v5.54 and metadata

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JackH
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Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2004 3:27 pm

v5.54 and metadata

Post by JackH »

Isn't v5.54 supposed to preserve at least some additional metadata compared to v5.52 and earlier? It seems to lose everything that previous versions did, at least with flac format. In particular, artwork, composer and disc# tags all disappear.
Kilmatead
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Re: v5.54 and metadata

Post by Kilmatead »

For what it's worth, most (not tested all) metadata in MP3's (including artwork) does work. Thanks Chris.
GoldWave Inc.
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Re: v5.54 and metadata

Post by GoldWave Inc. »

Support for preserving metadata beyond the core items given under the File | Information command is still limited by the plug-ins. Previous versions of GoldWave could not preserve artwork, composer and disc# at all, but the new version can preserve it if it is designed into the plug-in. Currently only the MP3 plug-in tries to preserve all ID3 metadata. The FLAC plug-in is still limited to just the core items.

Chris
JackH
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Re: v5.54 and metadata

Post by JackH »

GoldWave Inc. wrote:The FLAC plug-in is still limited to just the core items.
It will be nice when the flac plug-in is updated.

For those who have run into this, you might want to check out a free program called mp3tag. It has a copy/paste feature for tags that works with many formats, including flac. You can use it to copy tags from an un-edited version of a file (be sure to keep it!) to an edited version. I had the program for several months before I realized it did this! It's accessed via the right-click menu.
GoldWave Inc.
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Re: v5.54 and metadata

Post by GoldWave Inc. »

The next update will have better support for cover art and retain it in cross-conversions too (MP3, FLAC, Ogg, WMV, and iTunes). The composer will be retained as well in some file types. The disc# will not be supported. Information related to discs and tracks is quickly becoming irrelevant.

Chris
JackH
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Re: v5.54 and metadata

Post by JackH »

GoldWave Inc. wrote:The disc# will not be supported. Information related to discs and tracks is quickly becoming irrelevant.
So, without this information, how is a player supposed to determine the playing order of the tracks? It sounds like the user would have to set the order manually. Seems like a step backwards to me. I thought the idea was to make things less of a PITA, not more.
DewDude420
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Re: v5.54 and metadata

Post by DewDude420 »

Is it Disc# specifically or track#...both fields do exist in the FLAC metadata.

As far as ordering tracks...if the metadata is missing you'd only have that problem if you use software that relies ONLY in metadata (not a good idea) and don't have your file names containing the track number. Let me give you an example of my collection.

I've been pretty anal about getting the tracks file-named with some kind of "standard" (at least for the collection). My current scheme looks like this:

00 [Artist] Title.ext -- these files are in folders that are titled in a similar fashion; [Artist] Album -- if I get more than three albums by an artist, I nest the folders under one. So, for example...I have a folder named [The Beatles] that contains all the Beatles albums I've got.

Now, the reason I do this is for file identification in case the metadata is gone or gets corrupted. I already know what album it's in based on it's folder location...I also know what track number and title it is based on filename. Some albums I never bothered renaming...so they use whatever the original filename scheme was when I got them...however, they generally ALWAYS have the track title as the first part of the file name..or the first part of the file name that changes...so in explorer the files always show up in order and they are generally selected in order when I load them up in to Winamp.

If you're dealing with a LOT of metadata, then the easiest thing you can do is pick up a copy of mp3tag from mp3tag.de - this little freeware app will help you manage your media metadata by either connecting to FreeDB and getting track titles (IF your track filenames are formatted with number fist)...convert file-name information to tag and create a file name from tag information.
JackH
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Re: v5.54 and metadata

Post by JackH »

Version 5.55 is a big improvement. It maintains most metadata, including during format conversion. Nicely done, though I still wish the disc# was preserved.

Here's something that might be possible... I understand that format conversion is tricky, since different formats have different metadata information. But, how about leaving the metadata as-is when you re-save in the same format and make no changes to the information in GW?
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Re: v5.54 and metadata

Post by GoldWave Inc. »

It's possible to do with the new design, but it's something that has to be programmed into each file format plug-in. The source code for the FLAC plug-in is included in the SDK, so if someone wants to add support for disc#, they are welcome to.

Chris
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