WinAmp and V2 Tags

Okay, I hate this...

I've got an MP3 file that I did not rip myself (don't ask, it's an embarassing one). It's got an incorrect tag that I want to update.

So I pop it into the new version of WinAmp. Winamp shows that it's only got a V1 tag, so I correct that and save it.

But in the WinAmp playlist and scrolling text, the song information is still wrong, even after I exit and restart WinAmp. So I give it a V2 tag with the correct info and it works.

Then I try removing the V2 tag and leaving the corrected V1 tag. Bad song info reappears in the playlist/scroll.

Looking at the file in a binary editor, we see some LYRICSBEGIN and LYRICSEND text just before the V1 tag, which contains the offending data.

So what I find odd is that WinAmp's own tag editor wouldn't recognize/remove/edit this extra data, but the Mpeg decoder (which is responsible for populating the playlist screen and the scroll) does recognize this informaiton.

Just a heads-up for anyone struggling with V1/V2 tag issues, not all software supports V2 tags the same way.

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Tony Fabris

Hate to bug you with this Tony, but I am struggling with tags too as I rip a library for my new player. What is the basic difference between the two? I find using MusicMatch software, my tags sometimes come out wrong and the time and bitrate info is missing....can you give me some advice please...Thanks - John

Technoweenie
12 GB Blue / Red MK2

ID3v1 tags are fixed length, and are usually tagged onto the end of the file. They're fairly restricted in terms of what they'll let you put in them.

ID3v2 tags are variable length, and can appear anywhere in the file (usually at the beginning, though), and they're more freeform, e.g. there's about 7 different types of artist tag, and space for lyrics and album covers, etc.

Simply, grab yourself a good tag editor, and strip out all of the junk.


Roger - not necessarily speaking for empeg

To expand on what Roger just said...

The reason the difference between V1 and V2 tags is important is because not all software supports V2 tags, but both tags can reside in the file (as Roger said, they're in different locations in the file). Problems can crop up as a result.

For instance, old versions of Winamp only let you edit the V1 tag, and if there was a V2 tag in the file it would get ignored.

So, let's say your ripper program writes out a V2 tag. But it used incorrect info to fill out the song data (for example, it didn't fill out the year, or the CDDB entry had a typo in the song title).

Then you open it in an old version of WinAmp and edit the tag. But you're only editing the V1 tag at this point, the incorrect V2 tag is still sitting there untouched. The old version of WinAmp has no clue that the V2 tag is even there at all. The song information looks correct in WinAmp.

So you drop the file into Emplode, which takes the V2 tag as gospel (over the V1 tag), and Emplode gets the wrong song info.

Basically, what I'm saying is, if you're editing tags, make sure that the software you're doing the editing with supports V2 tags. The reason I started this thread was to warn people that, even though the newest version of WinAmp supports V2 tags, its support seems to be incomplete. So just beware.

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Tony Fabris

Seen

Thanks for the info guys, seems like I still have a lot to learn when it comes to ripping...I am starting a new thread tonight to ask about MusicMatch bugs....seems all the .wma (2GB) I just ripped at 160 kb, actually were only encoded at 96 kb! Bummer, I may have to do them allllllll again!

Technoweenie
12 GB Blue / Red MK2

I use MusicMatch too and I noticed an interesting bug... When getting info from CDDB, it gives diferant info to each tag! So, even though MusicMatch creates both v1 and v2 tags for all the files it does, they are not always the same! I upgraded to MusicMatch 6.0 and it seemed to help..

12gig Mk. II BLUE
Detroit, MI USA
www.PfeifferBeer.com

I would love to download v6 but my office computer is running thru a firewall so....too bad...I'll just have to wait for the bootleggers over here to start producing the disks ha ha.

Technoweenie
12 GB Blue / Red MK2