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Sync song metadata into id3 tags?

Hi,

I've noticed that for some of the songs I have iTunes kept metadata about the song (artist, album, etc) in its own internal database, instead of storing it in id3 tags. This worked OK if songs are played back only in iTunes and on iPod. However, my wife got recently Android phone, and all these songs show up as 'unknown artist/album' on it. Is there a simple way to have iTunes sync the information from its internal database back into MP3 files (and to keep preferring to store that info in the files, and not in its internal database)?

Related question is, for even more songs, iTunes elected to store album artwork in its internal database, instead of in the MP3/AAC files themself. While iTunes syncs artwork to iPods, this obviously does not work for any other type of device. Is there a way to have iTunes store artwork in the files only, and not use its internal database for that either?

MBP, Mac OS X (10.5.3)

Posted on Sep 14, 2009 10:53 AM

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Posted on Sep 14, 2009 11:12 AM

I've noticed that for some of the songs I have iTunes kept metadata about the song (artist, album, etc) in its own internal database, instead of storing it in id3 tags

The only files this would happen with are WAV files, since they do not have ID3 tags (or any tags) for info.
iTunes keeps all info in the databse and all info in the ID3 tags.
iTunes displays what is in the database.
It will reread the tags and update the database as needed when a song is played or you *Get info*.
iTunes elected to store album artwork in its internal database, instead of in the MP3/AAC files themself. While iTunes syncs artwork to iPods, this obviously does not work for any other type of device. Is there a way to have iTunes store artwork in the files only, and not use its internal database for that either?

If iTunes gets the artwork, it is stored in the Artwork folder and linked thru the database.
If you paste the artwork into the song yourself, it is stored as part of the file in the ID3 tag.
This script -> Embed Artwork v1.1 will do exactly what you want.
It copies the iTunes downloaded artwork into the song file itself.
5 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Sep 14, 2009 11:12 AM in response to Alex--

I've noticed that for some of the songs I have iTunes kept metadata about the song (artist, album, etc) in its own internal database, instead of storing it in id3 tags

The only files this would happen with are WAV files, since they do not have ID3 tags (or any tags) for info.
iTunes keeps all info in the databse and all info in the ID3 tags.
iTunes displays what is in the database.
It will reread the tags and update the database as needed when a song is played or you *Get info*.
iTunes elected to store album artwork in its internal database, instead of in the MP3/AAC files themself. While iTunes syncs artwork to iPods, this obviously does not work for any other type of device. Is there a way to have iTunes store artwork in the files only, and not use its internal database for that either?

If iTunes gets the artwork, it is stored in the Artwork folder and linked thru the database.
If you paste the artwork into the song yourself, it is stored as part of the file in the ID3 tag.
This script -> Embed Artwork v1.1 will do exactly what you want.
It copies the iTunes downloaded artwork into the song file itself.

Sep 14, 2009 11:36 AM in response to Chris CA

{quote:title=Chris CA wrote:}
The only files this would happen with are WAV files, since they do not have ID3 tags (or any tags) for info.
iTunes keeps all info in the databse and all info in the ID3 tags.
iTunes displays what is in the database.
It will reread the tags and update the database as needed when a song is played or you *Get info*.


Actually, files in question are some very old MP3 files that well predate iTunes. The songs were digitized outside of iTunes from original CDs (back in the times when iTunes had not existed yet, mp3 encoders were mostly command line tools, and id3 tags were not something widely used). One obvious solution would be to re-digitize files using iTunes. While a bit time consuming (and time wasting), it's not the option for few of the albums in question (original CDs were lost in the mean time, so these files are all I'm left with).

If iTunes gets the artwork, it is stored in the Artwork folder and linked thru the database.
If you paste the artwork into the song yourself, it is stored as part of the file in the ID3 tag.
This script -> Embed Artwork v1.1 will do exactly what you want.
It copies the iTunes downloaded artwork into the song file itself.


Thanks. I'll try out the script.

Sync song metadata into id3 tags?

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