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[struct]

I have a problem....

I have a heap of m4a files.  Some are lossless, some are lossy.  All of these have extended tags and it appears that MC will not read them (it reads the same tags from mp3's, but not m4a).  MC does read some of the fields, but not all.  So, what is a work around to get tags into MC?

My initial thought was to convert the lossless from m4a to flac.  But the converter in Foobar does not convert all of the tags and it is not configurable. So this isn't helping.

Plan A
But I can see the tags in Mp3Tag and from this I can export to a csv. Is there a way to then get them into MC from a csv or similar?

Plan B
There is also a chance that I can map the fields in Mp3tag to an unused mp4 tag that MC does read.  Once in from MC I am assuming that I can copy to a custom library field.  So for plan B, is there a list somewhere of what M4a tags MC does actually read and also how do I copy tags from one field to another?

Additional Qn
Is there a way to see all of the tags a file contains?

Thanks

Craig

[JimH]

I think you would need to use DCBass:
http://wiki.jrmediacenter.com/index.php/MP4_and_M4A_File_Support

And you would need to add the fields to MC, with the exact names.

I don't know if that will work.

[dcpoppy]

Or, you could wait for this:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=53966.0 

[struct]

Hi Jim/Yaobing,

Late reply...

I found this on the MusicBrainz website

http://wiki.musicbrainz.org/Picard_Tag_Mapping

It lists all of the iTunes m4a fields used/written to by their software, which I am trying to make visible in MC.  I have tried making MC fields matching these names exactly (and a few other likely permutations) but I am not able to get any of the tags from the m4a files into MC.

Are you able to shed any further light on the syntax or otherwise that I have to use to get these fields into MC?

Thanks
Craig

[Yaobing]

Hi Jim/Yaobing,

Late reply...

I found this on the MusicBrainz website

http://wiki.musicbrainz.org/Picard_Tag_Mapping

It lists all of the iTunes m4a fields used/written to by their software, which I am trying to make visible in MC.  I have tried making MC fields matching these names exactly (and a few other likely permutations) but I am not able to get any of the tags from the m4a files into MC.

Are you able to shed any further light on the syntax or otherwise that I have to use to get these fields into MC?

Thanks
Craig

From m4a files, MC reads Apple iTunes common tags only (for example İalb, İnam, etc.).  However, not all tags are read (for example ----:com.apple.iTunes:SUBTITLE, or anything that begins with ----).

So if the software writes to m4a files using Apple iTunes format, MC should at least read tags such as Name, Artist, Album, etc. etc.

[struct]

thanks for info, even though the news wasn't good

as you suggest, it does read most of the defaults.  One default field MC isn't picking up is İgrp (Grouping).

Apart from my personal desire to have a more integration with those m4a/mp4 files I have, MC's inability to fully control these filetypes has reduced (but won't stop ) my ability to convert family members from the itunes world to the wonderful world of MC.  I am sure it is there somewhere on the list of things to do.

Craig

[Yaobing]

I am still working on overhauling the mp4/m4a tag reading and adding tag writing.  It has been slow because of other things to do. 

[struct]

Not quite the spirit of things I am sure but there is some source code at http://atomicparsley.sourceforge.net/