[Slayer-X]

When I enter one of my CDs into my CD drive and get ready to import into iTunes, it loads in the IDE tags for the songs so that when I import them they have the right information. This is all good and fine, except sometimes the genre is wrong, or not one I want to classify it as. For example, I like to keep my classifications simple, like rock, pop, rap, soundtrack, etc. I like to keep all of my MP3s I download online with the genre "Downloaded Tracks" When I change the genre info in iTunes it stays that way until it plays some of the songs. Then some of the songs change the genre back to what it was before even though I don't want it to. Anyone know how to keep this from happening? How do I keep my IDE tags locked to whatever I set them to?

[wataru]

They're called "ID3" tags, not "IDE."

First of all, I'd recommend AACs over MP3s. iTunes seems to handle tagging of AACs much better than MP3s, and AACs are of higher sound quality.

Otherwise, I'd try converting all of your ID3 tags to the newest version. Select the tracks in question, and then choose the "Convert ID3 Tags" option from the Advanced menu.

[dreilly1]

Originally posted by wataru:
First of all, I'd recommend AACs over MP3s. iTunes seems to handle tagging of AACs much better than MP3s, and AACs are of higher quality.

Huh? I thought ID3 tags were the same whether or not you use AAC or MP3.

When you put in a CD, iTunes queries the CDDB database with the CD ID, and that's how it gets the tag information. The reason that the items in the database are sometimes messsed up is that they are contributed by anyone who wants to upload them. (Or, at least, it was that way in CDDB's glory years, before it became a tool of corporate domination, but I digress...)

I've never had what the original poster describe happen to me, and I change tags all the time. However, I just did some experimenting and I was able to get tags to revert when I picked "Get CD track names" out of the advanced menu. Now, maybe he has a preference set somewhere that does that automatically; if there is one, I can't find it.

Plus, on occasion, I've even changed the CD information for an actual CD in iTunes (not ripped files), and the next time I put the CD in iTunes it still had the old info!

[wataru]

Originally posted by dreilly1:
Huh? I thought ID3 tags were the same whether or not you use AAC or MP3.

ID3 tags are a hack; MP3s don't natively support any metadata. AACs, on the other hand, do. At least I think that's the story. (Evidence that AACs at least don't use the ID3 standard: You can't "convert ID3 tags" on AAC files in iTunes, while you can with MP3s.)

Regardless, when batch renaming songs, iTunes flies through AACs, but takes significantly longer on MP3s.

[dreilly1]

Originally posted by wataru:
ID3 tags are a hack; MP3s don't natively support any metadata. AACs, on the other hand, do. At least I think that's the story. (Evidence that AACs at least don't use the ID3 standard: You can't "convert ID3 tags" on AAC files in iTunes, while you can with MP3s.)

Regardless, when batch renaming songs, iTunes flies through AACs, but takes significantly longer on MP3s.

Ah, I see what you mean now. I thought you meant that the actual content of the tags were different, but you were talking about the support for the metadata in the different file formats... the actual content of the tags comes from the CDDB database, and all the basic info (like genre) should be the same, right?

[gatekeeper]

AAC doesn't support metadata either. The MPEG4 file format, however, does. If you wanted to you could wrap MP3 audio in a MPEG4 container.

[wataru]

Originally posted by dreilly1:
Ah, I see what you mean now. I thought you meant that the actual content of the tags were different, but you were talking about the support for the metadata in the different file formats... the actual content of the tags comes from the CDDB database, and all the basic info (like genre) should be the same, right?

Exactly.

Originally posted by gatekeeper:
AAC doesn't support metadata either. The MPEG4 file format, however, does. If you wanted to you could wrap MP3 audio in a MPEG4 container.

Oops, you're right. I suppose that should be fairly obvious, since AAC encoded files made by iTunes have a file extension of "m4a" by default.

[dtriska]

Originally posted by Slayer-X:
When I change the genre info in iTunes it stays that way until it plays some of the songs. Then some of the songs change the genre back to what it was before even though I don't want it to.

I had that happen with one MP3. When played, it would always revert back to old ID3 tags. Updating the tags did nothing. Eventually, I found the CD in a store, bought it, and ripped it. Problem solved.