Print

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

[RhinoBanga]

Hi,

How do I get MC to stop writing it's name/version number in the comment fields in my files?

Is there a way to remove them?

[marko]

I would also like to be able to turn this off.

No conspiracy, honestly, I genuinely, dearly, wish I could stop that from happening.

Along the same vein, if I, fx, import an mp3 into MC then view "file type info" for that file, there is none of that tool version stuff.

Now, say I change or add a comment. It doesn't have to be that field, track #, artists whatever, change any field...

 and MC refreshes the whole lot, stripping the zero's out of my track # tags, adding these tool and tool version comments etc.

I really, really, really, wish MC wouldn't do that.

I happen to like my track #'s with leading zeros, so if they're set that way when MC initially imports them, and the track # field is not altered from within MC, to my way of thinking, MC has no right to change the track # tag... but it does.

Hope I've not skewed your thread here Rhino, but you hit a raw nerve there that's been exposed a looong time

=======
Matt & the team:

I know from experience that you guys are fiercely defensive about MC and it's file tagging, indeed, Matt even helped me out a few days ago with a seperate issue entirely, for which I was grateful as I was out of my depth, but...

The stuff Rhino is referring to, and the extra I've added, is a tad irritating, and as far as I can see, uncalled for. It's bugged me for a long time.

I already know the answer to Rhino's question. Without causing any offense, is it possible to make that answer a positive one.

horlicks moment over, sometimes, ya just gotta vent ya know. thanks for listening

[KingSparta]

I just loaded up my Dr tag and the only comments i have are ones i put in the comment field.

what are you using to look at the tags?

Helium you can see more Comment Tags, it is valid that programs can see i think up to 256 comment fields.

Helium does list my comment field first as it should

From My Comment Field In MC: Charted At 02 In 1984
From My Comment Field In Dr Tag: Charted At 02 In 1984
From My Comment Field In Helium: Charted At 02 In 1984

From: ZZ Top - Legs

If i am not mistaken all the other fields saved can be turned off under options so they do not save to the media fle. you will need to make the changes then reboot MC. it does not tell you but MC will always right to the tags unless you reboot (i think it is a bug) i did some testing on this this past week to see if it was fixed yet.

[marko]

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.

[RhinoBanga]

Helium see's them
The Godfather see's them
A shell extension called MP3-Info (http://www.mutschler.de/mp3ext/) which I use a lot sees them, e.g.:

http://www.jdnet.co.uk/MC/additional_tags.jpg


I think the question is why does MC feel it needs to change MY comments by adding it's name and version?

[KingSparta]

Rating Can Be turned Off And It Is One Of The Tags

Tools\Options\Library\Raiting\[Edit]\[_] Store in Tags When Possible

once you turned that off it will not save after a reboot

however not all of them can be turned off, like tool and tool version

>> I think the question is why does MC feel it needs to change
>> MY comments by adding it's name and version?
I don't think it changes any you add.

it does not change my "Comments"

it does use the ID3 tags IAW the ID3.org rules when storing additional info

But i agree you should have control in it to save or save nothing per each field MC is trying to save. even more so when a user is using a paid version. and not like un-paid media jukebox users.

[RhinoBanga]

>> I think the question is why does MC feel it needs to change
>> MY comments by adding it's name and version?
I don't think it changes any you add.

I set the comments to contain X.   After using MC the comments of my file contain X+Y.   That's a change from X.

[KingSparta]

When I Have Comments Of "X"

And Use MC Comments Contain "X"

Maybe it depends on what your saving it with Orginaly, and what version of MC your using, But I don't see a problem.

[RhinoBanga]

But I don't see a problem.

Maybe not but the proof is in my screenshot and confirmed by Marko's.

[GHammer]

MC adds info to the tags and changes track numbering.

It should not.

[qwert73]

I think the way how MC tags the files is the only very critical point of this excellent program. I could live with that if i would have the possibility to copy the value of an OGG-frame (f.e.: language) in another frame that has the tool version etc. followed by language (as name for the column in the database). So MC would take that value in the database and in the right column. But i have to use special tools to make this because MC don't have a real tageditor. It can read the file type info but has as long no access to it as it isn't in the database. It would be cool if MC would get a tageditor for solving such problems! And it should stop that annoying writing, like Ghammer said!

[RhinoBanga]

Any comment from JR on this matter?

[GHammer]

Does anyone use any tool that writes things to tags without a way to disable it?

I've used many, many apps and only MC does this without asking or allowing you to disable it.

But there could be others that do the same.

[Matt]

The tagger / tagger version are innocuous entries that are quite useful for fixes and database import / upgrade logic.

You can disable tagging in Options > General if you don't want your tags changed.

[GHammer]

I'd think that the library would be a better source of info on what version, etc for upgrades. You could just have a library version and look for that one time instead of 1000s of times reading each file. Not to mention writing to each file.

Plus, I still have tags from version 10, if used for upgrades shouldn't they be changed by now?

I've already adopted your method though. I do not tag with MC if I can avoid it.

[KingSparta]

You can disable tagging in Options > General if you don't want your tags changed.

make sure you re-boot or MC will not see the changes that you turned off tag writing unless you re-boot MC. (a bug i think)

not sure about "General" but  in Tools, Options, Library you must reboot

[KingSparta]

quote Matt:  "You can disable tagging in Options > General if you don't want your tags changed."


If you are referring to unchecking "Update tags when file info changes", this is not a solution but simply a "Take-it-or-leave-it"

How About Tools, Options, Library Then Edit Each Field As You Wish

[RhinoBanga]

The tagger / tagger version are innocuous entries that are quite useful for fixes and database import / upgrade logic.

See my screenshot ... hardly innocuous.

Also is the version number really that usefull?   If I edit a file with MC then change the file latest with Helium or any other tag editor how does that help you?   If I delete the version tag from my file you will still import the file so no gain there.

You can disable tagging in Options > General if you don't want your tags changed.

It's not tagging we want disabled.   It's the fact that MC is changing our comments without notification or action on our part that we want to disable/make optional.

[Matt]

Also is the version number really that usefull?   If I edit a file with MC then change the file latest with Helium or any other tag editor how does that help you?

Versioning is good design.  It allows fixing bugs with certain versions, and makes upgrading possible.

I'm closing this now, and kindly asking that we all relax a little.  Perhaps we can revisit this sometime later when things slow down.