following buttons are available:
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This button adds the file(s) selected in the MP3 box to the "selected" box. |
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This button adds ALL of the files in the MP3 box to the "selected" box. |
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This button removes the file(s) selected in the "selected" box. |
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This button removes ALL of the files in the "selected" box. |
Another way of selecting files is by using the Add Directory feature (by click
on File -> Add Directory or clicking on the Add Directory toolbar).
From this window, you can pick a directory which will be recursively scanned for
MP? files, which will in turn be added to the main window.
The main window is the heart of Taggin' MP3. This is where you will add, edit, and
delete ID3 tags. You can also rename files based on their respective ID3 tags. Here
is a sample screenshot:
Each file in the top box (the MP3 List box) has a picture next to it.
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The file does not have a (valid) ID3 tag. |
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The file has a valid ID3v1 tag. |
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The file has a valid ID3v2 tag. |
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The file has BOTH a valid ID3v1 and
ID3v2 tag. |
Most of the operations of Taggin' MP3 are pretty simple. The
Options button is defined below.
- * Selecting MP3(s) *
- To select an MP3 to edit, simply click on the filename in the left box once.
If you wish to selected multiple MP3s (for the purpose of using the "Apply to All"
buttons or batch renaming/saving), hold down the CTRL key while clicking. You can
select a range of MP3s by holding the shift key, then clicking the first choice
followed by the last choice. If you press CTRL+A, all files in the list will be
selected.
- * To enabed/disable ID3 editing *
- Below the buttons, you will see two check boxes for ID3v1 and ID3v2. These
boxes will enable or disable the ID3v1 or ID3v2 editing. When editing is
disabled, the tag information is not changed when saving, deleting or
renaming MP3s. The data is also not imported when an MP3 does not have an
ID3 tag. These check boxes do not affect the "quick-delete" buttons next to
the ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags.
- * To edit the existing ID3 tag of an MP3 *
- Select the MP3 from the list. It will automatically load the information into
the appropriate boxes. If no ID3 tag exists and "Import Scheme"
is checked, it will be imported based on the import box (if ID3 editing is
enabled). See Import Schemes for more details. If you
wish to save the current MP3's ID3 tag, you must either click Save or hit the
Enter key. If you simply select another MP3 from the list, it will NOT save
the ID3 tag!
- * To delete the ID3 tag of an MP3 *
- There are two ways to delete an ID3 tag. The classic way is to select the MP3
from the list (multiple files can be selected) and click the "Delete ID3"
button. The ID3 tags that will be deleted are determined by the ID3 editing
checkboxes (for example, if ID3v1 editing is checked, the ID3v1 tag is delete).
The new way is to use the "quick-delete" button (the red X next to the ID3 tag).
This allows you to delete the ID3v1 or ID3v2 individually without having to
enable or disable ID3 editing. Once the ID3 tag has been, deleted, it cannot
be recovered!
- * The "Apply to All" buttons *
- Each field has an "Apply To All" or "ATA" button. This button will allow you to
apply the current value for the corresponding field to ALL of the MP3s that are
selected in the list. If no ID3 tag exists for a particular MP3, it will be
created. If the Import Scheme is checked, the other fields will be filled
in by data based on the Rename Scheme. If the Import Scheme is
NOT checked, they will be filled with blank values.
- * To rename the filename of an MP3 *
- If you click the Rename button, it will rename the filename(s) of ALL MP3s that
are selected. If only one is selected, it will rename that one file
based on the current information in the descriptor fields. The values to use
when generating the filename are based on which ID3 editing is enabled (ID3v2
takes precendence over ID3v1 if both are checked). See
Rename Schemes for more details.
- * To UNDO the renaming of an MP3 *
- Taggin' MP3 has a VERY powerful feature that allows you to
restore the original filename of ANY file that you choose. This works great if you
batch rename MANY MP3s at once and the resulting filename is not what you wanted.
Simply select the files in the list, then click on Tools -> Undo Rename
or click on the toolbar icon.
NOTE: Once you clear the MP3 list or close the program, the changes
will become permanent!
- * To play an MP3 *
- If you double-click on an MP3 in the list box, it will execute the play the file,
using your default MP3 player. You must only have ONE file selected to do this.
Options
The Options button allows you to change the way Taggin' MP3 does certain operations.
When you click the down arrow on the toolbar, you will get a list of the "quick
options." If you click on Tools -> Options or the butto on the toolbar, you
will get a few more options. Here are the "quick options."
- On load, pad track number with leading zeros:
- This will case the program to append a leading zeros for MP3s which have a track
defined as 1 through 9. This is useful for those that use the track number in the
filename, but wants a two-digit track number regardless of the actual track number.
For example, instead of showing the track as "1", it will show "01".
