Artist tag separation doesn't work together with Windows 7 anymore

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ulschu Author

Level 1

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Artist tag separation doesn't work together with Windows 7 anymore

Hello,

since -I guess- last update I've noticed a "problem" with the artist information tag.

I use iTunes on Windows 7. I usually divided different artists on one song by using /. For example:

Tool/Henry Rollins

Before when I did that the audio files in Windows would also separate the artist automatically, although in Windows it does so by using ;. So if I input the information above in iTunes, in Windows it would automatically turn into: Tool; Henry Rollins. Also if you change information on audio files in Windows you knew that it separated the artists because you could jump from one to the other (if you open the information again after saving and closing it) and when inputting the information you would tap the right arrow key after each artist and it would snap into a new segment (it still does so, it's hard to explain). Just writing the artist and then pressing the key for ; and writing the next artist isn't quite the same. That's like one artist. By pressing right you basically told Windows "this now is another artist".

Whether Windows really handled these information as different artists I'm not really sure. I know in iTunes it's really just aesthetics, but because in Windows it actually remembers the segregation you made I -at the very least- always felt like it did.

Now the information you input in iTunes won't automatically be adjusted anymore. Instead it's just like I wrote above as if you had one artist that is called Tool/Henry Rollins. On top of that if you try to input the information in Windows by "correctly" separating them, iTunes cannot display any of the artists behind the first one.

It wasn't like this when I edited my last album which was about a month ago, so it had to have become that way since one of the recent updates.

I know it's really more like a minor inconvenience but I'm really anal about my music collection and it really annoys me.

Windows 7

Posted on Jul 31, 2015 11:21 AM

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Answer 1

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turingtest2

Level 10

272,749 points

Jul 31, 2015 12:04 PM in response to ulschu

Just tried changing "A Taste Of Honey" (artist) into "A Taste/Of Honey" in iTunes and Windows Explorer now lists the contributing artists as "A Taste; Of Honey" which is what I expected. iTunes does't manage these multi-valued items, but Windows Media Player does.

If an edit in iTunes isn't reflected in Windows Explorer then the usual reasons are that the files are marked as read-only or don't have the correct security permissions. See Repair security permissions for iTunes for Windows.

If .mp3 files are involved then the remaining alternative could be multiple embedded tags where one gets updated when you make a change, but iTunes or any device may later read back unchanged data from another. A workaround in iTunes is to use right-click context menu Convert ID3 Tags... > None a few times to remove all existing tags and then Convert ID3 Tags... > v2.3 to build a fresh tag with the information still held in the iTunes database. I've read in the past that iTunes isn't fully compliant with the v2.4 spec. although this may no longer be the case, however support for v2.3 is widespread so I would suggest using v2.3 over v2.4. Note this process removes any embedded artwork and only works with files in .mp3 format.

Aha, the plot thickens! Changing the Album Artist from "A Taste Of Honey" into "A Taste/Of Honey" in iTunes shows exactly the same change in Window Explorer, rather than "/" being changed to "; ". And if I make the edit to "; " in Explorer iTunes reads back as "A Taste; Of Honey".

The ID3 2.3 specification says that "/" is supposed to be used as the separator, which would suggest that Windows Explorer is responsible for replacing it with "; " when it sees fit, which in turn suggests that iTunes probably hasn't changed.

To add to the confusion something has certainly changed on iOS devices. The Music app on my iPhone is now linking artists together that it has previously held separate. For instance I have tracks by Albert King, and others by Albert King & Stevie Ray Vaughan, as both Artist and Album Artist. If I start one of these artists playing both gain a pause button. Pausing and playing resumes the track that was playing, even if I click the wrong Album Artist. 😕😮

tt2

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Answer 2

ulschu Author

Level 1

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Aug 2, 2015 3:28 AM in response to turingtest2

Thank you very much, it was exactly as you said.

I only experimented with mp3 files (which is kind of funny, since they make up a very small minority in my collection), so I didn't noticed that AL encoded files didn't have that problem. It's probably because when I noticed it for the first time I was editing Japanese artists and Windows Explorer can't handle those. I could probably fix it, but why bother when I can just do it in iTunes, right? And many of my files with Japanese artists are mp3s, with which I started experimenting at first then.

Resetting the ID3 Tags worked wonders in the end. Thank you! 🙂

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Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

272,749 points

Aug 2, 2015 6:36 AM in response to ulschu

You're welcome. 🙂

tt2

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