ID3 tags when digitizing vinyl and cassettes

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tiggerlou
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:23 pm

ID3 tags when digitizing vinyl and cassettes

Post by tiggerlou »

Hello!
I'm digitizing a large collection of vinyl and cassettes and I would dearly love to find a way to speed up the process of entering track information, in a way that would be usable with a media player like iTunes. I did a search on this forum on the subject and the most recent thread I could find was from 2005. I'm hoping that there may be features added to a more recent version of Goldwave, that would help with it.

I've been Googling about this question, and I found the MusicBrainz website with very large database of track information. That looks very promising. Now I'm wondering how to use it with Goldwave in the most efficient way.

I plan to post to the MusicBrainz forum on the subject. But since I'm using Goldwave to do the digitizing, there are probably GW-specific tips that would really save me some time. For example, is there any way to use cue points for this process? I see that I can enter track information via File - Information. But would that translate into the kind of track information that a media player could use? Or would I have to enter all that information all over again when I load up my audio files into iTunes or Media Monkey? Yikes :(

I"m sure other people have wondered about this before me, and come up with good answers. No point in reinventing the wheel. So ...how do you folks do this?
Stiiv
Posts: 335
Joined: Sat May 15, 2004 7:29 pm
Location: Fallentown, PA

Post by Stiiv »

I use AnalogX TagMaster for the task you're describing. Free, well-written, & very useful. Plus I know the guy since my pre-internet CompuServe/BBS days. :D
Stiiv
tiggerlou
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:23 pm

Post by tiggerlou »

Thanks for the lead on recommended software, but (newbie here, I have to ask...) how do I actually use this?

I've been looking at several websites for tag editors. While all of them sing their praises, absolutely none of them give me any instructions on how to use them, which leaves me pretty confused.

Say I've just digitized an album from an LP or a cassette. Recorded it into Goldwave. Now I have a WAV file --I figure I need to still slice that album into tracks, so I haven't converted it yet to FLAC or mp3 or anything else.

Now what do I do?

All I know how to do so far with the track information is to manually slice the waveform into songs. Then manually type in the filenames --as if I'm saving documents in Word. But I don't need any additional software to do that. All I need is my computer keyboard and a whole lotta time.....

So how does this software speed that up? How would I actually use it?

thanks much for your help! :)
Stiiv
Posts: 335
Joined: Sat May 15, 2004 7:29 pm
Location: Fallentown, PA

Post by Stiiv »

Hey, tiggerlou....look around this forum....help r us, buddy. :wink:

File names & tags are two different things. Tags can contain all kinds of info besides the track name & artist...the album name, track number, year of release, genre, etc. Though many types of audio files can contain meta-information, ID3 tags are (I think) specific to mp3 files. (Readers, please jump in & correct me on anything that's not accurate.) The following info refers to tagging mp3 files using TagMaster.

Using TagMaster, you'd click the "directory" button & navigate to the directory with your files. Unfortunately, you will have to manually type in some info, but the program can help with a bit of automation...you can "lock" each field by clicking the "L" next to it. So, say you were tagging the tracks of an LP you've just ripped...you'd type in the artist & album names in the appropriate fields, then lock them. Enter each track's name, update its tag (by clicking "update tag"), click "rename" if you like, & go to the next track.

It's a lot more intuitive than I've made it sound, but you shouldn't have any trouble once you get going.
Stiiv
tiggerlou
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:23 pm

Post by tiggerlou »

thanks!

So what happens with the filenames for these sound files? I've been digitizing a large collection of tapes, and will soon do the same for LP's. tI've had to put in really long filenames to get both artist and song information in there. I suppose I should rename them since that information will go into the tag information.

Should I go through all the sound files and do that? Is there some standard protocol for that, or does the tagger software rename the filenames?
Stiiv
Posts: 335
Joined: Sat May 15, 2004 7:29 pm
Location: Fallentown, PA

Post by Stiiv »

Nothing happens to the filenames, unless you want them changed. You can specify a "template" for TM to change filenames, with the info taken from the tag you previously created.

If you need any further help, please pm me for contact info....I've blabbed about non-GW software enough, I think. :wink:
Stiiv
mh
Posts: 133
Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2006 6:20 pm

Post by mh »

You can't put ID3 tags on a WAV file. The WAV format can contain all kinds of custom information, but there is no standard for tagging, and unless the playback software can support reading back the custom information (in the same format as it was originally written), you will get absolutely nothing.

If you want to speed up the process a little, you can omit the including the artist and song name in the filename. This will give you less typing to do; it's still a pain in the face, but at least it's less.
GoldWave Inc.
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Post by GoldWave Inc. »

Wave files have a LIST INFO chunk that can store some text information in a standard way. Not many programs support it even though it has been part of the WAVE specification from the beginning. I think QuickTime/iTunes supports it, but Windows Media Player doesn't, even though Microsoft developed the WAVE specification.

The information entered under File | Information in GoldWave for MP3, WMA, Ogg, or FLAC files should be displayed in most media players. Unfortunately the MusicBrainz database isn't supported by GoldWave yet, so you'd have to enter the information manually.

Chris
Kummel
Posts: 141
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 7:10 pm

Post by Kummel »

Text informations in wave files are supported read only by winamp and realpayer.

Not supported by Windows Media Player, VLC, iTunes.
:D
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