Tagging is the process of adding meta-data (such as Artist, Title, Album, Genre etc.) to files to aid identification (rather than relying on the file name alone). This meta-data is stored inside the file format's container along with the audio data itself. If files are properly tagged, audio players, databases and the operating system make very easy work of managing large audio collections.

There are 3 main tag specifications used in audio files at present, they are: APE (used by TAK, WavPack), ID3 (MP3) and Vorbis Comments (FLAC, OGG). For more information on this rather esoteric subject visit HA's wiki.

Many people use the "freedb" online CD info lookup service to automate the tagging process. This is fine when ripping from CD, programs like EAC (and many others) can make use of this service and intergrate it as part of their dual "rip & tag" process. However encoded audio files can come from many sources (vinyl, P2P, online radio, DVD extraction etc.) and such files may well need to be tagged manually. Furthermore, freedb does not seem to have a privacy policy (which is odd for a submissions based service) and is owned by a company called Magix AG (whose privacy policy is not very private).

WHAT SOFTWARE TO USE?

foobar2000 is an excellent tagger and, due to its titleformatting (scripting) language, is also very powerful (suitable for advanced users). By default, for MP3 foobar2000 will use ID3 v2.4 tags (this is a good thing, but many applications, DAPs for example, require version 2.3), as such fb2k offers an option (in Preferences > Advanced > MP3) to switch to ID3v2 compatibility mode.

For those that prefer a specialist, standalone tagger there are a number of good freeware programs out there, two of the best are MP3Tag and MP3 Book Helper.

If your audio collection is predominantly MP3, OGG or FLAC then we recommend the excellent MP3 Book Helper.

However, if you have or are likely to have other formats (such as MP4/M4A, MPC, WavPack) then the best tagging software is MP3Tag.

Tagging AAC Files

Note: If you want to be able to tag AAC files then make sure they are encoded as MP4 or M4A files. This means the MPEG-2 AAC gets wrapped in an MPEG-4 container which will allow them to be tagged.

MPEG-4 is a container for all kinds of content, so AAC MP4 files are really "MP4 audio only" files. Apple decided to make things easier by giving such files an M4A suffix. Thus an AAC file can have the extension .aac, .mp4 or .m4a. However most commonly they will be .mp4 or .m4a.

So, if you have a .mp4 file it's not necessarily an AAC file, if you have a .m4a file it probably is, and if you have a .aac file it almost certainly is but you probably won't be able to tag it.



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	Play (Listening) TRANSFER ENCODE TAG GAIN PLAY SUMMARY Related Information RECORD PAUSE (analysis) GiantPygmy.net BLOG (HOME)		TAGGING Tagging is the process of adding meta-data (such as Artist, Title, Album, Genre etc.) to files to aid identification (rather than relying on the file name alone). This meta-data is stored inside the file format's container along with the audio data itself. If files are properly tagged, audio players, databases and the operating system make very easy work of managing large audio collections. There are 3 main tag specifications used in audio files at present, they are: APE (used by TAK, WavPack), ID3 (MP3) and Vorbis Comments (FLAC, OGG). For more information on this rather esoteric subject visit HA's wiki. Many people use the "freedb" online CD info lookup service to automate the tagging process. This is fine when ripping from CD, programs like EAC (and many others) can make use of this service and intergrate it as part of their dual "rip & tag" process. However encoded audio files can come from many sources (vinyl, P2P, online radio, DVD extraction etc.) and such files may well need to be tagged manually. Furthermore, freedb does not seem to have a privacy policy (which is odd for a submissions based service) and is owned by a company called Magix AG (whose privacy policy is not very private). WHAT SOFTWARE TO USE? foobar2000 is an excellent tagger and, due to its titleformatting (scripting) language, is also very powerful (suitable for advanced users). By default, for MP3 foobar2000 will use ID3 v2.4 tags (this is a good thing, but many applications, DAPs for example, require version 2.3), as such fb2k offers an option (in Preferences > Advanced > MP3) to switch to ID3v2 compatibility mode. For those that prefer a specialist, standalone tagger there are a number of good freeware programs out there, two of the best are MP3Tag and MP3 Book Helper. If your audio collection is predominantly MP3, OGG or FLAC then we recommend the excellent MP3 Book Helper. However, if you have or are likely to have other formats (such as MP4/M4A, MPC, WavPack) then the best tagging software is MP3Tag. Tagging AAC Files Note: If you want to be able to tag AAC files then make sure they are encoded as MP4 or M4A files. This means the MPEG-2 AAC gets wrapped in an MPEG-4 container which will allow them to be tagged. MPEG-4 is a container for all kinds of content, so AAC MP4 files are really "MP4 audio only" files. Apple decided to make things easier by giving such files an M4A suffix. Thus an AAC file can have the extension .aac, .mp4 or .m4a. However most commonly they will be .mp4 or .m4a. So, if you have a .mp4 file it's not necessarily an AAC file, if you have a .m4a file it probably is, and if you have a .aac file it almost certainly is but you probably won't be able to tag it.
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