10 Tips for dropping level of Zune related stress

Thanks, I'll try it out. What I've used in the past for MP3's is MP3 Tag Tools v1.2.008 (open source). It works great for MP3's, but not for other formats.

I have resorted back to WMP a few times to fix albums, but it pains me to do that.

I know a lot of people have been furious with the new Zune software, but I really think the new version is still pretty darn good. I just miss the easy editing, like selecting a whole album and changing the genre, artist etc, all in one move.

Oh, well. I hope this is in the works for later.

I have used mpeTag to edit wma tags but in a very limited fashion.  I was able to change the basic information but could not figure out how to set an Album Artist for wma that would be read by the Zune software.  This was mostly during a test just to see if I could get the tracks grouped into an album.

 

What I eventually did for that wma "Random Songs" album was edit what I could in mp3Tag including having it auto number the random tracks I found on my c: drive, then load the songs in WMP.  At that point, I just kept dragging and dropping one on top of the other until I had an album of random songs. 

 

EDIT:  Here is the features page for mp3Tag:

 

http://www.softpointer.com/tr_features.htm

 

But as I mentioned, I haven't explored all of the wma options but from this page, it sounds like it should be as fully featured as the mp3 options.  I quite possibly just didn't figure out what I needed to do at the time.

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Microsoft Support Articles for Zune

Great article! 

I need a WMA tag editor. I don't think MP3 Tag will edit WMA files.

I've browsed the Open Source market, but could not find anything.

Any suggestions?

I believe the tags allow for you to set an image for the cover, rear, insert, etc.  Typically, we think of Album Art as the cover but you can actually have multiple pictures.  The Zune software only displays one picture for the cover.  Not quite sure how it decides which picture to use...and thus the problems with mismatched art on an album.

 

In the previous version of the software, when you viewed the extended tags, you could switch to the Art tab and see all of the images and for what purpose they were tagged (cover, rear, insert, etc.).  You can also see this with MediaMonkey.  Mp3 tag gives a count (1/2 meaning one of two) or something like "Multiple" if the images across all selected tracks do not match.  I am at work and can't remember the exact wording...but it does give you some feedback on whether or not all of the images match.

 

The Zune and the software only display the cover.  However, I believe it is aware of the other art and that is what can occasionally cause grouping and sorting problems.  After all, if two tracks have different covers, why would they be in the same album even if tagged with the same Album Title?  That was the question the software always seemed to "ask" in the past and the answer was usually to kick that errant track out into its own album.

 

Once I was able to see that the album art could cause sorting problems, it is now a practice of mine to remove all images save one when I come across it.

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Microsoft Support Articles for Zune

 khu wrote:

Displays the number of pictures used in album art and shows if tracks all have the same art or not

You cannot see if all tracks have the same art or if some tracks have more/less art than others.

What do you mean "more" art than others?  Is it possible for a track to have more than one album art?  What does it do when you're playing the track on your Zune, does it cycle through the art while playing the song or what?

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You really don't have to use mp3Tag but it has a lot of advantages:

 

• Provides a report-like view of tags for comparison
• Displays the number of pictures used in album art and shows if tracks all have the same art or not
• Allows deleting of album art
• Allows lookup of album info
• Allows extended tag editing (including Album Artists which is not exposed in Explorer.  Explorer doesn't expose all tags)
• Allows for saving tags in a specific format
• Allows for removing the ID3 tags if necessary
• Allows auto-numbering if you are creating a "custom" album from various tracks

 

For me, it is the ease of use.  When you select multiple files in Explorer and go to Properties, if values differ, you have to view properties on each file to find the one with the different value.  That type of troubleshooting is much easier with a report.  Also, I don't believe you can view Album Art through Explorer so you cannot see if all tracks have the same art or if some tracks have more/less art than others.  I have run into problems in the past where one track of an album had different art and it affected the sorting and grouping (that was in version 1).

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Microsoft Support Articles for Zune

Pardon my asking, but why do we have to install mp3Tag to edit the tag information when we can do that in Windows Explorer by right-clicking the file, hitting properties, clicking the Summary tab and entering in the information ourselves?

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http://forums.zune.net/1/154830/ShowPost.aspx#154830

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Its not the tags. i think  its the program. I change it but it wont accept, or it changes it back immediatly after i hit enter. i have the correct info in windows explorer. thisis really irriatating me. can anyone help?

You could also note that setting everything to manual sync relieves alot of stress.  Nothing happens unless you tell it to.  I have enough space on my 30gb to justify making it all automatic but sometimes there are just albums i don't want on my zune popping up on shuffle.  It makes everything easier just manually doing everything.

WOW, thanks for taking the time to create this entry.  Very helpful!!!

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Tony Rocha Rockin' a brown Zune

Ah, and now you have stumbled on an actual bug from what I can see.  In my experience, CT2049 is correct.  When I have had a problem in the past with songs not being recognized as valid media, repeated syncs and duplicates, replacing other songs in the library, etc., they have turned out to be the tags.

 

The Zune software has a problem with the format of some ID3 tags.  There are actually a number of ways to encode the ID3 v2 tags.  The software does fine with the tags in UTF-8 format but not so well with UTF-16 or the ISO format.  Mp3Tag will actually let you set the encoding and another user -- WillysJeepMan -- determined it was not just the tags but the encoding of the tags.

 

I came across another post which stated that for the UTF-8 version of the ID3 tags, Album Artist is not included.  However, the Zune software reads Album Artist as part of its organization.  I haven't looked at the specs or whitepaper for ID3 tags (not nearly that bored on vacation) but that seems to reflect what I can see.

 

A couple of nights ago, I ripped a few CDs -- one of which was a compliation (soundtrack).  I had to spend quite a bit of time to finally get them working for me.  The Zune software does not have problems with the v2 tags 100% of the time even if not in UTF-8 so for this one particular album, I skipped the mp3Tag save and finally got it organized correctly.  Still, I seemed to go back and forth between one album for every track to Invalid Media to not all tracks being imported.  That one particular CD was a real pain but I eventually got it to work.  Since a lot of this stuff seems to be done late at night for me, it could have been as much being tired and sloppy as just the general wonkiness we see with the Zune and tagging.  Just stick with it.  Not real useful I know but...

 

If you save in mp3Tag and find that you are getting one album per track, you might want to skip mp3Tag for those tracks or try to make it work with one of the other formats for the v2 tags.

 

I haven't quite figured out the trick yet for the other encoded formats.  I know that at times, the software can read them correctly because I have several compliations in my collection.  Although I can't tell you exactly how to repeat it, I can only say you will eventually be able to get it to work -- especially if you approach in a fairly deliberate fashion.

 

EDIT:  You might also try Windows Media Player.  I came across a comment about that after I had finished my exercise with the CD.  I believe you can drag one track to another and WMP will prompt you to put them in the same album.

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Microsoft Support Articles for Zune

 GreyFox 00 wrote:

used media mokey worked great. but still getting one album with songs that shouldn't belong. example: nine inch nails- cowboy bebop. how do i fix this?

It's probably the album artists that is screwed up on it. Switch to list view and find that song/songs, then right click on the headings and click Choose Columns and check everything that has to do with artists and album.  Check to see that all that information is correct, if it not (which I'm going to guess is not and that's the cause of the mislabeling) you can either edit it there by right clicking and selecting "Edit" or use another taging program like mp3tag.

Hope that helps.

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