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.

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?

Many players and organisers will have tagging functionality but we've found it's better to use software designed purely for this purpose.

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.

We tend to use both, MP3 Book Helper generally and MP3 Tag for the remaining formats when necessary. The best thing to do is install MP3Tag first and if you like it you won't need MP3 Book Helper.

Tagging ACC Files

Note: If you want to be able to tag ACC files then make sure they are encoded as MP4 or M4A files. This means the MPEG-2 ACC 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 ACC MP4 files are really "MP4 audio only" files. Apple decided to make things easier by giving such files an M4A suffix. Thus an ACC 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 ACC file, if you have a .m4a file it probably is, and if you have a .acc file it almost certainly is but you probably won't be able to tag it.



			> home > play > tag
	Play (Listening) TRANSFER ENCODE TAG GAIN PLAY SUMMARY Related Information RECORD PAUSE (analysis) TRANSFER SERVICE AUDIO REPAIRS AUDIO PC		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. 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? Many players and organisers will have tagging functionality but we've found it's better to use software designed purely for this purpose. 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. We tend to use both, MP3 Book Helper generally and MP3 Tag for the remaining formats when necessary. The best thing to do is install MP3Tag first and if you like it you won't need MP3 Book Helper. Tagging ACC Files Note: If you want to be able to tag ACC files then make sure they are encoded as MP4 or M4A files. This means the MPEG-2 ACC 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 ACC MP4 files are really "MP4 audio only" files. Apple decided to make things easier by giving such files an M4A suffix. Thus an ACC 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 ACC file, if you have a .m4a file it probably is, and if you have a .acc file it almost certainly is but you probably won't be able to tag it.
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