- On import, capitalize first letter(s):
- If an MP3 does not have an ID3 tag and "Import Scheme" is selected, the first letter
of each "word" will be capitalized before importing the text into the individual
descriptor fields.
- On rename, save ID3:
- If this option is checked, the ID3 tag for each MP3 that is being renamed will be
saved. This means one of two things will occur: (1) If the MP3 already has an
ID3 tag, it will not be changed. (2) If the MP3 does NOT have an ID3 tag, and
"Import Scheme" is selected, then the ID3 that is generated by the importation scheme
will be saved to the MP3. If "Import Scheme" is not selected, the file will be skipped.
- On rename/save, ignore ID3 tags (use import scheme):
- When batch renaming multiple files, the filename is generated based on the ID3 tag
information for each MP3. If this option is checked, the program will generate it's
own ID3 tag based on the filename and 'Import Scheme,' ignoring an existing ID3
tags. This helps if you have many MP3 files with correct filenames, but the ID3 tags
are incorrect. It saves you a step from first deleting the ID3, THEN renaming based
on the filename. Make sure you read the Advanced Features and
FAQ sections to fully understand this feature!
When batching saving multiple files, the ID3 tags is generated based on the 'Import
Scheme' then saved in the file. It works the same way as when batch renaming,
except the filename is left untouched.
- On rename, confirm new filename
- When renaming one or more MP3 files (based on their ID3 tag information), Taggin'
MP3 will confirm each new filename before it performs the actual rename. This will
help to prevent people renaming files incorrectly by accident.
Here are the options available from the options window.
General Category
- Default Picker Directory
- This determines the default directory to select when choosing the "Add Files"
option.
- Default Browse Directory
- This determines the default directory to select when choosing the "Add Directory"
option.
- Auto advance selected MP3 when saving ID3
- When you click the Save button, this checkbox determined whether the next MP3
in the list is automatically selected and loaded.
- Auto advance selected MP3 when deleting ID3
- When you click the Delete ID3 button, this checkbox determined whether the next MP3
in the list is automatically selected and loaded.
- Auto advance selected MP3 when renaming ID3
- When you click the Rename button, this checkbox determined whether the next MP3
in the list is automatically selected and loaded.
- Beep after long operations
- This will make Taggin' MP3 emit a beep through your speakers when performing
operations with multiple MP3s selected.
ID3v2 Category
No options are on this tab at this time.
The "Import" feature is on of Taggin' MP3's greatest features. It allows you to create
an ID3 tag for a file "on the fly" simply based on how the file is
named. Here is an example of a common import scheme:
$ALBUM-$ARTIST-$TITLE
This would cause Taggin' MP3 to start reading the filename and stop at the first hyphen.
All text up to, but not including the hyphen, will be put in the "Album" descriptor box. It
would then continue until it reaches the next hyphen. It would use this text for the
"Artist" descriptor box. The rest of the name would be used in the "Title" descriptor box.
It will import all the characters, up to a maximum of 30 for each
descriptor field (except the year, which is 4, and the track,
which is 2).
The following "macros" are available (they can also be seen from within Taggin' MP3 by
clicking the question mark above the rename box). These ARE case sensitive!
| ID3v1 and ID3v2: |
| $TITLE | $ARTIST | $ALBUM |
| $COMMENT | $YEAR | $TRACK |
| ID3v2 Only: |
| $COMPOSER | $ORIGARTIST | $COPYRIGHT |
| $URL | $ENCODEDBY | |
NOTE: At this time, unlike the rename scheme, you are only allowed to use ONE
delimiter to separate each macro sequence. This means that an import scheme such as
($ARTIST)-$TITLE is NOT valid! It will cause unpredictable information to be imported.
However, there is a workaround. You can actually TRICK Taggin' MP3 if you have a lot of
files that are in such a format. Here is a possible import scheme you could use:
$ARTIST($ARTIST)$TITLE-$TITLE
This may look weird at first, but upon further inspection, you can tell that it will
do exactly what you want. It will import everything up to the first parenthesis as
"Artist." It will then import everything up until the closing parenthesis as "Artist"
(replacing the "dummy" information imported by the first $ARTIST macro). The $TITLE macro
does the same thing, first using "dummy" information, then overwriting it with the actual
title.
I STRONGLY urge you to read the FAQ section before utilizing this
feature. If you do not fully understand how Taggin' MP3 does the importing, you can get
unpredictable results!
