I finally had to strip the first 128 bytes off of every file with 'dd'. Is there a more sane method of dealing with this?

Yes. Just use the newest version of WinAmp, and edit the tags in there. It will allow you to choose which tags you want to keep (the V2 tag at the beginning of the file and/or the V1 tag at the end of the file).

You can also use MP3Trim to just unconditionally strip the V2 tags (just open then save the song in MP3Trim).

You could also locate a mass-tag-editor program which allows you to do these sorts of things in batch mode.

Note that your tecnhnique of hand-mangling the start of the file will probably mess up certain MP3 player software. It might even confuse the Empeg. So I would recommend finding a proper solution.

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Tony Fabris