What is the best utility for tagging media files?

What is the best utility for tagging media files?

 

Is there a better ID3 tagging utility than Tag&Rename?

mp3 tagging

 

Is there a program that uses gracenote or some other data base. If I have songs that are unrecognizable in Replay-music is there some program that I can use by playing song and can identify it from internet using some data base like gracenote? That Replay-Music misses.

I don't think that other client software using Gracenote will be any better than Replay Music.

It would really be interesting to know whether there are any alternatives to Gracenote database and client software supporting them.

Many programs support CDDB databases. And CDDB is seems to be owned by Gracenote now. However software like Tag and Rename can tag full album
only (using CDDB disc identification), while Replay Music can tag individual songs.

gracenote.com has a list of partner software but it is next to impossible to understand from their lists what software can tag individual songs.

Gracenote (CDDB2) alternatives:
1. FreeDB (CDDB or CDDB1 compatible; not compatible with Gracenote CDDB2). FreeDB is a free database with almost 2 mln. CDs.
You can get the artist, CD-title, tracklist and some additional info for the
whole CD only (No homemade CDs supported unless they are the copies of the original CDs. Although sometimes vinyl LPs converted to CDs can be recognized.)

2. AMG LASSO media recognition service from All Media Guide (AMG).
LASSO is a commercial service that recognizes CDs, DVDs, and digital audio files in formats such as MP3, WMA, and others. The service uses CD TOC, DVD TOC, and acoustic fingerprint based recognition technologies to recognize media.

3. MusicBrainz is a project that aims to create an open content music encyclopedia. Unlike FreeDB MusicBrainz has expanded its goals to reach beyond a compact disc metadata storehouse.
MusicBrainz has client software for Windows, Mac OS X and other platforms.

MusicBrainz rulez!!!

I've received a confirmation from a Replay Music developer, that he had tested MusicBrainz. He claims that Gracenote DB is much better.

Bottom line:

1. Use software supporting FreeDB or Musicbrainz for you CDs like Tag and Rename, MusicBrainz Tagger.
2. Use Replay Music to record music from online radio stations or online music subscription services (automatical tagging of individual songs is supported)
3. Use free Musicbrainz software to tag other individual songs. Although PicardTagger is CD oriented now, so I have no software suggestions so far.

Second chance

 

So, if I understand correctly musicbrainz is the only software that will give me a second chance at tagging a song that Replay Music missed using gracenote.

Sometimes Replay Music misses a song , So I end up with a track that is unrecognizable . It sure would be great if I could play it again and somehow give gracenote another shot at id ing that song again. Even if it was weeks later after database may have been updated.

Update / MusicBrainz

 

Hi all, just thought I would update , Downloaded musicbrainz.org .
Pretty nifty little program if you can get on to the server. I tryed using it to identify about 30 tracks . I kept getting error messages tell me server is full come back later. This morning at about 4:30 am I finally got on . It did not directly ( automatic ) identify any of the 30 songs immediatly but it has that ability, also ability to look up through a internal browser contained within musicbrainz software, to let you try to match the song yourself given about 4 or 5 choices that it thinks maybe relevant to your song file. Then it lets you tag manually. Not bad , another tool to try to help tagging missing id tags. HOOYAH !

Re: Update / MusicBrainz

 

Replay Media Catcher uses MusicIP to identify songs. It works great for me. Hopefully Applian will create a song idenfifying and tagging software for media files on the hard drive.

Media Monkey - free ID3 tagging software supporting MP3,OGG,WMA,MPC,FLAC,APE music

 

I'm a pretty big fan of Media Monkey. It's free, and it works great for me.

Media Monkey supports OGG, MP3, FLAC and WMA files. And it is much more than just tagging and renaming software, it can rip CDs, convert audio files, synchronize with portable devices, burn CD/DVD, catalog your physical CDs and use the Virtual CD feature to keep track of what CDs you own.

Tagging local music files with missing and incorrect ID3 tags and filenames

 

I have several albums and files named incorrectly like "Track01.mp3" that don't have any ID3 any tags either. Tagging software like Tag&Rename can find ID3 tags for full albums only.

Is there any way to tag single files? Yes, you can correct missing tags with freeware Picard Tagger and shareware Magic MP3 tagger. Both use Musicbrainz database and both were not very good in my tests. Not only I couldn't tag some of my files with the above mentioned programs, I didn't really like the interface of Picard Tagger and Magic MP3 tagger.

As for Replay Media Catcher, it can tag MP3 files while recording streaming media, it doesn't work with local files.

The only solution I have now is to tag such files with Replay Music. Oops! You can say that Replay Music re-records the song, so besides wasting your time, you lose quality with it. Although I can't do anything with the time factor, you can import ID3 tags from the newly recorded files (for example Tag&Rename can import ID3 tags). Voila!

Media Monkey vs. Tag&Rename

 

Media Monkey is really great. However it lacks some special features I use in Tag&Rename:

1. Windows Explorer integration. I really like to right-click on the folder and select "Tag&Rename"
2. Exporting ID3 tags. I like to export ID3 tags to HTML and CSV files after burning them onto CDs and DVDs. I can use Media Monkey to catalog my CDs, but I won't be able to switch to another program 'coz it will be next impossible to export this data to another program.
3. Importing ID3 tags
4. Showing files in the nested folders. I like the way Tag&Rename expands and collapses the lists of files in nested folders. I don't really wanna see all the files in many cases.
5. ID3 tags v1 and v2 . I also like that Tag&Rename allows to switch between ID3 tags v1 and v2 fast
6. and more...

And actually I don't really like many all-in-one programs. They can do lots of things, but have lots of disadvantages. With Tag&Rename I will tag and rename my files much faster and it is the most important factor for me.

p.s. I wish Tag&Rename paid me for advertising their product ;)

Re: What is the best utility for tagging media files?

 

Personally I use TuneUp for tagging. RMC's tagging only works for songs downloaded through it (Replay Music's tagging only works for songs recorded with it). With TuneUp it doesn't matter where they come from and it can fix cover art, etc. as well.

Re: What is the best utility for tagging media files?

 

I use a free version of Winamp player to tag MP3 files automatically. It might not have the best interface for tagging, but it is free.

Re: What is the best utility for tagging media files?

 

I use Tag & rename to edit tags
but I use xnview to rename group files with which the option of "replace" "add" or "delete" to edit files are useful and fast

Re: What is the best utility for tagging media files?

 

I can also suggest freeware The GodFather for tagging files.

I use freeware Unreal Commander for batch renaming.

Re: What is the best utility for tagging media files?

 

I think the absolute best one out there that I've used is Helium Music Manager 7 Network Version 7.3 which the Network Version part is the highest pro version you can go. Unfortunately, the program costs $50 for you folk who still want to pay for things but it was free for me of course cuz I got mine from warez web-site which the downloading of the program includes the serial number. Anyway this program has everything I ever wanted AND some!

You can sync to iPhones and other portable devices, stream access to the music via another pc in your home or halfway around the world, tag digital media and media that hasn't been in use since you were a kid like cassette tapes and vinyl records, convert to different formats and bit-rates, and the use of a strictly iPhone/iTouch-only app to control the media from your iPod/iTouch. This is just to name a few too.

For more info:
http://www.helium-music-manager.com/compare-versions/

P.S. The Helium Music Streamer to stream to any location is reported to be not that great on the site's forum so if you're looking for a decent streamer search for one on google or go here: subsonic.org/pages/index.jsp

Enjoy! :D :cool:

Re: What is the best utility for tagging media files?

 

I'd suggest trying out Zortam Mp3 Media Studio. It worked for me. www.zortam.com