ID3 tag field missing "initial key'

Question

ID3 tag field missing "initial key'

I was hoping to use itunes for organizing my music for DJing and was excited about using the "initial key' field to display and organize my tracks by key but I cannot seem to find it in itunes.

according to ID3.org there are alot of different ID3 tags, some of which appear to be ignored by some apps.

http://www.id3.org/Frames

Is itunes capable of displaying this field?

macbook pro, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Mar 25, 2010 4:29 AM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

Level 10

276,759 points

Mar 25, 2010 5:42 AM in response to physicalpatrick

Hi, welcome to Apple Discussions.

No, iTunes doesn't display the *Initial Key* field. The Grouping field will probably be of most use to you. It corresponds to sub-genre or mood in other players and can be exposed in the column browser.

tt2

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Answer 2

Mar 25, 2010 6:42 AM in response to turingtest2

Are there any 'hacks' i might use to get itunes to display this key info?

I use a software 'mixedinkey.com' to analyze my music and figure out what key each track is in. one of the entries it makes is in the 'initial key' field. It's the neatest place for it for the world of music producers and distributors who would consider including what key a particular track is in when they distribute.

Where could I go to make a case for it for future development?

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Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

276,759 points

Mar 25, 2010 7:16 AM in response to physicalpatrick

Feature requests go to iTunes Feedback, but it might be a long time coming, if ever. The obvious hack would be to find a tag editor that can copy values from one field to another and copy the initial key into the grouping field. You can then get iTunes to update its knowledge of your tags by selecting the relevant tracks, using Get Info. and immediately clicking OK (without making any changes).

tt2

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Answer 4

Limnos

Level 10

421,873 points

Mar 25, 2010 7:25 AM in response to physicalpatrick

You could try a third party ID3 editing tool such as Media Rage and see if you could move the contents of the key field to, say, grouping.

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Answer 5

turingtest2

Level 10

276,759 points

Mar 25, 2010 7:37 AM in response to Limnos

What a good idea! 😉

tt2

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Answer 6

Mar 21, 2011 9:41 AM in response to turingtest2

iTunes should fix this problem as soon as possible. The ugly fact that, there's no initial key field, when all the music software have it. I have attached my feedback several times to them, and hopefully they can do something with it, the next update!

I love my Mac, but I still hate iTunes for that reason "Sigh!", and the limitation of fields. Anyways, thanks for the tips "physicalpatrick" & "turingtest2", but these will still be considered temporarily solutions!

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ID3 tag field missing "initial key'