Managing FLAC and OGG tags

[DennyL]

I have been using MP3Tag to tidy my mp3 tags - eliminating all but ID3v2.3 tags. Now, when I scan my music the Squeezebox server doesn't fall over.

I have quite a few FLACs and OGGs and, reading the Squeezebox 'Beginners Guide to tagging', I see that FLAC and OGG tags should contain Vorbis Comments, and FLACs may also contain ID3 tags, but this isn't good. My question is: how do I ensure that my FLACs and OGGs contain only Vorbis comments? I have been able to use MP3Tag to manage my mp3 tags by using the settings 'Write ID3v2 ISO-8859-1' and 'Remove ID3v1 and APE'. This seems to have worked, but there are not corresponding options for FLACs and OGGs, such as 'Write Vorbis comment' and 'Remove ID3'. When I load FLACs in MP3Tag and use the big red cross to delete, it deletes all tag contents. Can anyone suggest a way of managing FLAC and OGG tags?

Thank you for any suggestions.

[garym]

I have been using MP3Tag to tidy my mp3 tags - eliminating all but ID3v2.3 tags. Now, when I scan my music the Squeezebox server doesn't fall over.

I have quite a few FLACs and OGGs and, reading the Squeezebox 'Beginners Guide to tagging', I see that FLAC and OGG tags should contain Vorbis Comments, and FLACs may also contain ID3 tags, but this isn't good. My question is: how do I ensure that my FLACs and OGGs contain only Vorbis comments? I have been able to use MP3Tag to manage my mp3 tags by using the settings 'Write ID3v2 ISO-8859-1' and 'Remove ID3v1 and APE'. This seems to have worked, but there are not corresponding options for FLACs and OGGs, such as 'Write Vorbis comment' and 'Remove ID3'. When I load FLACs in MP3Tag and use the big red cross to delete, it deletes all tag contents. Can anyone suggest a way of managing FLAC and OGG tags?

Thank you for any suggestions.

yep, one minor shortcoming of mp3tag is that it won't tell you that a FLAC file may also contain an ID3 tag. Of course a FLAC file should have NEVER had an ID3 tag, but some programs are allowed to add these if you tell them to. Perhaps someone has another program suggestion that would identify ID3 tags within FLAC files.

[DennyL]

MP3Tag shows when FLACs contain ID3 tags, but I can't see that it provides a way of removing them.

[garym]

MP3Tag shows when FLACs contain ID3 tags, but I can't see that it provides a way of removing them.

aha. that's good. Never had any to test. I wonder if simply converting a Flac file to a new flac file (using foobar2000 or dbpoweramp for example) would then leave the new FLAC file with only the correct tags....I would think yes, but can't test...

[JJZolx]

I have quite a few FLACs and OGGs and, reading the Squeezebox 'Beginners Guide to tagging', I see that FLAC and OGG tags should contain Vorbis Comments, and FLACs may also contain ID3 tags, but this isn't good. My question is: how do I ensure that my FLACs and OGGs contain only Vorbis comments?

One sure way with FLAC is to re-encode the file in place using flac.exe. Tags are copied over and no ID3 tag will be written. Unfortunately, you can't (or don't want to) do that with Ogg Vorbis, as re-encoding a lossy encoded file will degrade the sound quality.

I have been able to use MP3Tag to manage my mp3 tags by using the settings 'Write ID3v2 ISO-8859-1' and 'Remove ID3v1 and APE'. This seems to have worked, but there are not corresponding options for FLACs and OGGs, such as 'Write Vorbis comment' and 'Remove ID3'.

Yeah, I've lobbied for settings like this for FLAC and Ogg Vorbis files for years. I think the philosophy is that since Mp3tag reads and writes only vorbis comments, then there's nothing to be configured. In the long run what it boils down to is that Mp3tag isn't all that great for _fixing_ problem tags. I've seen FLAC files with more than one vorbis comment block that give Mp3tag fits.

When I load FLACs in MP3Tag and use the big red cross to delete, it deletes all tag contents. Can anyone suggest a way of managing FLAC and OGG tags?

It's a little clunky in Mp3tag and it doesn't feel very safe, but the way to do it is to Cut and then Paste (and I think you also have to do a manual Save). This will remove all tags, including any ID3, but will only write vorbis comments. I'd be very cautious when doing this, however, as the tagging data will only exist on the clipboard during the time between the Cut and Paste. I'd never do this on more than a couple hundred files at a time and I'd have backups just in case the data gets lost.

