Using MP3 ID3tag Label and Catalog# fields in iTunes

Good question! I don't know the answer, either.

I've never used that program before -- but looking at the online manual I don't see an "Label" or "Catalog#" fields?
http://www.softpointer.com/trhelp/02.02_Editingtags.htm

What field did you use?

Well, I just spent the last hour looking at this, using the trial version of Tag & Rename.

For the label field, T&R uses the "TPUB" field; which iTunes doesn't read.

For the "Catalog number" field, T&R uses a custom comment field which has a "short content description" (see http://www.id3.org/d3v2.3.0). iTunes doesn't seem to read this field when it contains a description (i.e. it will not read the information you entered). In addition, when iTunes writes its own comment field, there is no "short description" to go with it.

In other words, there doesn't seem to be a way to use iTunes to import your tags. I could do write a program to read the existing label and catalog # tags and put them in the iTunes comment field; but to be honest it would take many hours of my own time to write!

You can probably do what you want with Mp3tag. It's free.

http://www.mp3tag.de/en/

Dell Windows XP Pro

Cool program! It looks like you can define your own export format within that program. You'll have to do something like export the publisher and "comment catalog number" field. Then edit the exported file to combine the publisher and comment catalog number into a single comment field. Then import the file to add the new tag to the file.

At this point it is probably good to point out that iTunes 7 doesn't seem to search using the comment field. The best you'll be able to do is create smart playlists based on the comment field matching a particular label or catalog number.

I use T&R also. I actually prefer it to MP3Tag.

The reason you don't see the iTunes rating in T&R (or any other tagging program) is that iTunes saves the rating in the database and doesn't actually save it in the ID3 tag. Also, T&R doesn't show "CONTENT GROUP" which is the ID3 field iTunes uses for "GROUPING".

The reason I suggested MP3Tag is that it will show all fields that are written in the tag.

Rob

Dell Windows XP Pro

Right-click on an mp3 and choose "Extended Tags...", then you can double-click on any field to edit.

I also find T&R to be a little more intuitive and easier to use than MP3Tag, but that's probably just because I've used T&R for years and haven't really had a need to explore MP3Tag's features very much. Anyway, I emailed the T&R developer with a feature request to add support for the iTunes "Grouping" field. Not sure how easy of thing it would be for him to implement. We'll see what happens.

Rob

Dell Windows XP Pro

Also, in MP3Tag you can customize which tag fields will appear by default in the Tag Panel on the left (go to Tools/Options/Tag Panel). You can customize the columns display to show any tags you want by right-clicking on one of the column headers.