Itunes keeps changing back my mp3 tags

only about half of the files work correctly

What exactly do you mean by this? Do the files not play correctly or is it the tags just can not be edited?

After I try to change either the artist, album, artwork, or name, itunes resets it back to the way it was after playing the file

Whats most likly happening here is Windows Media Player is "Fudging around" in the background with tags. You can go in iTunes and change info on the tag, then windows media player see this as incorrect based on what it finds on the internet using its database and in the background of windows, changes it back. It happens even if WMP is not opened. iTunes keeps the info you put in, but when it plays the song it accesses the tag, being WMP has changed it, iTunes sees the change and updates the info in iTunes.

To stop this you have to open WMP, goto Tools>Options>Library tab and UNCHECK "Retreive additiona Info From the Internet"

It could be some malware or virus MAYBE or like a Pref file not "Sticking". Could be antivirus program you use stopping any program like iTUnes from changing files.


Since Im not actually there these are all guresses at best. Try scanning the system for viruses and malware. Disconnect from the internet and disable any antivirus/security suits you have, see if it happens with them off

I have the same issue: iTunes will change tags and file names faster than I can change them back. Windows Media Player is set to not get any info from the internet. I also unplugged from the internet to test this...Still makes changes.
I also get changes in read-only files and folders.
This is not entirely consistant, though. A double-click on a song with an artist that begins with "The" will sometimes remain unchanged, or it will be changed to " Name,The". Very Frustrating.

PC Windows XP

Far as I know iTUnes doesn't "Auto change" tags. Make sure your rightclicking the song and hitting "Get Info" to change the tags info and not just typing in the name by clicking the song twice.

You may have malware or another program running in the background changing things. Scan the system with antivirus AND a adware/spyware program like Ewido or your scanner of choice http://www.ewido.net/en/download/

Thanks for your post. You were right: iTunes does not alter mp3 tag information.

I did locate the malware that was altering my tag information: (Too bad I paid for it) Netgear Media Server that came with the MP101 Digital Music Player (inconsistantly) changes the Artist Name and Album Name tags to suit its needs. I suppose since the display on the music player is only 16 characters wide, it makes sense to display the artist and title info as "Who,The". What makes no sense at all is to change the tags in the file to this format also.

Once the Artist and Album tags changed, the iTunes 'keep library organized' function was moving files all over.
It seems that Netgear Media Server and iTunes were fighting over library organization: NMS would change "The Beatles" to "Beatles,The" (without a space after the comma!), and remember that its path is iTunes Music/The Beetles. iTunes would move the song to iTunes Music/Beetles,The. NMS would not be able to find the file at the path it expected. On a subsequent scan for media, NMS would locate the file iTunes had moved, and update its database entry. So now iTunes and NMS are happy, unfortunately, I think The Beetles should be called "The Beatles", not "Beatles,The"; "The Who" sould not be "Who,The" and "The Dark Side of the Moon" should not be "Dark Side of the Moon,The".

Things got really confused when I tried changing Artist and Album tags from iTunes. With 'keep library organized' on, when I changed a tag, iTunes would move the file. NMS would notice this change and put the tag back. Later iTunes would move the file, with the altered tag back.

Also WinXP "Read-Only" file attribute is completely ignored by NMS.

I filed service request re. this problem at Netgear but I do not expect a software engineer to parachute into my back yard with a fix in the next 20 minutes.


PC Windows XP iTunes 6.0.4.2