Level 1

24 points

MP3 file comments not shown in iTunes, but are in Windows programs

Ok, am orgaising my music collection. I use iTunes on Mac v7.6, Leopard

There is no comment shown in the itunes for the MP3 files, but if I goto Win XP (boot camp) and either do a list in explorer, or use a program like tag & rename or MonkeyMedia then I can see comments there.

1) why is this

2)how can I get iTunes to show them properly

3) how can I list them in Mac, so I can delete them

please help

thanks

Mac OS X (10.5.1),  iMac 20" 2Ghz (1st ever Mac Comp). 30Gb iPod Video, 4Gb Nano (3rd Gen)

Posted on Jan 28, 2008 3:20 PM

30 replies

the loc-man Author

Level 1

24 points

Feb 4, 2008 3:41 AM in response to the loc-man

tried to catch you but missed you, this is even happening wen I import a CD, it imported ok fine using iTunes. It gotthe tags off CDDb or whatever, got the album artwork, it shows no comments, in iTunes list or on "get info"

I then opened it with Media Rage and it shows a 0 in the comment field on some tracks and a long number eg 000100-1010939-29484939 in another few tracks. What is going on with all this!?!

downinitjr

Level 4

1,435 points

Feb 4, 2008 7:18 AM in response to the loc-man

These appear to be settings that itunes, and other music players write to the tags, storing info such as volume normalization settings, and should have no effect on your files. See [this thread|http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:09kfl75WAB8J:forums.audioholics.com /forums/archive/index.php/t-21868.html id3+tagengitunnorm&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=us&client=safari].
And [this one|http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t17815.html].
And [this one|http://listserver.themacintoshguy.com/pipermail/X4U/2005-April/005203.html] .

Message was edited by: downinitjr

the loc-man Author

Level 1

24 points

Feb 5, 2008 2:12 AM in response to downinitjr

bit confused, read them links tho.

So it seems what i can gather like there is sometimes more than 1 comment field, so thats why iTunes isn't reading it, or sometime is, and Media rage is, its all confusing

I thought the whole point of a standard such as ID3 v2 was to avoid this, and so no matter what I play my music on, DVD player, iTunes Win Media player, Winamp etc, they should al have the same

I am unsure of what to do now, as I wanted to clean it all up, and tag it all correctly. At the moment Im tagging mostly in iTunes, then going to Media Rage or other and removing comments I dont want, but Im now not sure if even thats going to work

any more hlep?

cheers so far for your info and help tho!

downinitjr

Level 4

1,435 points

Feb 5, 2008 6:30 AM in response to the loc-man

Sounds like you came to about the same conclusion that I did. It seems itunes uses different fields in order to store more information, without breaking the standard completely. Still not sure on who's problem it actually is though check out the section on [winamps com tag compliance|http://www.id3.org/Compliance_Issues]. Well to be honest with you if I was going to primarily use itunes for playback, then I would make sure the tags appear correct in itunes. It seems it is at least writing the tags in a set way so if you were to ever switch to a different program completely, (which I doubt), it would be a seem to be a simple matter of using an existing tag editor to do a batch swap of the two tag fields.

the loc-man Author

Level 1

24 points

Feb 5, 2008 7:01 AM in response to downinitjr

seems that way, suppose if iTunes is displaying ok, then thats ok, as long as my iPods display it the same as well, no corruptionon iPod or whatever.

prob what I will do is, do them all in iTunes, then open Media Rage or another prog, and get rid of them all in there, and do a test on a few albums into Windows on boot Camp and see what they show, its just such a pain though isnt it.

