Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[winterminute]

I'm following the instructions about adding the four required fields to make an MP3 show up as a podcast within iTunes.  It seems as though MC doesn't write the tags correctly as seen by iTunes.  Here's what I've done:

1) Added the 4 required fields in MC.  ITUNESPODCAST, ITUNESPODCASTDESC, ITUNESPODCASTID, ITUNESPODCASTURL
2) Manually added the values (I'll switch to calculated fields later)
3) Flush the library back to the file tags

At this point, MP3Tag shows that the 4 fields exist and have the expected values.

4) I manually import them into iTunes they show up as regular music files.
4a) However, if I re-save the tag in Mp3Tag (no changes, just open the file and click save) and then import into iTunes, they show up as real podcasts.

Unless I'm missing something, this would seem to come down to how the tags are stored.  Is there someway I can store the tags in such a way that iTunes will recognize them?  I'm only dealing with Mp3, i know there are problems with other formats.

[glynor]

I'd love a tip that would allow me to do the same with audiobooks in MP3 format.  Even though I have [Media Sub Type] set properly, when I sync these over to iTunes via the handheld feature in MC (to put them on my phones), they show up as regular music and I have to manually re-tag them in iTunes.

[ThoBar]

I'd love a tip that would allow me to do the same with audiobooks in MP3 format.  Even though I have [Media Sub Type] set properly, when I sync these over to iTunes via the handheld feature in MC (to put them on my phones), they show up as regular music and I have to manually re-tag them in iTunes.

I find the best way to use audiobooks in my ipod classic is to set them as podcasts... seems to be a bit cleaner in terms of multiple files etc

[winterminute]

I find the best way to use audiobooks in my ipod classic is to set them as podcasts

I assume you mean the ITUNESPODTCAST tag.  If so, are you doing this via MC and does iTunes correctly read the tag?

[glynor]

I'd prefer not to do this, since I use a lot of Podcasts too, and I don't want audiobooks cluttering up my Podcast UI on my phone.  Anyone have any idea of how to get iTunes to respect the [Media Sub Type] tag in MC?  Is there some way via a custom field to have an iTunes compatible "Media Kind" tag that iTunes will read on import?

[winterminute]

Circling back around, any ideas on why iTunes doesn't like the tags that MC writes?

[bob]

I tried doing this with some linux tools as well and couldn't get itunes to behave properly. I had to set the Genre to Podcast in iTunes to get them to show up. I may have done something else too, it was a while ago so I don't recall the exact steps.

[Alex B]

Circling back around, any ideas on why iTunes doesn't like the tags that MC writes?

In MP3/ID3v2 tags the field names that are displayed in programs are never written to file tags as they are. They are all coded. These codes are standardized. The ID3v2 standard allows to write custom fields to COMM, TXXX or WXXX tag frames with descriptive headers. MC writes its custom fields to TXXX frames.

Apple has invented several proprietary ID3v2 frames that are not a part of the standard:

ITUNESCOMPILATION = TCMP
ITUNESPODCAST = PCST
ITUNESPODCASTCATEGORY = TCAT
ITUNESPODCASTDESC = TDES
ITUNESPODCASTID = TGID
ITUNESPODCASTURL = WFED

I am not requesting this, but to write these tags to MP3 files in a way that works also with iTunes the JRiver developers would need to invent the same tag frames -- except the TCMP frame which is already invented. A custom field that is named exactly as iTunes Compilation is mapped to TCMP.

[winterminute]

Does that mean that Mp3Tag is re-writing these tag frames when I open and re-save an item?  Can you think of any workaround in MC?  Right now, once a week I open all my podcasts in Mp3Tag and re-save them.

[Alex B]

Does that mean that Mp3Tag is re-writing these tag frames when I open and re-save an item?

Yes. Mp3tag has supported those fields for some time. Since the TXXX headers happen to match the names that Mp3tag uses for those tags it converts them according to its internal mapping table. (http://help.mp3tag.de/main_tags.html)

Can you think of any workaround in MC?  Right now, once a week I open all my podcasts in Mp3Tag and re-save them.

A workaround in MC is not possible. I can only quote our earlier discussion:

What do we/I need to do to make this happen?

You could ask nicely. Perhaps bribe the developers. Send a cake or something.

I don't know how effective they have been, but cakes have been used in the past:

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=52093  &
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=56392  (more specifically:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=56392.msg382930#msg382930
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=56392.msg383175#msg383175)

[bob]

Fixed in the next build (>=15.0.118).

[winterminute]

wow!  I'm impressed.  Thanks for fixing this.  Finally, my iPhone + MC solution is complete!

[glynor]

Is there any way we can get the same thing for Audiobooks?  I have all of my audiobooks properly set to [Media Sub Type] = Audiobook, but when iTunes imports these files, they end up set as just vanilla audio tracks, which mixes them in with my music and I have to manually tag them in iTunes (shudder, I hate doing any more in iTunes than I absolutely have to).

[bob]

Is there any way we can get the same thing for Audiobooks?  I have all of my audiobooks properly set to [Media Sub Type] = Audiobook, but when iTunes imports these files, they end up set as just vanilla audio tracks, which mixes them in with my music and I have to manually tag them in iTunes (shudder, I hate doing any more in iTunes than I absolutely have to).

Are you using mp3's as audiobooks? There doesn't appear to be an iTunes mp3 tag for audiobooks. I tried modifying an mp3 to audiobook in iTunes and it put it on the iPod and it showed up as an audiobook but iTunes didn't appear to set a tag.

[glynor]

Sometimes, but also a bunch of m4b files (mp4s with no video, with the funky Apple-designated audiobook file extension).  Ripping mostly from Audiobook CDs that I own.  Neither work properly when coming over from MC.

I was afraid that iTunes might only handle it via their database, and not via in-file tags.  Do there appear to be any tags that it picks up to set the Media Type correctly?  I'll have to look when I have time...  Of course, it would be solved completely by this: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=57275.msg388624#msg388624

And you wouldn't need to worry about any of iTunes' silly tagging schemes at all anymore.