The finder (almost) never displays mp3 files' bitrates

Question

Level 1

14 points

The finder (almost) never displays mp3 files' bitrates

Hi everyone,

Using a finder's display in columns, when I select a mp3, the appearing column on the right displays all infos (name, type, size, length, sample rate...), except "bitrate" which 90% of the time displays a frustrating "--" (instead of 192, 256 ou 320 kbps).

This happens with whatever bitrates, for bought or homemade mp3s. It may sound trivial but as far as I'm concerned this is a huge failure (I remember that Win 95 did that just fine). It's been 3 or 4 years since I switched to OSX and I've been using the free software MP3-Info to bypass this problem, but it remains... frustrating.

Thanks in advance for your help!

iMac (27-inch Late 2009), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Sep 26, 2012 3:00 AM

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Answer 1

LousyFool

Level 4

2,662 points

Sep 26, 2012 3:11 AM in response to Backintosh

Well, Finder is a file manager in the first place. With so many file types and formats being around, it can't be expected to do anything everyone would like it to do, IMHO. Otherwise tomorrow someone will come and ask it to display some other metadata, like artist's middle name or something.

The "preview column"in Finder which you refer to gives you some basic info, but no more. For everything else there are dedicated apps, such as iTunes or the mentioned MP3-Info in your case.

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Answer 2

Backintosh Author

Level 1

14 points

Sep 26, 2012 3:40 AM in response to LousyFool

Are you honestly saying that a mp3 is one of those "many file types and formats being around"? It's only been around for... 19 years! Not to add that all the music business model is now based on it... Can you count the number of computers with no mp3 on their hard drives?

Then you're really pushing it when comparing the bitrate (it is, for instance, one of the main criterias of iTunes Match working process) and the artist's middle name... But why not? You'd get:

Name: Music.mp3

Type: Audio MP3 (oh really? ****, that's why it's called .mp3, now I get it)

Size: 10 Mo (useful indeed)

Creation: whenever

Modification: whenever

Last Open: whenever

Length: 07:00 (useful too)

Sample rate: 44 100 (rarely useful)

Bitrate: --

Artists' middle name: --

Thing is, what's the point of adding the bitrate to the "preview column" to leave it blank? If it wasn't even there in the first place, I may think "too bad it's not added", but it's just giving ammo to be shot with.

And seriously, if a window in 95 could do it, a mountain lion should... And if I remember correctly, Windows let you chose which options you want displayed or not...

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Answer 3

LousyFool

Level 4

2,662 points

Sep 26, 2012 3:48 AM in response to Backintosh

Yes, I'm saying so, and I do not intend to argue about it.

Why doesn't Finder preview the word count in Word docs, a format that is around even longer? See.

For some the artist's (middle) name might be more relevant than the bitrate.

So again, don't argue, please.

As for the bitrate sometimes showing and sometimes not, it might be a problem with metadata format. For me images and their sizes are more important than MP3's and their bitrates, but I'm experiencing the same: sometimes Finder displays the pixel dimensions, and sometimes it doesn't. Who to blame, again, it can well be inconsistent sets of metadata.

Oh, and sure let's not get into Win95 and use it as reference or even "standard"... oh please. 😀

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Answer 4

Backintosh Author

Level 1

14 points

Sep 26, 2012 6:02 AM in response to LousyFool

Well, you surely can't argue that Windows and OSX are rivals? I'm merely stating that OSX's rival's file manager had this particular feature 17 years ago.

Word's words count is not a metadata, but you get what I'm saying since you experience the same problem with images. I have a huge collection and there's definitely something wrong with OSX not reading properly 90% (more like 99% actually) of mp3's metadatas... Especially since all metadatas appear just fine in iTunes. Just to know, have you tried to check how windows reads your "un-metadated" images?

Once again I wouldn't care that much if there wasn't this bitrate info field that remains blank. God is in the details, and we can agree that our preference for OSX over windows has much to do with the overall care Apple seems to have with their products/OS. This little thing just has that dumb taste to it that you usually encounter in cheaper more average products.

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Answer 5

vermelho

Level 1

0 points

Oct 17, 2012 5:25 PM in response to Backintosh

No solution or answer for this bug - but a little more description as to why and when it happens...

When you have previewed this information once, and then moved onto another file (either in finder preview or get info window) then file metadat will disappear when you return to that file. This includes sample rate of mp3's (yes it's bitrate we really want to be able to preview! - changed in mountain lion). It also drops image domensions.

Both are critical when comparing similar files to find the appropriate version.

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Answer 6

May 23, 2013 10:01 AM in response to Backintosh

I've just updated from Snow Leopard, and this is one of the first bugs I've noticed. It's very annoying.

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Answer 7

warpnote

Level 1

0 points

Jun 25, 2013 12:23 PM in response to Backintosh

Uhm yeah, updated my DJ machine (Serato Scratch Live & Ableton Live) from a Penryn (10.6.8) to top spec retina (10.8.3). Really annoying bug. Same thing for aiff, wav, apple lossles (ALAC), apple lossy (AAC), and mp3.

Same thing for title, artist, album tags.

What a joke. Nothing to do with with many file types around, some of these are NATIVE mac files. A serious bug that messes up my workflow real bad.... not a good look.

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Answer 8

warpnote

Level 1

0 points

Jun 25, 2013 12:54 PM in response to warpnote

Ah, seems to only occur on some Drives though, at least on my system.

I was looking at the files, sitting on a cheap WD external, after moving files to the internal SSD or My DroboS, the info reappears. Thats good to know. So no joke anymore, glad I found a workaround.

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Answer 9

Jun 25, 2013 12:55 PM in response to warpnote

warpnote wrote:

Uhm yeah, updated my DJ machine (Serato Scratch Live & Ableton Live) from a Penryn (10.6.8) to top spec retina (10.8.3). Really annoying bug. Same thing for aiff, wav, apple lossles (ALAC), apple lossy (AAC), and mp3.

Same thing for title, artist, album tags.

What a joke. Nothing to do with with many file types around, some of these are NATIVE mac files. A serious bug that messes up my workflow real bad.... not a good look.

Did you file a bug report?