Difference between "flac tags" and "ID3 tags&

[Seeker]

I ripped my entire collection (1000 cds) to flac with EAC. I wanted the "best" file from my cds. I added album art, lyrics, tagged nicely etc.

Now I'm reading here and there about "flac tags" and "id3 tags" and arguments about which is better, or desirable.

Any explanations on what I'm clueless about?

[Teknojnky]

flac use vorbis tags, which are the 'flac tags' equivalent to mp3's id3 tags.

id3 tags are not normally, and should not be used on flac's.

Some programs do incorrectly write id3 tags to flac files which can cause some problems with other programs.

Normally users won't need to worry about them as most modern tag apps apply the correct tags to the correct file type.

I believe tho, that EAC will incorrectly tag id3 tags to flac files if configured wrong.

[Seeker]

How do I tell which I have? And IF I have the wrong ones - an easy way to fix (I have 20000).

To Mediamonkey's credit - it seems to handle both.


(But on a side note - this may be why I have problems with my flac files and some of Trixmoto's scripts)

[dypsis]

I have only recently started encoding in FLAC and found out the hard way that having ID3 tags in FLAC files can cause problems with some players/applications. I also used EAC. EAC will add ID3 tags to FLAC files by default. So you need to manually deselect the ID3 tag option in EAC so that it writes no tags to your files. You then need to tag your tracks with some other tagger.

Now. To remove ID3 tags without also removing your FLAC tags (if you have them) is another problem.

There are a couple of methods that I discovered that works.

1. Mp3tag will do it by the following method. Open Mp3tag, and go to Tools > Options > Tags > Mpeg and tick the box beside ID3v1 and ID3v2.

Now load up some tracks, select them, and right click on the tracks and choose "Remove Tag". This will remove all Tags from your tracks. Now press the Undo button. Only FLAC tags will be restored.

I found that the only part of your FLAC tag that is not restored is the Album Art.


2. Tag is a command line tool for tagging and untagging audio files.
I found that this tool will remove all traces of both ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags without touching FLAC tags by using the command line below.

TAG.EXE --remove --force FLAC *.flac


If you add --recursive to the command, it will work in all sub-folders.

TAG.EXE --recursive --remove --force FLAC *.flac

I made a batch file to do the job for myself.


NOTES:
I recommend that you test any method with a copy of one of your tracks before attempting to remove ID3 tags from numerous tracks.

I also found that Mp3tag does not display ID3v1 tags in FLAC files even if they are there.
Tag will display all your tags using:
tag *.flac
or
tag filename.flac

XMPlay will also display all tags by going to Track Info > Message or pressing F2.

[Seeker]

re 1 - when you say "only flac tags are restored" - do the id3 tags magically move to them (or were already there) or do they just go away?

It SOUNDS like I'll get flac tags, but they'll be empty.


The problem is I've spent WEEKS placing info into tags for 20,000 songs. Album art, lyrics, etc. - Mediamonkey loves it - but it sounds like "I did it wrong".

All the rest of your suggestions also sound like - we can abandon your ID3 and restore (probably EMPTY) flac tags.

This isn't what I'd like to hear...... any thoughts on ID3 to flac tag MOVEMENT? vs abandonment?

[dypsis]

Yes. The methods that I posted remove the ID3 tags.

Are you sure that the majority of your tag data is stored in the ID3 tags?

You need to establish this. You may find that it is stored in the FLAC tag with just the basic data in the ID3 which EAC put there.

[Seeker]

You are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT - I have no idea other than I "made" the files with EAC/LAME to flac and then have edited my heart out in mediamonkey.

How do I figure it out?

[dypsis]

Well, you can try a test track to see what is left remaining after you remove the ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags.

Or Tag or XMPlay will tell you exactly what info is in what tag.

I suspect that all the info you put in with MM will be in the FLAC tag.