MediaMonkey forum

I have six tracks on one album (in fact a live show) which in MM show tag data that cannot be found by my tag editor. When I remove it via MM, it re-appears when I rebuild the library. The data is in the Album Artist tag, and appears as a second tag for Album Artist, separated by a semi-colon. NONE of my tag editing or viewing apps show the data that MM claims is there - how do I get rid of it for good?

MediaMonkey can't remove data, if you empty a tag it won't be emptied in the file.

You could try Tools > Advanced Tag Management > Clean ID3v1 &v2 Tags and see if that is able to remove the tags. Also make sure that you try disabling Infer Track Properties under Tools > Options > Library as it can add tags when use Add/Rescan Tracks based on the filenames.

"Clean" rather than "Remove", yes?

I assume this is non-destructive? I can't find anything about it in the Help of the knowledgebase.

Here's how the Album Artist tag appears in MM track properties

The Grateful Dead (Live - 1976); The Grateful Dead (Live - 1970s)

So it is seen in two separate nodes.

Howsomever - I got rid of the second node some time ago. I have three or four ways of examining the tags set in that rack, including Tag&Rename, my tag editor of choice, and none of them show anything but the first entry.

Also, this re-appears after clearing the library.

Was it you I was talking to a while back about the Composer tag? I never got to the bottom of that, and wonder whether it was a hangover from a bug/feature in an old version of T&R. Manifestation is similar though, in that data you think should not be there is!

Yes Clean. When you remove the second Album Artist does the track show under the Library > Files to Edit > Unsynchronized Tags node? Also does the tag return when you add files with Infer Track Properties disabled?

Clean ID3v1 & v2 Tags will remove all tags from the file and thus is should be empty. After that you should use Tools > Advanced Tag Management > Synchronize Tags to re-add the tags to the files (test with some sample tracks to see if it fixes you're issue). I believe that embedded Album Art will be lost in the process.

No change. Where the HELL is this duff data being stored, for it sure as hell isn't in the album!

Did you disable Infer Track Properties?

Remove tracks
Clean tags with something like MP3Tag
Add/Rescan Tracks (with Infer Track Properties disabled)

Now tags should not have returned.

Yup, Infer Track Properties is disabled, that because I do the bulk of my own tagging with Tag&Rename

Will try what you suggest and get back to you

OK. Codec was wma, and mp3tag doesn't handle this. Tag&Rename has a "Clear all" feature when editing tags, which does not appear to do so!.

So - I converted the folder to shn, thus destroying the tags, and then to flac; updated the tag data, and yes, this is now in the library as it should be, with no spurious data.

The question remains - where was the data? Tag&Rename didn't show it in the Album Artist tag, yet even if I updated it, and rebuilt the library entry, the spurious data re-appeared in MM.

Weird. But then, as an ex software man of quarter of a century (oddly, dealing with Library Catalogues for huge libraries like Oxford Uni and Trinity College Dublin - and MARC Cataloguing is the most complex tag use there is, I believe), I shouldn't be too surprised - there's little software weirdness that I haven't encountered over the years!

it could have been stuck some place in the monkeys database and when you did the coverting it changed the tag info in the database too.?
wma was changed late last year i think and now has several kinds of wma's to use.
so it too could have had hiden tag's in it that got the info in and it would not allow it to be removed with out converting it.

I did wonder about that - though, if course, that implies that the CLR command does not properly clear the database. I assume it is an SQL database; not something I am (or rather, was, as it's some four years now since I did any coding, and the system we had which used it I didn't work on much) familiar with; presumably one could check it after it has been cleared.

With you on WMA, though I have only ever used the lossless version, but I did have some oddities with the Composer tag which might be releated to this; it's also possible there was - but no more - a bug in the tag editor I use, Tag&Rename, which caused both these anomalies.

Library catalogues hold their bib records in multi-level tags; most cataloguing programmes allow you to update these via a GUI, but also allow you to see the raw data. Would be good if either Tag&Rename, or indeed, MM, had this as an option


Sorted now, but these things are intensely frustrating! Inquiring minds, and all that...

If you fancy a look at tagging in Cataloguing, check out http://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/.

Here's a sample for your delectation

Leader 01041cam 2200265 a 4500
Control No. 001 ###89048230
Control No. ID 003 DLC
DTLT 005 19911106082810.9
Fixed Data 008 891101s1990 maua j 001 0 eng
LCCN 010 ## $a ###89048230
ISBN 020 ## $a 0316107514 :
$c $12.95
ISBN 020 ## $a 0316107506 (pbk.) :
$c $5.95 ($6.95 Can.)
Cat. Source 040 ## $a DLC
$c DLC
$d DLC
LC Call No. 050 00 $a GV943.25
$b .B74 1990
Dewey No. 082 00 $a 796.334/2
$2 20
ME:Pers Name 100 1# $a Brenner, Richard J.,
$d 1941-
Title 245 10 $a Make the team.
$p Soccer :
$b a heads up guide to super soccer! /
$c Richard J. Brenner.
Variant Title 246 30 $a Heads up guide to super soccer
Edition 250 ## $a 1st ed.
Publication 260 ## $a Boston :
$b Little, Brown,
$c c1990.
Phys Desc 300 ## $a 127 p. :
$b ill. ;
$c 19 cm.
Note: General 500 ## $a "A Sports illustrated for kids
book."
Note: Summary 520 ## $a Instructions for improving soccer
skills. Discusses dribbling, heading,
playmaking, defense, conditioning,
mental attitude, how to handle
problems with coaches, parents,
and other players, and the history
of soccer.
Subj: Topical 650 #0 $a Soccer
$v Juvenile literature.
Subj: Topical 650 #1 $a Soccer.