Cutting MP3 Tracks, Part 3: MP3 Tagging
It probably will not be the last time this is written here in the kinté space: the DJ is also a research librarian. This means knowing the names and dates and other details about the music are very important. In the world of digital music—namely MP3 music—this means dropping ID3 tags (with “album art”) on cuts is super important.
My fondness for the GNOME desktop via Ubuntu, specifically its hook into the Debian Synaptic Package Manager made me reel with intoxication at the apparent abundance of Open Source ID3 tags tools. My rash impulse pointed to all these tools to illustrate that Linux environments provide better file management solutions not because of any objective technical superiority but mostly because of the abundance of file management utilities. The message in the Linux world is that hundreds (or even thousands) of others have the same file management problems you have and your problems are validated by the existence of a tool that addresses your problem. Note the emphasis on ‘addresses’—this is quite different from solving your problem. Nevertheless, in the Windows world, my file management problems are seen as strange and exotic—and eventually we get mature enough to stop paying for the privilege of being indirectly insulted by the legacy of one of the richest men in the Western white guy world.
The GNOME desktop via Ubuntu provides three ID3 utilities—and all of them do not meet my needs. Even when they are used together as a ‘composite’ application they still do not meet my needs:
- Audio Tag Tool does not have image tagging support so “album art” has to be dealt with elsewhere. It is optimized for naming multiple files from their respective file names. You cannot use one MP3 file to set the tags of another or more MP3 files.
- EasyTAG 1.99.11 will not allow preferences to be set without an audio player installed. Its default behavior is to search folders and perform “automatic” operations on audio files. I consider this behavior rude and violent. This application does read album art. I do not see any commands or views related to naming multiple files.
- Ex Falso has less functionality than Audio Tag Tool—a remarkable achievement. It appears to be a write-only tool.So when I come crawling back to Microsoft Windows, I have to remind myself that most ID3 tagging comes “bundled” with Windows Media Player and iTunes—and there is this huge thing called Media Monkey. For years I languished in Windows using what appears to be an abandoned piece of software called MP3 Tag Tools fortunately it is greatly improved and is now on SourceForge.net. It lacks only one feature that comes in handy from time to time: the ability to write ID3 tags based on the MP3 file name. For that, MP3tag is ready for this job. One very important consolation is that these tools are free. So these are true replacements of Linux equivalents.