Convert ID3v2 *TAGS* to FLAC

[Evil Overlord]

FLAC files on ReadyNAS NV+, Windows XP SP3

Most of my music library is in FLAC format. For some reason (probably my own error), I've ended up with about a third of the files in FLAC format, but with ID3v2 tags. I need a simple way to convert these tags to FLAC format.

I've tried the following:
TAG.exe - works, but very, very slow.
MP3Tag - very slow, removes album art from tag.
dbPowerAmp - slow, keeps album art, but no way to filter for only the files with ID3v2 (that I know of).
MediaMonkey - ?

I'd really prefer to use MediaMonkey - that's what I use for most tagging purposes, and it's substantially faster than the alternatives. However, I can't find a way to use MM to see what kind of tags I have. Even viewing file properties doesn't seem to show me either the tag type or the content of ID3v2 tags (or, at least, it's not clear that they are that).

Any suggestions?

[Teknojnky]

this typically happens because you use EAC to rip and have an option to tag id3 tags, which apparently EAC does even on flac files.

I use musicbrainz picard, which has an option to remove id3 tags in flac files, updates tags and adds album art and last.fm genre tags.

[Evil Overlord]

I use musicbrainz picard, which has an option to remove id3 tags in flac files, updates tags and adds album art and last.fm genre tags.

Thanks. I downloaded and installed Picard, with the following comments:
* It looks like to make this work, I need to select, then cluster, then save the files.
* Works well so far, though not too quickly. (That is, it seems to work instantly, but the "Pending files" note in the lower right never goes away. Not clear to me whether the work is finished. If it is, then this works so fast that I can do all the files, without filtering.)
* I don't find any way to filter for only those files that have the ID3v2 tags. Because the whole process is so slow, and I have a fair number of files, I want to only re-tag the problem files.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't know that this is better than using dbPowerAmp, in the end. I'd really like to do this with MediaMonkey somehow, if possible.

[Teknojnky]

yea, well as far as I know, its not possible with MM.

even clean tags does not remove id3 from flac, the only way I do it is through picard. But typically I am doing that as I add music, not trying to go thru old stuff.

also, you could try to have picard auto-analyze tracks, which tries to use acoustical analysis to put the tracks in the right album. Although its not 100% accurate, it does work pretty good.

if you want an automated solution, it looks your going to be stuck with the ones you already listed. just let it go overnight/weekend.

[Evil Overlord]

Teknojnky,

After further play with Picard, it looks like it does work very quickly, and the original "Pending Files" was an anomaly. So, I may use it to just redo all my files. Only... I don't see any way to tell when it is finished saving files. I closed it at one point, and found that it had not yet save all the files it was working on - so that some files ended up still with ID3v2 tags. Is there a way to tell when it's done?

[Teknojnky]

It does not modify any files until you select the clusters/albums on the right and hit the save tags button.

its a good idea to double check each album to make sure its the right one before just selecting all and saving

from there you can see when its done when the tracks all have check marks

I find its best/easiest to work in batches of 10 or so albums

also, if you have MM folder monitoring enabled/configured, it should pickup any updates from picard. I usually do an add/rescan afterwards just incase any get missed or are slow to update.

[Evil Overlord]

Well, here's the interesting thing: I find that it works (removes ID3v2) if all I do is:
- drag folder to middle pane
- click Cluster on the toolbar button
- select clustered folders in the middle pane, and click Save on the toolbar.

That is, I never do the lookup, so I never get anything in the right pane. I tried using lookup, but it changes some deliberate edits to album/song titles. So, I have no marker for when the saving is done. Is there a way to do lookup but save while rejecting all changes? Seems counterintuitive, but it would apparently still get rid of the ID3v2.

[Teknojnky]

cool, never considered that.

I have all (nearly anyway) music run thru picard so that I can get the most consistent data, + amazon art & last.fm tags.

well to see when its done, I guess you could use mediamonkeys 'timestamp' column to see if/when file was last modified

[Evil Overlord]

Good tip on the timestamp - except that Picard doesn't seem to do the files in order, so it's hard to tell when it's done.

I thought of another option - what if in MediaMonkey, I select all file properties (check the boxes), but don't change anything. Would that rewrite all the properties as they were, but drop the extraneous tags?

[Teknojnky]

no that would clear all those fields for the selected tracks

MM doesn't remove the id3 tags from flacs, even if you use advanced tag management > clean tags, or sync tags.

you will just have to beleive me when I say MM won't be much help there, as I have 'been there, done that'.

just had a thought tho, foobar2000 might be able to fix them with 'tagging > re-write tags' context menu

[Evil Overlord]

OK, I give up on MM (for this). Too bad, though; it's otherwise terrific for tagging.