The "Rename" feature of Taggin' MP3 is very powerful. It allows you to change the name
of a file based on its ID3 tag. The renaming scheme is very easy to set up. Here is an
example of a common rename scheme:
$ARTIST-$TITLE
This would cause Taggin' MP3 to use the MP3 artist, followed by a hyphen, then the MP3
title. The following "macros" are available (they can also be seen from within Taggin' MP3
by clicking the question mark above the rename box). These ARE case sensitive!
| ID3v1 and ID3v2: |
| $TITLE | $ARTIST | $ALBUM |
| $COMMENT | $YEAR | $TRACK |
| $GENRE | | |
| ID3v2 Only: |
| $COMPOSER | $ORIGARTIST | $COPYRIGHT |
| $URL | $ENCODEDBY | |
You can use any number of characters to separate the macros. Here is another example:
($ARTIST) - $TITLE
This will put the artist name in parenthesis and separate it from the title with two
spaces and a hyphen in between.
Multiple MP3s Selected
Taggin' MP3 has no problem renaming many MP3 files at once. All you have to do is select
the MP3s you wish to rename in the list, click Rename, and Taggin' MP3 will do the rest.
I STRONGLY urge you to read the FAQ section before utilizing this
feature. If you do not fully understand how Taggin' MP3 does the renaming, you can get
unpredictable results!
A new feature added in version 1.3.0 is the File Info button. When you select an
MP3, it will read the selected MP3 file and extract some of the basic attributes about
the file.
Much of the information is pretty self explanatory. It is similar to the information
reported by WinAmp and other MP3 programs.
A few notes about file info:
- Sync at
- This refers to the start of the MP3 data (i.e. after the ID3v2 tag, if any). If this
number is different from the ID3v2 Size attribute, then the file contains
garbage data between the ID3v2 tag and the start of the MP3.
- Length
- Length gives an estimate of the length of the song. Taggin' MP3 uses a VERY simple
formula to calculate it, which is (frame_count*26ms)/1000.
Because of this formula, the song length estimate should be accurate within one
second, EXCEPT for VBR (Variable Bit Rate) files. Variable Bit Rate files contain
frames of many different sizes, so there is no 100% accurate formula to calculate their
size (except by reading through the entire file).
- Frame ct
- The Frame Count is also calculated with a very simple formula:
(filesize-id3v2_tag_size-id3v1_tag_size)/frame_size. This will also be inaccurate for
VBR MP3s.
Two new feature added in version 1.3.0 are importing and
renaming filters. This gives the user even MORE control over the
what Taggin' MP3 works!
Import Filters
Import filters are applied when ID3 tag information is generated based on the filename.
This works when selecting just one MP3 or batch saving/renaming multiple MP3s. The filters
are in the format
source characters -> destination character
At this time, Taggin' MP3 only supports single character mappings. When Taggin' MP3
tries to generate an ID3 tag, it will replace any instances of source characters
with destination character. The destination character can be null (empty)
if you desire. If this is the case, any instances of source character will be
totally removed. This option can be enabled or disabled by checking or unchecking the
box below the filters box.
To add a new filter, fill in the left box with the source character and the
right box with the destination character, if any. Then click the plus sign button.
To remove filters, select the filter(s) from the list of current filters, then click
the minus sign button.
In the picture above, the underscore (_) character is replaced with the space ( )
character.
Rename Filters
Rename filters work the same way as the Import filters, however they are applied to
the resulting filename when renaming single or multiple files. This makes it much easier
if the ID3 tag for an MP3 contains "invalid filename characters," such as ?, *, /, etc.
In the picture above, the following filters are applied:
- The space ( ) character is replaced with the underscore (_) character.
- The question mark (?) character is replaced with the null (empty) character.
- The forward slash (/) character is replaced with the hyphen (-) character.
- The asterisk (*) character is replaced with the hyphen (-) character.
This is a physical limitation of the ID3 v1.x specification.
The descriptor field lengths were predefined when the standard was developed.
Unfortunately, no room was left as "reserved" space to allow for future expansion
capabilities.
As of version 1.1.8, read only files are handled without any problems. If a file has
the read only attribute set, Taggin' MP3 will first remove the read only attribute (if
possible), save the ID3 tag information, then restore the file attributes. Obviously
this will not work on read only files located on a CD-ROM.
More than likely, you are also entering a track number for these files. In order for
the track number to be saved in the ID3 tag, the comment field must be cut by two
characters, making the maximum comment length 28 characters.
Unfortunately, you can't! When an ID3 tag is deleted, it is physically remove from the
file. There is NO trace of the ID3 information left. However, you MAY be able to restore
the ID3 tag information based on the MP3 filenames and an 'Import Scheme.'
If Taggin' MP3 encounters a file during the multiple file renaming process without
a valid ID3 tag, it will do one of two things: If the "Import Scheme" checkbox is checked,
Taggin' MP3 will import a ID3 based on the Import Scheme defined. Then it will use that
ID3 tag to rename the file. If the "Import Scheme" box is NOT checked, it will simply skip
the file.
NOTE: If an ID3 has to be imported for a file in order to rename it, the ID3 tag
will be saved IF AND ONLY IF the "On rename, save ID3" option is checked, by clicking on the
options button.
