I need your help: ID3 Tag Editor

[newtype2011]

I've been searching everywhere for a solid ID3 tag editor for mac, but I keep coming up short. I need some sound recommendations, as I'm at a loss as to why not one, free piece of software that does this is available on the OS.

Right now, I use an old windows machine with a program called mp3tag to edit all of my rogue mp3s to the EXACT way I want, and it works marvelously. It's perfect.

What I do not want:

-someone telling me to use iTunes. It doesn't alter the original mp3 the way I need it to; tags don't always carry over to other programs, and I want master, spotless files as backups. I also dislike the way one is able to add album art manually. Please don't even go there.

-someone recommending I install windows on my mac, or any other type of emulation software (such as wine, etc).

One last thing: I'd like something that will allow me to edit tags manually, as I enjoy doing it on my own.

There are tons of programs like this for windows, so surely something like this exists for osx!

 

[newtype2011]

Nothing? Surely someone must know of such an application.

 

[ReggaeFire]

Not that meet all your criteria. If you're willing to pay for a program there are choices, but nothing freeware that I know of.

If you want to pay there is:

MediaRage
ID3 Editor
The Tagger
Jaikoz Audio Tagger


There are others as well, but I think those are most the big ones.

 

[MrMister111]

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I use Jaikoz Audio Tagger to, cheap great support.

I only wanted it for one thing like you to embed the info in the MP3 files itself, not like iTunes in a separate database.

Also iTunes doesn't show you all MP3 tags.Jaikoz Audio Tagger shows everything in MP3 ID vX.X format.

 

[newtype2011]

Thanks for all of the suggestions, guys.

$30 is a little hard to swallow for such a program, but it looks like I may not have any other choice if I want a native OSX application.

 

[GGJstudios]

-someone telling me to use iTunes. It doesn't alter the original mp3 the way I need it to; tags don't always carry over to other programs

Yes, they do.

 

[ReggaeFire]

Yes, they do.

From what I've noticed, depending on the tag and how you export the song, iTunes is a little funky with some tags. For example, if I copy a song from Finder it will carry over the 'Short description' tag, if you copy it straight from iTunes however (dragging it from the iTunes window onto another volume) it will not copy that tag.

It also does not write certain tags to the file at all (tags which are not part of the AAC or mp3 standard are written to the database, however the user is given no indication which fields are standard and which are 'extended').

Other programs allow the user to utilize mp3 tags are not offered to be edited in iTunes at all. So there are cases in which a 3rd party metadata editor can come in handy.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

From what I've noticed, depending on the tag and how you export the song, iTunes is a little funky with some tags. For example, if I copy a song from Finder it will carry over the 'Short description' tag, if you copy it straight from iTunes however (dragging it from the iTunes window onto another volume) it will not copy that tag.

It also does not write certain tags to the file at all (tags which are not part of the AAC or mp3 standard are written to the database, however the user is given no indication which fields are standard and which are 'extended').

Other programs allow the user to utilize mp3 tags are not offered to be edited in iTunes at all. So there are cases in which a 3rd party metadata editor can come in handy.

Yes, I have found this to be the case too, trying to play MP3 files on a Linux box... the tags are inconsistent at best, missing entirely at worst.

 

[bigfeller]

TriTag? http://www.feedface.com/projects/tritag.html

 

[GGJstudios]

So there are cases in which a 3rd party metadata editor can come in handy.

I certainly agree there are uses for a 3rd party editor. iTunes doesn't allow you to edit all the tags that are available, but the ones you can edit with iTunes do indeed store the modifications in the mp3. I've done a lot of moving mp3 files between Macs and Windows PCs and using different players, and the tag data always follows the file. I haven't tried dragging from iTunes, but drag from Finder instead.

 

[ReggaeFire]

iTunes doesn't allow you to edit all the tags that are available, but the ones you can edit with iTunes do indeed store the modifications in the mp3. I've done a lot of moving mp3 files between Macs and Windows PCs and using different players, and the tag data always follows the file. I haven't tried dragging from iTunes, but drag from Finder instead.

It will embed most of the tags, but not all of them. Try putting some metadata in the Category tag and see if it follows the track when moved to a different library. It can't, because that metadata is actually written to the database. Granted this is an 'extended' field that you have to know is there to even utilize, but nonetheless...

 

[GGJstudios]

Try putting some metadata in the Category tag

The Category tag isn't editable in the iTunes interface.

 

[Feynman]

I'm a huge advocator for The Tagger.

It gets better and better with each update as well.

 

[duppypog]

Not sure what you ever did? Did you purchase something? I also was looking for a free pgm, and found that Kid3 seems to do just about all that's needed.