Phantom album artists re-appearing

[zoltansz]

Thank't what I was expecting from mp3tag's remove function. In the evening, I'll try to close the literal strings in the file header manually by frhed.

[garym]

Thank't what I was expecting from mp3tag's remove function. In the evening, I'll try to close the literal strings in the file header manually by frhed.

but didn't you only remove the id3v1 tags (not the id3v2.3 tag), and is this stray artist name showing up in the hex of your id3v2.3 tag?

What if you set mp3tag options to remove ALL the tag types and then hit the X. Does it remove all tags and allow you to add back new id3v2.3 clean tag with correct info only?

[zoltansz]

Problem solved.

- Filled the block inside the file from "Album Artist..." until the end of the name of album artist with 0x00 usgin frhed.
- Opened the file with mp3tag and just to make sure, I entered something into Album Artist and Saved the file.
- Now cleared the Album Artist info, Saved again.

Et voilá, the complete block of the phantom Album Artist info disappeared form the file (at around offset 0x017e).

Of course, the rebuilt library did not contain that Album artist anymore.

Quite hard to get rid of it, still think this is a bug in LMS, but nevermind.

Thanks again for all your help,
Z

[garym]

Problem solved.

- Filled the block inside the file from "Album Artist..." until the end of the name of album artist with 0x00 usgin frhed.
- Opened the file with mp3tag and just to make sure, I entered something into Album Artist and Saved the file.
- Now cleared the Album Artist info, Saved again.

Et voilá, the complete block of the phantom Album Artist info disappeared form the file (at around offset 0x017e).

Of course, the rebuilt library did not contain that Album artist anymore.

Quite hard to get rid of it, still think this is a bug in LMS, but nevermind.

Thanks again for all your help,
Z

excellent! glad its fixed. Not sure how this is a LMS bug vs a bad tag but I suppose it could be. anyhow, problem solved.

[JJZolx]

I think you're running into an issue with Mp3tag's tag mapping. For Mp3/ID3v2 tags it maps TPE2 to a field that it names 'ALBUMARTIST' (without a space). If you add a field named 'ALBUM ARTIST' (with a space) to a file with an ID3v2 tag, then you create a TXXX frame named 'ALBUM ARTIST'. That appears to be what I see in your posting from the hex editor (my guess is that you'll see TXXX just before the characters that you posted). These TXXX fields are ID3v2's way of allowing free-form user defined fields that don't have to comply with the 4-character pre-mapped standard fields in the ID3v2 specification.

Squeezebox Server is very flexible and will recognize several variations of the 'album artist' field within ID3v2 tags: TPE2 (aka Mp3tag's "ALBUMARTIST"), or TXXX/ALBUMARTIST, or TXXX/ALBUM ARTIST.

In Mp3tag the area that you see to the left of the columns is called the 'Tag Panel'. In the Tag Panel there's a field labeled 'Album Artist' that edits the ALBUMARTIST field (note, no space in the field name, although it's in the text labef. Yes, it can cause confusion).

Open the Extended Tags dialog in Mp3tag to see whether or not you have 'ALBUM ARTIST' fields (with the space) in these files. Highlight the file(s) and hit Alt-T, or use the 'Pencil & Paper' icon in the button bar.

[zoltansz]

JJZolX, you are the winner!

Editing the extended tag called "ALBUM ARTIST" shows the phantom names!

Many thanks to all of you!
Z

[zoltansz]

BTW I do not know how that ALBUM ARTIST extended tag got there. I ripped with WMP and re-tagged it with mp3tag.

[garym]

BTW I do not know how that ALBUM ARTIST extended tag got there. I ripped with WMP and re-tagged it with mp3tag.

WMP (which I wouldn't recommend as a secure ripper by the way) does all sorts of weird things unless you go in an turn off some of the tagging options. It can even add unwanted tags to existing files that you simply open in WMP unless you've turned off certain "fill in missing tags from internet" options.

[zoltansz]

I had all automatic features off in WMP so that should not be a problem. I keep only those albums on my PC that I am ripping. My library is on my NAS, where SB is running.

Nevertheless, I switched to EAC.

[emalvick]

I had all automatic features off in WMP so that should not be a problem. I keep only those albums on my PC that I am ripping. My library is on my NAS, where SB is running.

Nevertheless, I switched to EAC.

I find that WMP can occasionally write tags even if the settings to write tags are off... WMP likes to try and recommend music, etc, and it will often require you to allow tag writing without specifically telling you that. This is especially the case if you use it for rating files.