This option mainly comes into play when batch renaming many files while importing
the ID3 tags. Here is a rundown on how Taggin' MP3 handles each situation. These
situations assume "On rename, save ID3" is NOT checked.
- One file is selected with or without an ID3 tag
- When you click rename, it will rename the file based on the current information
in the descriptor field boxes. If the ID3 tag information has been altered, you will
be prompted to save it. The filename will then be changed, based on the 'Rename
Scheme.'
- Multiple files are selected with or without ID3 tags
- When you click rename, you will be prompted to save the current ID3 tag information,
if it has changed. As Taggin' MP3 goes through the list of selected files, the file is
renamed based on the 'Rename Scheme'. If the file does not contain an ID3 tag OR the
file contains an ID3 tag and "Ignore ID3" is checked, the ID3 tag is generated based on
the 'Import Scheme,' then the file is renamed based on the 'Rename Scheme.' In either
case, if "On rename, save ID3" is NOT selected, the ID3 tag is NOT written to the
file. If "On rename, save ID3" IS selected, the ID3 is written only if an existing
ID3 tag is not present.
When you have the "On rename/save, ignore ID3 tags (use import scheme)" option checked,
it may seem like Taggin' MP3 does some weird stuff with certain MP3s. Here is a rundown on
how Taggin' MP3 handles each situation. All of these situations assume the "Ignore ID3"
option IS selected.
- One file is selected with or without an ID3 tag (rename)
- When you click Rename, you will be prompted to save the current ID3 tag information,
if it has changed. Taggin' MP3 will import the NEW ID3 information based on the
'Import Scheme' and 'Rename Scheme.'
- Multiple files are selected with or without ID3 tags (rename)
- When you click Rename, you will be prompted to save the current ID3 tag information,
if it has changed. When the renaming process occurs, all ID3 tags are ignored. Once
again, the resulting filename will be created from the 'Import Scheme' and 'Rename
Scheme'.
- One file is selected with or without an ID3 tag (save)
- When you click Save, the current ID3 tag information in the descriptor field
boxes is saved as normal.
- Multiple files are selected with or without ID3 tags (save)
- When you click Save, you will be prompted to save the current ID3 tag information,
if it has changed. When the saving process occurs, the ID3 tag information is generated
for each file based on the 'Import Scheme'. Any existing ID3 tags are ignored. Like the
previous situations, the resulting ID3 tags will be created from the 'Import Scheme'.
If Taggin' MP3 seems to be doing weird stuff when you are renaming one or multiple files,
the most likely cause is having "On rename/save, ignore ID3" selected. When you do so, the
information located in the descriptor field boxes is meaningless, since all information
is generated from the MP3 filename.
As of version 1.3.0, there is an "Undo Rename" feature! This will allow you to
restore the original filename of any of the files you select from the list. Please note
that once you switch from the Namer tab back to the Picker tab, the changes will become
permanent!
With the introduction of Import and Rename filters, this option was redundant. If you
wish to use underscores instead of spaces when you rename files, you will have to set up
a rename filter that maps the space ( ) character to the underscore (_) character.
As of version 1.4.0, Taggin' MP3 is no longer skinnable. I might add this feature
back in a future version, but I currently have no plans of doing so.
Every time you close Taggin' MP3, the options you have selected on the Namer tab
(those on the Options pop-up menu, Import Scheme, and Rename Scheme) along with filters are
saved in the registry. At this time, there is no way to prevent the saving of options.
Unless someone specifically requests it, I don't plan on adding that feature.
- ID3v1
- The official specification for the format of an ID3 tag. It was the first
specification made for storing information in an MP3 file.
- ID3v1.1
- A minor revision to the ID3v1 standard produced the ID3v1.1 standard. The only
difference is the ability to save track numbers in the MP3 file. This is
accomplished by shortening the Comment field to 28 characters (since most comments
are not that long anyway). The two remaining bytes in the comment field are a
NULL character (ASCII 0) and the track number.
- ID3v2
- This is the specification that superceded the ID3v1.1 specification. It added MANY
new features, including virtually unlimited length for each descriptor field and
numerous new fields for storing information in an MP3. Some additional fields are
Composer, Copyright, Composed By, and even lyrics.
- ID3
- An ID3 tag is a 128-byte long segment at the end of an MP3 file. This segment is
used to store the Title of the song, Artist, Album, Year, and genre for the MP3.
An ID3 tag helps better recognize what song a particular MP3 is if the filename is
mangled.
These ID3 tags can also be read by the popular MP3 players to help properly display
the song's Title, Artist, etc.
- Descriptor fields
- The fields pertaining to the ID3 tag information. They are Title, Artist, Album,
Year, Genre, Track, and Title.