Prob a good test I will do tomorrow is copy a few of my albums off iTunes and see what they show under Windows media player (on boot camp) and other programs in the windows environment

downinitjr

Level 4

1,435 points

Feb 5, 2008 7:15 AM in response to the loc-man

Why get rid of them? They are being put there for a purpose. I don't see any reason to see what they look like in this or that program somewhere else. If you are going to use itunes on your mac to manage your music, then thats all that matters. If you are planning on trying to use different programs with the same library that itunes is using, be prepared for a struggle. Itunes does not like other programs mucking about with its music library.

the loc-man Author

Level 1

24 points

Feb 5, 2008 5:53 PM in response to downinitjr

I just want them clen, free of junk.

I wont export the iTunes library as is, what I'll do di once all cleaned and tagged I will just copy them across to my other PCs, not sharing them over network, but for e.g. put them on my Xbox 360 upstairs etc, tis will be ok to do this? they all all MP3s

I will just copy the iTunes music folder in Finder and then copy to my other PC? is this ok?

cheers

ps I noticed a load of rubbish numbers on the tagscomments from imported CDs, tat doesnt show in iTunes but does in others... whats that for?

downinitjr

Level 4

1,435 points

Feb 5, 2008 6:22 PM in response to the loc-man

"I noticed a load of rubbish numbers on the tagscomments from imported CDs..."

Apparently from the little reading I've done on it, this is information that itunes is caching from or for cddb lookups for the album/song. Yeah things should work fine as long as you are keeping the library that itunes is managing, just for itunes.

the loc-man Author

Level 1

24 points

Feb 6, 2008 1:33 AM in response to downinitjr

so deleting these rubbish numbers is ok? if so why are they there and why are they in the comments field?

Also whats strange is I went through them in media rage to remove the comments, but then, I had to d them all again 3 times as more comments appeared if after deleting and saving them, theywere also different numbers? this is getting freaky.
yeh what I aim to do is to leave the Music folder structure, and just copy the iTunes muisc folder, so all the tags are done and can be used an another app

downinitjr

Level 4

1,435 points

Feb 6, 2008 5:33 AM in response to the loc-man

You can delete them, but most likely they will just keep being put back. I suggest you do some searching on google, so you can figure out for yourself why these numbers are there, what they are used for. Search for engitunnorm comment to start with.

the loc-man Author

Level 1

24 points

Feb 7, 2008 5:12 AM in response to downinitjr

Deleted them all then checked in Media rage and there not showing, when will they comeback? when I play them or something?

I don't want to have to do this, so I might goto Boot camp and rip them there in windows, with media player, and then copy them back to iTunes (My boot camp is NTFS, so I can read from my Windows partition and just copy them straight in.

Its a right "faff on" to do this mind when all I want to do is add my CDs

the loc-man Author

Level 1

24 points

Feb 8, 2008 4:40 AM in response to the loc-man

imported another CD, and no comment shown in itunes.

used another right click program cant remember name to see what it showed and it showed a comment field with iTunPGAP or something, I used Media rage and deleted the coment all was there was a 0

I then checked again in Media rage and there were a long list of numbers.

I think Media rage is reading any comment ie the 0, then theres another comment hiding and it then displays this, so you have to get rid of the comment a few times

the loc-man Author

Level 1

24 points

Feb 14, 2008 10:49 AM in response to the loc-man

my Media Rage demo has finished, is there another free tagger that can see these rogue comments that iTunes cant see?

I tried Musorg, that ses the 1st 0, but after deleting that doesnt see the rest

cheers

downinitjr

Level 4

1,435 points

Feb 14, 2008 12:42 PM in response to the loc-man

In my opinion, if you've gotten some fair use out of it, and it sounds like you have, pay the shareware fee, and support the people that develop software like this.

the loc-man Author

Level 1

24 points

Feb 14, 2008 1:31 PM in response to downinitjr

I would if I liked it, I have no problem with this, its just I only used one small bit of it, to remove the comments, and didn't like the interface much thats why I haven't bought it.

If it had a volume leveling for MP3 built in I may change but it hasn't

I was after something else to evaluate what others recommend 1st

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MP3 file comments not shown in iTunes, but are in Windows programs