[DennyL]

Thank you for your comments are suggestions, people. You have given me something to think about and a possible way forward.

I just tried the cut and paste suggestion. I selected 15 files in MP3Tag which displayed FLAC(FLAC ID3V2) in the tag column. After the 'Cut' the tag column displayed just (ID3V2) and the tag data was empty (all tag fields black). When I pasted the data back I got the tag data back again (tag fields populated) and again displaying FLAC(FLAC ID3V2) in the Tag column. The next thing to try is re-encoding. I don't really know off the top of my head how to tackle that. I suppose Max (for Mac) would do it, but I don't know a Windows software for that. I seem to have about 150 FLACs with ID3V2 tag data. This is a lot of faffing about. I'm using MP3Tag v2.51.

I got started on this because my scans stopped the server and I would have liked to overcome that problem. After I 'cleaned' my mp3 tags (ie removed ID3v1 tags) I did get my first ever problem-free scan. My second scan stopped the server again, my third scan was problem-free. So I don't know. The scan seems to stop the server when it is caching artwork. When I restart the server the scan seems to continue. Anyway, I would just feel better if I knew that my tags were good, and I could swear at Logitech with more conviction.

Thank you again for your help.

[garym]

Thank you for your comments are suggestions, people. You have given me something to think about and a possible way forward.

I just tried the cut and paste suggestion. I selected 15 files in MP3Tag which displayed FLAC(FLAC ID3V2) in the tag column. After the 'Cut' the tag column displayed just (ID3V2) and the tag data was empty (all tag fields black). When I pasted the data back I got the tag data back again (tag fields populated) and again displaying FLAC(FLAC ID3V2) in the Tag column. The next thing to try is re-encoding. I don't really know off the top of my head how to tackle that. I suppose Max (for Mac) would do it, but I don't know a Windows software for that. I seem to have about 150 FLACs with ID3V2 tag data. This is a lot of faffing about.

I got started on this because my scans stopped the server and I would have liked to overcome that problem. After I 'cleaned' my mp3 tags (ie removed ID3v1 tags) I did get my first ever problem-free scan. My second scan stopped the server again, my third scan was problem-free. So I don't know. The scan seems to stop the server when it is caching artwork. When I restart the server the scan seems to continue. Anyway, I would just feel better if I knew that my tags were good, and I could swear at Logitech with more conviction.

Thank you again for your help.

foobar2000 is an excellent program that can convert from about any format to any format, including FLAC to FLAC. You may need to install it, then also find the flac.exe on the net and place this in the same directory as foobar2000.

load up your files, right click, choose convert, choose output format. If FLAC says NA it is because FLAC.exe is not found.....

[Mnyb]

Thank you for your comments are suggestions, people. You have given me something to think about and a possible way forward.

I just tried the cut and paste suggestion. I selected 15 files in MP3Tag which displayed FLAC(FLAC ID3V2) in the tag column. After the 'Cut' the tag column displayed just (ID3V2) and the tag data was empty (all tag fields black). When I pasted the data back I got the tag data back again (tag fields populated) and again displaying FLAC(FLAC ID3V2) in the Tag column. The next thing to try is re-encoding. I don't really know off the top of my head how to tackle that. I suppose Max (for Mac) would do it, but I don't know a Windows software for that. I seem to have about 150 FLACs with ID3V2 tag data. This is a lot of faffing about. I'm using MP3Tag v2.51.

I got started on this because my scans stopped the server and I would have liked to overcome that problem. After I 'cleaned' my mp3 tags (ie removed ID3v1 tags) I did get my first ever problem-free scan. My second scan stopped the server again, my third scan was problem-free. So I don't know. The scan seems to stop the server when it is caching artwork. When I restart the server the scan seems to continue. Anyway, I would just feel better if I knew that my tags were good, and I could swear at Logitech with more conviction.

Thank you again for your help.

Then mp3tag is set to also write id3v they should go away if you do this operation ?

I use puddletag for Linux it has a remove Id3v function

[garym]

Then mp3tag is set to also write id3v they should go away if you do this operation ?

I use puddletag for Linux it has a remove Id3v function

I'm not sure mp3tag is actually writing the ID3v2 tag. Rather, mp3tag can't actually deal with DELETING the file, even when trying. It is a known issue that mp3tag has trouble deleting incorrect tags from FLAC files.

[DennyL]

Thank you, Garym. I shall install Foobar and try it.