Ratings in ID3 Tag

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Level 1

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Ratings in ID3 Tag

I wonder if you can help me...

Does anyone know of a utility that will place the rating, play count and last time played information from the iTunes library into the ID3 tag of a music file?

Does anyone know why this information is only stored in the iTunes music library when ID3 supports storing the information and its use has been exploited in other music players?

Thanks

Posted on Dec 3, 2005 1:21 PM

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Answer 1

hudgie

Level 7

26,410 points

Dec 3, 2005 3:31 PM in response to big_e_mr_g

I don't know of any utility.

The reason it's not used is probably because the iPod doesn't write to the files, instead it writes to a database. Probably has something to do with not having to spin up the hard drive every song. But don't quote me on that.

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Answer 2

big_e_mr_g Author

Level 1

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Dec 3, 2005 4:05 PM in response to hudgie

You may be right!

I just think it's a bit strange that information that is quite capable of being stored in the ID3 tag isn't, when other information is.

For instance, the album cover artwork is stored within the ID3, and this is displayed on my iPod Photo when a song is played.

The reason I want a utility is so that I only have to remember to backup the actual music files - because I know I'll forget to backup the library!

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Answer 3

Otto42

Level 6

9,070 points

Dec 3, 2005 5:07 PM in response to big_e_mr_g

Very few programs put Ratings into the ID3 tag. While it supported in the spec, it's inconvienant for lots of reasons. Even Windows Media Player only supports it in an export/import mode, and that only with an addon.

The short of it is that if you put the rating into the tag, and somebody else has the same file in their library, they'd get your rating and/or you'd get theirs, which is not really what you'd want at all. Same goes for play count and last played time.

These don't really belong in a file's metadata as part of the file, since they are not describing anything about the file itself, but describing a relationship between the file and a single person. More than one person may use those files.

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Answer 4

big_e_mr_g Author

Level 1

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Dec 3, 2005 5:21 PM in response to Otto42

Whilst I take your point about the information not really belonging in the files metadata, I would still like the option somewhere in iTunes to store this information within the file thus removing the dependency on the library.

The information is representative of the file, and my listening habits. I don't share my files with anybody so the information isn't describing anybody elses musical tastes.

My main problem, other than losing information if I forget to backup my iTunes libary is that if I were to import the files into a different player, WMP or Windows MCE for example, I loose the information.

I will keep on searching for a suitable utility - before I have to write one myself!!

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Answer 5

Otto42

Level 6

9,070 points

Dec 4, 2005 2:57 AM in response to big_e_mr_g

If you want to save this information to be restored to a later iTunes library, I've written a utility to help do this. You can get it here: http://ottodestruct.com/itunes/SaveRatings.zip

I've also written a plugin for musikCube to import this information from iTunes into musikCube, if you are changing to that player. It can be found on musikCube's webpage. Point I'm making is that such tools can be written, really. Not hard to do.

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Answer 6

big_e_mr_g Author

Level 1

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Dec 4, 2005 3:36 AM in response to Otto42

Thanks for your response. Your Save Ratings utility will do the job for the time being.

I'd never heard of musikCube before! It looks interesting - I think I'll give it a try.

May not be the right place to ask, but here goes...

I downloaded your NoArtPlaylist script. When I run it, it creates a playlist where some of the files do have artwork!

What's quite interesting (as a programmer) is that these files are never the first track of an album.

Do you think that this is another problem where the iTunes library and the ID3 tag of the file are out of sync?

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Answer 7

Otto42

Level 6

9,070 points

Dec 4, 2005 3:16 PM in response to big_e_mr_g

I downloaded your NoArtPlaylist script. When I run
it, it creates a playlist where some of the files
do have artwork!

What's quite interesting (as a programmer) is
that these files are never the first track of an
album.

Do you think that this is another problem where the
iTunes library and the ID3 tag of the file are out of
sync?

Could be. You can use my update script to force iTunes to reread all the tags and thus update its database. Might help. http://ottodestruct.com/itunes/update.txt

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Answer 8

big_e_mr_g Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 6, 2005 1:45 AM in response to Otto42

Cheers Otto. I'll try this when I get a spare moment...

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