Mass tagging with Mp3tag

WARNING: On a 234Kb 11706-line references list here, the tango.into mass tagger inserted approx six blank lines at stattered positions in the reference list, causing six spurious (Error) lines in the tag list, resulting in extreme mistagging in Mp3tag. Chrisjjj 2009-04-24T10:21:55 (UTC)

• thanks for the report. I once experienced alteration of content when resubmitting. Does the error you reported occur when freshly pasting into input field? Tobiasco 2009-04-24T12:59:04 (UTC)
• Yes, it occurs when I have pasted from an editor (TextPad) into the empty input field of a new mass tagging form. And the blank lines can be seen in the content of the input field shown after Submit. Chrisjjj 2009-04-24T17:28:47 (UTC) PS Should this discussion (but not the warning) be in Talk instead?
• I said Yes, but now when I try that, I don't get the error in the tags. But I still get the blanks in the show input field references. Chrisjjj 2009-04-24T17:41:55 (UTC)

WARNING SUMMARY: After pasting large input (how large?) into the input field and submitting the form, tango.info tagger sends back faulty data in the input field and good data in the tag field. When submitting the form again, the faulty data will be send to the tango.info tagger and the tags you get back will be faulty too. Work around: only submit freshly pasted data to tango.info tagger. Confirmed by:

• Tobiasco with Firefox Tobiasco 2009-04-24T20:07:13 (UTC)

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If you know how mass tagging works see: mass tagging expert.

This mass tagging procedure labels the files of your computer-based music library with track info from tango.info, operating on many files (e.g. your entire library) in one go. It works on files of all major audio formats.

To tag just a one or two albums, you will find solo tagging quicker.

Mass tagging identifies albums by the barcode number. The labels ("tags") it supplies are:

• Album (title), Album Artist, Side (a.k.a. Disc Number, Set)
• (of track:) Title, Track (number), Artist, Genre, Year*

* MediaMonkey users - see MediaMonkey Problems.

Note: Artist is a comma-separated list of primary artist name(s) (e.g. orchestra leader), followed by secondary artist name(s), e.g. Osvaldo Pugliese, Roberto Chanel, Alberto Morán (improvement planned).

Requirements

Track files and their parent folders need to be named as follows:

• Each track file name starts with the track number.
• Each track's folder path name contains somewhere:
  • for a single-side album, the album barcode number;
  • for each side in a multi-side album, the album barcode number, followed by - or \ , followed by the side number. (For CD albums, side corresponds to disc.)
• Leading zeros are allowed on track and side numbers, and on album barcodes provided the result does not exceed 14 characters.
• Examples:
  • My Music\El rey del compas (1941-1943) 828766933420\1 El rey del compás.flac
  • My Music\40 Grandes Exitos (CD1 of 2) 8427328146067-1\01 Patotero sentimental.flac
  • My Music\40 Grandes Exitos (CD2 of 2) 8427328146067-2\01 Porteño y bailarín.flac
  • My Music\08427328146067\2\1.flac (TINT\ - see TINT-based filing)
  • My Music\08427328146067-002\1.flac

Setup

1. Go here to download Mp3tag V2.40b or later, install and launch.
2. In Mp3tag, click Tools | Options | Export.
3. Click the starred page icon, type ti mass tagging and click OK (you'll get a Notepad window).
4. To the clipboard copy the code lines found by opening this in a new window.
5. In the Notepad window, click Edit | Select All and then Edit | Paste (all lines are replaced by the lines you copied).
6. Click File | Save, and then File | Exit.
7. In the Mp3tag Options dialog box, untick Show selection dialog.
8. Click OK (the dialog box will close).

Step 1 - Retrieve tag data

1. Launch Mp3tag if not already running.
2. Click File | Change directory... and select the folder containing your album folders. To add further folders, use File | Add directory....
3. Click File | Export), wait until you see a Yes button, and click it (you'll get a Notepad window showing a list of track references).
4. Look for any lines reporting Error: track and/or album number missing.... For any you find, either:
   • correct/add the track and album numbers: in Windows Explorer adjust the reported file/folder names, then go back to 2. above, or;
   • exclude the reported tracks: in Mp3Tag, click Path (for helpful grouping), select each one and press Delete, then click Edit | Unselect All and go back to 3. above.
5. In the Notepad window click Edit | Select All and then Edit | Copy.
6. In a new browser window open http://tools.tango.info/tagger1.0.php .
7. Click in the Track references text box, click Edit | Paste, and click Submit.

You've retrieved the tag data for your tracks.

Step 2 - Save the tag data

1. Click on in the Tag list text box and then click Edit | Copy.
2. Switch back to the Notepad window (containing the track references, still selected) and click Edit | Paste (the track references will be replaced by the tag list).
3. Inspect the tag list for any line starting Error::
   • Error: track not found... means tango.info has no data for this track - the track will simply be skipped.
   • Error: followed by anything else signifies a serious problem - do not proceed.
4. Click File | Save.

You've saved the tag list for your tracks.

Step 3 - Put the tag data into your track files

1. Switch back to Mp3tag.
2. Click Edit | Select all files.
3. Click Convert | Text file - Tag (you'll get a dialog box).
4. In Filename enter c:\mp3tag.txt .
5. To the clipboard copy the code line found by opening this in a new window.
6. In Mp3tag click in Format string and click Edit | Paste.
   • Note: if you use the preview function and have many tracks (e.g. found on 7597), then the preview can be too large to be shown.
7. Click OK and wait until you see the completion dialog box saying e.g. Tag extracted from text file ' c:\mp3tag.txt" and saved in 2024 of 2024 files.
8. Verify the two numbers are the same. If not, you probably made a mistake in copying or pasting - click Edit | Undo and try again from Step 1.

You've put the tag data into your track files. Mp3tag shows you the result.

Please consider donating to Mp3tag here.