Tagging is adding descriptive information to the audio file.
Typical tags are artist, song title, album title, track, cover art, composer, release year, etc.
By doing so you make the file self-documenting.
A typical audiophile worry: will tagging affect sound quality?
It could happen, in the Win7 beta writing tags could indeed overwrite the audio!
Normally the codec (the code translating the audio to something a DAC can understand) will detect the tags and simply skip them.
Why tagging
If you transfer the file to another computer (PC, MP3 player, etc), the player software reads the tags and present them in the interface.
You can navigate your collection in various ways, a search is almost impossible without tags.
I don’t want anything to meddle with my audio, no tagging for me!
You’re a fool.
No, I’m an audiophool.
Ok, folder browsing is an alternative.
See to it that your files have a descriptive filename.
A CUE-sheet is an option too: http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/CueSheet.htm
How it works
There are 2 ways to tag your collection. Hand typing (ask Old Listener) or using an internet database. The subject of internet databases (and a lot more) is covered here: http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?2592-Ripping&p=34370&viewfull=1#post34370
Most media players support tagging.
Probably most of the time it will find the tracks in an internet database.
If it fails you MP3Tag is a good alternative.
MP3Tag
No it won’t tag MP3 only; it supports almost any audio format.
Databases used are Amazon, FreeDB, discogs, MusicBrainz.
You can also use scripts to do bulk editing for you.
An example can be found here: http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/Opus.htm
Excellent piece of freeware.
WYSIWYG
You have tagged your whole collection.
A substantial amount of work if you do it right.
One day you move your audio to a new PC and notice that almost all your tags are gone.
Can happen because what you see on the screen is the content of the library, a database containing the tags.
Scanning a substantial audio collection is time consuming.
To improve speed, all tags are stored in a database, the library
In an ideal world, all what you enter will be stored in the library AND in the audio files as tags. But you might have different file formats and you tagging software might simple not support this format.
WAV is a well-known example: http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/WAV_KB.htm
Custom tags might also be “library only”.
You can use a tool like MP3Tag to check if the tags are actually written.
A very simple test: move the audio to another PC.
If the tags don’t show up, you know what the problem is.
Do so for each different file format you are using because What You See is not always What You Get.
Album
If you rip a CD, you have as much files as you have tracks (unless you rip to single file but that is another subject).
Now you have a bunch of files in the same folder (if you use Artist - Album as rip folder settings this might not be the case when there are multiple artists).
If you are as old as I am (not recommended) you are used to LPs, tape, cassette, CDs, etc.
It took a while before I realized that there is not such a thing as an album in computer audio.
Most media players treat a bunch of tracks as 1 album when Album Title and Album Artist are the same. Note this are tags. The files might be in different folders or even on different HDs.
In case of samplers this might yields as many albums as there are artist.
The trick is to use a second tag, the Contributing Artist.
There you store the individual artist and the Album Artist of samplers you set to Various Artist.
Now they appear as 1 album.
However other media players might use different definitions including different uses of Album Artist and Contributing Artist.
Another option is to combine albums.
A triple CD set is a triple set because it doesn't fit on one.
In case of audio files, you give them all the same album title en you get 1 album.
Most of the time, Albums are sorted by track number.
If you combine a triple in one album this results in 111, 222, etc for the tracks.
The trick is to set the disc number first.
However there are a lot of media players not using the disc number.
A save practice is to fill in the disc number and to prefix the track with the disc number like Track=Disc * 1000 * track.
This sort always right and you preserve the original track numbering.
http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/Players/MC14/MC_Expression_multi.htm
In case of classical, I use the Album Title for the composition.
The original album title I copy to a custom tag.
Now I have all the individual compositions instead of an arbitrary combination as conjectured up by the record company.
Sometimes I do it the other way round, combine all Bach's harpsichord concertos into one album: http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/Players/MC14/MC_Tagging.htm
Having a file per track gives you lots op opportunities to structure you collection to your likening. But as said before, if you are used to a physical medium like LP, CD, etc. it takes some time before you realize this potential.
