mp3 problem driving me totally NUTS!

[tekmoe]

i cannot figure out why this is happening and it is driving me insane! i have searched the forums and google and anywhere else i can think of and still have not found a fix. the problem is this:

in my itunes, i have about 500 mp3's. out of the 500, i have a very select few that seem to have corrupt id3 tags. i can go in, change the name, artisit, album, whatever. after i make the change and click ok, it looks exactly like it should in itunes. as soon as i play it, it reverts back to how it was before i made the changes. i've checked the file and it's not read only. my only guess is the id3 tag is corrupt or something???

i am going to go nuts if i can't figure out a fix. i am hoping someone else has had this problem and figured out how to fix it.

thanks.

 

[OutThere]

If you don't have that many files that are corrupted like that, and you don't mind a wee bit of quality loss, you can try setting your Import settings in the iTunes preferences to something you like, then selecting the song, and clicking Advanced->Convert Selection to...

When it's done converting, see if the tags are still messed up.

 

[neocell]

If it's just the name and the artist/album you want to change, have you tried going into your iTunes music folder, changing the names/album/artist in finder and then recompiling your music library from iTunes? Just a guess

 

[Danksi]

Are you using iTunes to play the MP3's as well as organise them?

I ask, as I use iTunes to organise our MP3's, but use Slimserver/slimdevice to play them and have a Zen Xtra for the car. I noticed that our Zen Xtra wasn't picking up the ID3 tags properly and found that I had to convert the ID3 tags for all the files to version 2.3 (select all > rightclick selection > convert ID3 tags). The other versions didn't work properly.

 

[mad jew]

I convert tracks like that, as OutThere says. There will be slight quality loss but I don't notice it.

If it's just the name and the artist/album you want to change, have you tried going into your iTunes music folder, changing the names/album/artist in finder and then recompiling your music library from iTunes? Just a guess

Erm, it's a nice idea but I don't think this'll work. All playlists and play counts will be lost if you have to reimport and if you don't reimport, the file will not play. At any rate, the actual file name doesn't affect what iTunes sees the track as.

 

[balamw]

I had to convert the ID3 tags for all the files to version 2.3 (select all > rightclick selection > convert ID3 tags).

I think Danski is on to something. The few files I have had misbehave (my library is 99% M4A) were fixable with Danski's method or Tag & Rename (yes, my iTunes still lives on the Dell). In T&R I saw that the files in question had both ID3V1 and ID3V2 tags and different programs were using different tags. Clean up the extraneous tags and you'll be fine.

B

 

[neocell]

At any rate, the actual file name doesn't affect what iTunes sees the track as.

This has worked for me in the past

 

[mad jew]

This has worked for me in the past

Interesting. It should really only be looking at the tags, not the actual file name. Perhaps some of the older tag formats were intertwined with the file name.

 

[tekmoe]

If you don't have that many files that are corrupted like that, and you don't mind a wee bit of quality loss, you can try setting your Import settings in the iTunes preferences to something you like, then selecting the song, and clicking Advanced->Convert Selection to...

When it's done converting, see if the tags are still messed up.

This does the trick. It's not the absolute best solution but it does work. Much thanks!#!@$@#$%!@#

 

[OutThere]

This does the trick. It's not the absolute best solution but it does work. Much thanks!#!@$@#$%!@#

Glad to hear it.

 

[Lacero]

Wouldn't it be easier to select the troublesome MP3's in the library and select Advanced > Convert ID3 Tags... and then choose the latest version? (v2.4)

Here's to the Crazy Ones ​

 

[tekmoe]

Wouldn't it be easier to select the troublesome MP3's in the library and select Advanced > Convert ID3 Tags... and then choose the latest version? (v2.4)

i wish it were that easy! i have tried that many times but it does not work.

 

[balamw]

Wouldn't it be easier to select the troublesome MP3's in the library and select Advanced > Convert ID3 Tags... and then choose the latest version? (v2.4)

FWIW. iTunes itself seems to use ID3V2.2 tags when using the MP3 encoder, and I and others have had some trouble with ID3V2.4 tags. Try and convert an AAC track to MP3 using iTunes and you get ID3V2.2 tags. It's strange, I know...

B

 

[Danksi]

Wouldn't it be easier to select the troublesome MP3's in the library and select Advanced > Convert ID3 Tags... and then choose the latest version? (v2.4)

i wish it were that easy! i have tried that many times but it does not work.

v2.4 gave me grief with my Zen Xtra, hence my using v2.3, which seemed OK with Slimserver as well. It could be that other MP3 players are only happy with certain versions.

Experiment with a bunch of MP3's and use the ID3 version that works.