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If you use Windows (i.e., you can't afford a Mac yet), Tag&Rename and MusicBrainz make a pretty powerful combination for fixing tags.

I manage a collection of... ahem... some size.

Everything's in \Music. \Music has no files, only directories. Most of these are band names (e.g. \Music\Built to Spill) or compilation titles (e.g. \Music\Wedding Crashers). I have some genre titles and decades for assorted songs/singles (e.g. \Music\80s, \Music\Techno, \Music\Jazz) but I haven't fully come to a decision on what to do about those, yet, in this broader framework.

In the individual directories under \Music I have all albums named in the format Artist - Album - Track - Title. I use Tag & Rename to ... well ... tag & rename my collection. I think these four fields are the most one needs to have in the filename. Some people go with \Artist\Album\Track. Title, as I believe iTunes does if it manages one's library, but I like to minimize the number of directories. Anyway, related to that, if an album is two or more discs then I use the "Disc" ID3v2 field and then use T&R to number the album from track 01 to track xx, with all discs having the same album title. Likewise, year should only be in the ID3 tag.

So. HTH.

Unfortunately Tag & Rename is shareware, but it's a GREAT application. You can select a whole list of mp3s and have it search for the albums on Amazon.com and automatically generate ID3 tags. I've done my entire collection of 150 albums in a couple of hours (I believe you have to do one album at a time). The link is http://www.softpointer.com/tr.htm

By the way, there is another program that IS freeware that does the same thing with amazon.com, but I can't remember the name :/

Tag and rename handles a bunch of different files, and has a pile of tools for editing tags.

• I can do real-time encoding (single-pass) of DVDs into libavcodec/MPEG4, and 2-passes with only 50% more time, on my 1.66GHz CPU. I can do 2-pass MPEG-2 encoding in realtime.

Real-time is not fast enough.

• Sounds like you should use VNC or X11 over the network, or perhaps some other front-end which works with the data locally.

Tag&Rename doesn't exist on Linux.

• MusicBrainz
• MoodLogic
• QuickNamer
• MusicMagic Mixer
• UltraTagger
• FixTunes
• Tag&Rename

Personally, due to the *ahem* huge amount of mp3's I deal with, I personally tag and rename all my mine manually with Tag & Rename.

It connects to CDDB or FreeDB or Allmusic. It takes a little longer than the close-your-eyes and hope MusicMatch is correct, but then I know it's tagged correctly.

Which OS? I used to use Tag&Rename when I ran my music stuff under Windows - excellent program. Don't know for Linux, and under OS X I just use iTunes to manage stuff.

Cheers,
Ian

For example, their compendium of software includes:

A workaround for EU volume limitation
Ripping, encoding and tagging recommendations.
A utility to mass export Outlook contacts
News and Weather syndication downloaders.
By far the best way to retrieve your MP3s (a utility that sits on your iPod itself and is executable over a network!)
The fantastic iPod Agent, which creates beautiful XML music lists as well as performing loads of useful functions

Every other area of the lounge is equally as exhaustive - from iTunes configuration (you can do amazing things with smart playlists!) to headphones and case reviews. Visit the site instead of buying a book.

(Oh, and I'm in no way involved with the Lounge other than being a fan.)

As to your points about checking all the mp3s before burning them to a cd, how is that different from checking them before transferring to an iPod? I am a total snob for id tags, all of mine have to perfect before they go on the iPod, which is where Tag & Rename comes in.

whereas hdd players imho you're much more likely to switch singles in and out, hear the same songs over and miss the discovery of great new ones, that i get all the time when out with my portable

Surely the higher capacity of a HDD based player allows you to avoid hearing the same songs over and over. Having 5000 songs at your fingertips makes it a lot easier to vary your listening than carrying the equivalent number of cds (28) and having to swap them out and somehow label them so you know which tracks are where.

You need Tag & Rename. It's easily the best ID3 tag editor out there. You can very easily generate tags for all your mp3s based on filenames or directory structures as well as doing group edits and renaming files based on the tags. Since it sounds like your collection is already ripped and organized, I'm sure the 30-day trial would be plenty for you to update your whole collection.

Tag & Rename is a great utility (windows) for . . .you guessed it - Tagging and Renaming MP3's (works for .ogg and .wma too). It can connect to FreeDB to retreive track info from your mp3's (if they're in the correct order, organized by album, etc). I've use it since ver. 1.3 and have loved it, once you get used to the interface.

1. Ya, thats annoying, but its got a hold switch
2. Mine too! wtf is with that...
3. Well, you can with itunes
4. ...you have untagged mp3s?
5. Belkin has an ipod battery backup which lets you use 4 AA batteries. A little bulky, but its great for long airplane rides.
6. Doesnt bother me
7. Ya, the "wired" remote sucks. Give me a wireless remote or dont give me one at all. I dont even use mine

Other than that, ipod rules!

For the lazy, the AC is talking about Tag&Rename

Thank you, AC!

Wrong. I use Total Recorder to "creatively cache" the songs to my iPod. Combine that with an app like Tag&Rename that can figure out what CD a group of MP3 files is and then rename/set tags based on freedb entries, and you're all set.

$9.95/mo well spent.

And, in the few months since I've subscribed to Rhapsody, I've *bought* many more new CDs of new artists I've found by clicking and sampling.

Well, it's not for Mac, but there's a shareware program called Tag and Rename ( http://www.softpointer.com/tr.htm ) for Win32 will look up a CD's information on FreeDB and then fill in the ID3 tags for you, no problem.

You just need to make sure you have all the album's tracks in one directory and that they're listed in order (it helps if the track number is at the beginning of the filename).
Tag and Rename will also let you manually pick out your album from Allmusic (www.allmusic.com)(in case there's tracks missing, or truncated MP3's) , and then fill out ID3 tags using Allmusic's information (including the album cover!).

That is correct; you don't even need to burn it first.

The MP3 Tag and Rename software I use (windows only, sorry) can take a group of MP3s, create a CDDB checksum, query freeDB for it, and write the artist/album/trackname info into the ID3 tags.

Another similiar program is Tag & rename. Again, windows commericialware, but VERY useful.

ID3 (v1 and v2) to filenames and back, mass tagging, etc.