mp3 Tagging Software

Slowhand

As I go through various aspects of my life, trying to organize and sort out all the junk I've got, I've finally come to my rather large mp3 collection. The biggest challenge isn't sorting out where or what everything is, but actually tagging those 13,000 or so files. I know there are programs out there to make it easier, some even cross-reference music databases to do the bulk of the job automatically.

Does anyone have any suggestions on reliable mp3 tagging software with the ability to automatically detect and tag mp3s based on filename, and the like?

royal

I used to use Windows Media Player which I really liked but now I use Itunes.

tiersten

Tag&Rename

Slowhand

tiersten wrote:

Tag&Rename

This looks pretty good to me. I'm going to give it a shot. It kind of reminds me of another application I looked at, called the Magic mp3 Tagger, but this seems to be a little better, in terms of features and support.

jibbajabba

tiersten wrote:

Tag&Rename

Using this for ages - very good and powerfull +1

Ahriakin

www.mediamonkey.com superb for cleaning up the collection, and it runs all Winamp plugins so you can get Kernel Streaming and ASIO output working aswell as a ton of others for file formats/EQ etc.

dynamik

How do you guys organize your directories?

I currently have all the letters of the alphabet at the top level, the name of the band under the corresponding letter, and then their respective albums under that.

I need to spend some serious time organizing all my stuff. I've never bothered with ratings or anything like that. I feel so archaic

HeroPsycho

I use Itunes, and set the option to have it organize my files for me. It then sticks them in Artist\Album folders.

I got too much to do to have to do this myself. I got to give it to Apple on this, they got the MP3 stuff down pat. Then just plug an ipod in, and you got your music.

Easy to rate, change tags for multiple songs simultaneously, and Smart playlists are awesome.

royal

Yep, that's why I said earlier I let Itunes do it for me. It organizes all my music, I can easily edit all my Genres, it'll automatically update ID tags, automatically download album artwork, and let's you add custom artwork in bulk, etc.... Organizes things really well and keeps it organized on my IPOD as well. Win-win.

drthtater

I've always used tagscanner.

I like it.

undomiel

I use Amarok. I don't have very many mp3s, just a few albums. I mostly just listen to streaming radio when I do. Too bad air1.com is not Linux friendly.

NetAdmin2436

I tried the itunes and a few other DB's to do the automatic thing. Personally I thought they were a joke. There was no rhyme or reason to what it was labeling. I found the same artist would be under 20 different Genres for 20 different songs. I'd find hardcore rap songs under country, heavy metal bands under jazz. Gimme a break, that's not even close. There was just too many inconsistencies to even be considered reliable.

I use MP3tag. With 60 some GB, it took a long time to fully complete. I guess I'm just too picky about my music.
http://www.mp3tag.de/en/

vsmith3rd

I catalog by Artists Name, and then have folders for Albums as a sub structure. I have separate folders for my singles, but I thought of sub catalogging by genre. If you are very particular, like I am, the best way is to catalog it yourself. I use Windows Media Player to structure the Album and Album cover art, and catalog it as I see fit. That way, its tailored to my tastes and preferences, and not some program writers. It takes a lot longer this way, so be prepared if you opt for this method.

Ahriakin

My biggest problem, and one the OP is likely facing, is that I didn't use MP3 tags when I first started ripping my collection (about 8 years ago). Stupid, but at the time there was no real need as I used accurate filenames, unfortunately the ordering for those details changed from time to time and when the collection got too big to manage manually I turned to Mediamonkey. It can tag from the web (uses Amazon.com and a few others), has editable filters to quickly adapt the tagging order if you are tagging from filenames where the syntax differs from file-file/folder-folder and then can do the same to re-arrange your folders to match your tags. Very quick and easy to use when you need to do a lot of fixing. Also it's an excellent player, the ability to use the winamp Kernel Streaming plugin alone is a huge plus (gives you an absolutely pure signal by bypassing the normal windows audio mixer).
I don't like iTunes, particularly as Apple seem to think that we shouldn't be asked if we want to install their Ipod services, Bonjour etc. even if we have absolutely no intention of using them...and if you disable the iPod stuff well hey it just turns it all back on next time it runs, since obviously Apple believe their customer base to be idiots who don't know what they want on their systems (I will leave obvious parallels to MAC users, or at least the stereotype, to your imaginations ).