I did try foobar; I saw a comment on the tag rewrite thing somewhere. But I can't actually find the option. I'm using foobar2000 v1.0.1, and I just don't find this - in regular menus or right click context menus, or ...

I also didn't find any way to sort/filter by tag type. Only MP3Tag and dbPowerAmp seem to offer this. For MP3Tag, I have to either load each artist folder by itself, or all the artists, so it's a bit unwieldy. dbPowerAmp only shows "Vorbis comments" for FLAC files, even when there are also ID3v2.

[Teknojnky]

I did try foobar; I saw a comment on the tag rewrite thing somewhere. But I can't actually find the option. I'm using foobar2000 v1.0.1, and I just don't find this - in regular menus or right click context menus, or ...

I have foobar 1.0 and its select files, right click > tagging > rewrite file tags

you might also try testing some files by foobar > right click > properties > disc number > right click remove

I also didn't find any way to sort/filter by tag type. Only MP3Tag and dbPowerAmp seem to offer this. For MP3Tag, I have to either load each artist folder by itself, or all the artists, so it's a bit unwieldy. dbPowerAmp only shows "Vorbis comments" for FLAC files, even when there are also ID3v2.

wierd, I seem to remember that it showed id3 there (when they were there), I could be wrong I guess.

I used to use the 'flac-113.bat' script to convert older flac files to the current version, and I originally found these id3 tag errors because flac.exe won't re-encode them if they have id3 tags (and wont fix them either).

picard is still the best fixer I've used, but I can agree its not well suited for large automatic batch processing.

[Teknojnky]

you might also ask (or search first) the hydrogen audio forums to see if anyone else has some solutions

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php

[Evil Overlord]

I have foobar 1.0 and its select files, right click > tagging > rewrite file tags

All I have under tagging is 'get tags from freedb'. Maybe there's a plugin?

you might also try testing some files by foobar > right click > properties > disc number > right click remove

That would solve the initial problem, but now I know I have the ID3v2 tags, and that they're so universally frowned upon, I'd like to remove them all.

[Evil Overlord]

For the record, for anyone with the same problem. My final solution to this issue was this:

1) use MP3Tag to determine which files need revision
2) use Picard to fix the files
3) use Windows Task Manager to tell when Picard is done
4) if you want confirmation, reload the same folders in MP3Tag. If you have the filter in place, you should see no files at all. Without the filter, the tag column should read "FLAC (FLAC)" for all files


Setup and usage tips
MP3Tag

• Make sure the "Tag" column is shown. This will read "FLAC (FLAC)" for files without ID3v2, and "FLAC (FLAC ID3v2)" for thos with ID3v2.
• Drag and drop folders from Windows Explorer to the main pain in MP3Tag. This allows you to just focus on, e.g., one
• Filter for just those files with ID3v2 tags. Use [%_tag% HAS "flac id3v2"] (without brackets) in the filter window to show only the files you want.

MusicBrainz Picard

• Under Tools | Options | Tags, be sure to check the option "Remove ID3 tags from FLAC files".
• View the File Browser window. Drag and drop from there to the center pane.
• Ensure all files are loaded - when they are, the "Pending Files" note in the lower right corner will read "0", and all the files in the center pane will be black rather than greyed out.
• Click the Cluster button on the toolbar (this may not be necessary, but it's quick)
• Select all files in the center pane (Ctrl+A), right click one, and choose "Save"

Windows Task Manager

• Picard itself offers no way to be sure it has finished saving. However, you can use Task Manager to oonitor Picard's CPU usage. When it has been consistently "00" for some time, it's done.

Other notes
My setup - 16,000 files (mostly FLAC), ReadyNAS NV+, SqueezeBox Radio, Windows XP SP3, 802.11g (except for Radio, which is wired). The initial problem was that Squeeze Server often showed "(Disc 1)" in the title of an album. The cause turned out to be FLAC files with ID3v2 tags in addition to FLAC tags.

For me, the above was by far the fastest solution - all the other solutions processed about a file/minute, whereas this could do about 100/min. I'm not sure why it works, but I assume Picard is simply deleting the ID3 tags, and leaving the rest of the file alone. If you have faster access to your files, you might consider the following:

• MP3Tag - In Tools | Options | Tags, choose 'remove ID3' options. Filter for files needing work. Select all files, right click, choose Tag Cut, then Tag Paste.
• dbPowerAmp - download and install the "Update Tag" option from the website. Use Batch Converter, select the folders you want, then convert, and choose "Tag update".
• Tag.exe - I found this unwieldy, but there is an option that is something like "Tag --remove --force FLAC *.* [CHECK this before using].
• Picard - you could also use Picard the way it's intended to be used. Choose your files, then lookup or scan, and save from the right pane. I didn't use this because my files are already carefully tagged (aside from the ID3 issue), and because it takes much more time.