If, like us, you have a hard drive stuffed full of badly organised MP3 files, many with baffling files names and no embedded metadata, trying to find the tune you want in a hurry can be quite a challenge.
We’ve been using the excellent free Mp3tag v2.46a – billed as a universal Tag Editor – which is a straightforward tool for editing and adding metadata to tons of music files in a jiffy.
Cunningly, the program can rename files based on the tag information, replace characters or words in tags and filenames and import/export tag information.
Auto track info and cover art
The bit we really liked was the ability to connect to online music database like Amazon, discogs, or freedb and then automatically get the full tag information and cover art for your music library.
Being able to have the cover art embedded in MP3s makes a huge difference if you’re using a mobile music player with a graphic interface – no more staring at the default graphic for all your songs!
Verdict
The interface rather borders on utilitarian, and the styling isn’t going to fill your your Mac owning compadres with envy, but there’s not much to complain about when it comes to helping you get a tedious job done quickly.
The Windows-only program is free to download, but be sure to slip the fella a few Paypal spondulas if you find yourself using it every day.
Ratings
– Interface
– Ease of use
– Overall
[MP3Tag]
Main features:
Batch Tag Editing Write ID3v1.1, ID3v2.3, ID3v2.4, MP4, WMA, APEv2 Tags and Vorbis Comments to multiple files at once.
Support for Cover Art Download and add album covers to your files and make your library even more shiny.
Import from Amazon, discogs, freedb, MusicBrainz Save typing and import tags from online databases like Amazon, discogs, freedb, MusicBrainz, and more.
Replace characters or words Replace strings in tags and filenames (with support for Regular Expressions).
Create Playlists automatically Create and manage playlists automatically while editing.
Rename files from tags Rename files based on the tag information and import tags from filenames.
Export to HTML, RTF, CSV Generate nice reports and lists of your collection based on user-defined templates.
Full Unicode Support User-interface and tagging are fully Unicode compliant.
Besides these main features Mp3tag offers a variety of other functions and features ranging ranging from batch export of embedded album covers, over support for iTunes-specific tags like media type or TV Show settings, to combining multiple actions into groups that can be applied with a single mouse click.
Thanks for the link – it’s a great program!
It’s going to take some time to sort out all my dodgy MP3 files though 🙂
A fine program, but still falls way short of MusicBrainz’ open-source program “Picard” which can identify poorly labelled mp3’s accurately by using PUID audio fingerprinting.
This looks like it could be very helpful, I’ve got tons of MP3s without proper metadata. Thank you!