Typical tags are artist, song title, album title, track, cover art, composer, release year, etc.
By doing so you make the file self-documenting.
A typical audiophile worry: will tagging affect sound quality?
It could happen, in the Win7 beta writing tags could indeed overwrite the audio!
Normally the codec (the code translating the audio to something a DAC can understand) will detect the tags and simply skip them.
Why tagging
If you transfer the file to another computer (PC, MP3 player, etc), the player software reads the tags and present them in the interface.
You can navigate your collection in various ways, a search is almost impossible without tags.
I don’t want anything to meddle with my audio, no tagging for me!
You’re a fool.
No, I’m an audiophool.
Ok, folder browsing is an alternative.
See to it that your files have a descriptive filename.
A CUE-sheet is an option too: http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/CueSheet.htm
How it works
There are 2 ways to tag your collection. Hand typing (ask Old Listener) or using an internet database. The subject of internet databases (and a lot more) is covered here: http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?2592-Ripping&p=34370&viewfull=1#post34370
Most media players support tagging.
Probably most of the time it will find the tracks in an internet database.
If it fails you MP3Tag is a good alternative.
MP3Tag
No it won’t tag MP3 only; it supports almost any audio format.
Databases used are Amazon, FreeDB, discogs, MusicBrainz.
You can also use scripts to do bulk editing for you.
An example can be found here: http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/Opus.htm
Excellent piece of freeware.
WYSIWYG
You have tagged your whole collection.
A substantial amount of work if you do it right.
One day you move your audio to a new PC and notice that almost all your tags are gone.
Can happen because what you see on the screen is the content of the library, a database containing the tags.
Scanning a substantial audio collection is time consuming.
To improve speed, all tags are stored in a database, the library
In an ideal world, all what you enter will be stored in the library AND in the audio files as tags. But you might have different file formats and you tagging software might simple not support this format.
WAV is a well-known example: http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/WAV_KB.htm
Custom tags might also be “library only”.
You can use a tool like MP3Tag to check if the tags are actually written.
A very simple test: move the audio to another PC.
If the tags don’t show up, you know what the problem is.
Do so for each different file format you are using because What You See is not always What You Get.
Album
If you rip a CD, you have as much files as you have tracks (unless you rip to single file but that is another subject).
Now you have a bunch of files in the same folder (if you use Artist - Album as rip folder settings this might not be the case when there are multiple artists).
If you are as old as I am (not recommended) you are used to LPs, tape, cassette, CDs, etc.
It took a while before I realized that there is not such a thing as an album in computer audio.
Most media players treat a bunch of tracks as 1 album when Album Title and Album Artist are the same. Note this are tags. The files might be in different folders or even on different HDs.
In case of samplers this might yields as many albums as there are artist.
The trick is to use a second tag, the Contributing Artist.
There you store the individual artist and the Album Artist of samplers you set to Various Artist.
Now they appear as 1 album.
However other media players might use different definitions including different uses of Album Artist and Contributing Artist.
Another option is to combine albums.
A triple CD set is a triple set because it doesn't fit on one.
In case of audio files, you give them all the same album title en you get 1 album.
Most of the time, Albums are sorted by track number.
If you combine a triple in one album this results in 111, 222, etc for the tracks.
The trick is to set the disc number first.
However there are a lot of media players not using the disc number.
A save practice is to fill in the disc number and to prefix the track with the disc number like Track=Disc * 1000 * track.
This sort always right and you preserve the original track numbering.
http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/Players/MC14/MC_Expression_multi.htm
In case of classical, I use the Album Title for the composition.
The original album title I copy to a custom tag.
Now I have all the individual compositions instead of an arbitrary combination as conjectured up by the record company.
Sometimes I do it the other way round, combine all Bach's harpsichord concertos into one album: http://www.thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/Players/MC14/MC_Tagging.htm
Having a file per track gives you lots op opportunities to structure you collection to your likening. But as said before, if you are used to a physical medium like LP, CD, etc. it takes some time before you realize this potential.
