true. but...
Looking at the tags, in say, mp3 tagstudio, or even MC if you like, using AW > file info > filetype info, (not for one moment is there any suggestion of anything underhand going on here) all the tags, including the advanced id3v2 comment fields, are shown.....
from mp3tagstudio....
and from within MC itself...
MPEG-1 Layer 3
128 Kbit CBR
44.1 Khz Stereo
Copyrighted: Yes
Original: Yes
Protected by CRC: No
ID3v1 Tag: (128 bytes)
Name: Sing
Artist: Travis
Album: Invisible Band
Year: 2001
Comment: tags by -=marko=-
Track #: 1
Genre: Rock (17)
ID3v2 Tag: (3919 bytes)
TCOP (Copyright message): -=Marko=-
TENC (Encoded by): -=Marko=-
USLT (Unsynchronized lyric/t..): <too large to display>
TRCK (Track number/Position ..): 1
TPE1 (Lead performer(s)/Solo..): Travis
TBPM (BPM (beats per minute)): 112
TALB (Album/Movie/Show title): Invisible Band
TIT2 (Title/songname/content..): Sing
TCON (Content type): Rock
TYER (Year): 2001
COMM (Tool Name): Media Center
COMM (Tool Version): 11.0.133
COMM (aStatus): Successful
COMM (Replay Gain): -15.200839999999999
COMM (Archive): Yes
COMM (Peak Level): 1
COMM (Keywords): love
COMM (MusicMatch_Bio): <too large to display>
COMM (Number Plays): 49
COMM (Last Played): 1101376599
COMM (Rating): 4
COMM (Intensity): 4
and going to tools > options > library, there is no way to stop MC writing this particular info to these tag fields.
Also, the tagging options in MC's options states "update tags when file info changes". Now, this is a very ambiguous option, but my take on it is, that if I update the comment field in MC, then MC should also update the comment field in the file, and nothing but the comment field. It should not go anywhere near the track # tag, should not be adding tool version tags etc. as they have not been changed and are not in need of "updating".
See where I'm (and hopefully Rhino, as it's his thread;)) are coming from now?
It's a tough one for sure, and I live with it. A trade off if you like. I really don't like the way it does that, but I'll live with it so long as the benefits imo, of using MC outweigh this rather heavy minus point on the score sheet. If we could be given control over what gets written to file tags and what does not, this would be kudos indeed.
And by that, I don't mean turn them all off in library options.
See, I can live with the fact that MC doesn't want to write a leading zero on my track # tags. That's fine. It's been asked for in the past. The answer was a concise "no, we don't see the point of that"
That's OK. How often do track No.s change anyway? I'll just use a 3rd party tagger to pop the track # tags the way I want them. No problem huh?
Problem is, everytime I play a track and MC updates the number plays, or last played, or I update the coverart, MC wipes the zero out of the track # tag, and that irks me as I didn't make any changes to that field. Now, If I turn off the saving of track #'s to file, bearing in mind how often you actually change a track #, sure as eggs is eggs, when the time comes that I do actually change a track # tag in MC, I'd want it reflected in the file tag too, without going into options to enable the tag saving, making the change, then going back into options to turn it off again.
Not forgetting, of course, that such control over the tool name and tool version fields simply isn't available.
-marko.
-marko.