[Debaser]

My albums are all perfectly sorted in iTunes by artist, album, composer, etc.

However, when utilizing USB integration for music more often than not about 10-20% of my albums fail to be recognized according to Artist/Album. Instead, I have to search them out under "DIR" or under the "Various Artists" section of the "ARTISTS" directory. A minor inconvenience, but slightly annoying.

How can I overcome this issue? Again, the MP3s/M4A's in question all have Artist and Album tags in iTunes.

[Zirenz2006]

You might want to double check the files in software like the following, even though they are coming up correctly in iTunes.

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

I use this to edit mp3 tags.

[mike-y]

There are like 3 versions of ID tags embedded in mp3s now. Maybe your system can only read a specific type? some mp3 tag programs can copy/sync information across the different types of tags.

I also use the program linked above, and it works well, especially if you have a consistent method of naming your tracks. Make sure you read the directions tho!

[Debaser]

Appreciate it. Is there an equivalent for Mac/OS X?

[nub340]

Yeah I've had this problem for a while now too. Even though all my music is properly tagged, several hundred songs show up under "Various Artists". I've tried everything from using a different drive, to renaming the drive, to renaming the actual MP3 files, to painstakingly re-tagging my entire collection (which took days), all to no avail...

Every other media player see it just fine, including iTunes, Windows Media Player, Zune, Garmin Nuvi, etc.

[JSpira]

Originally Posted by Debaser

My albums are all perfectly sorted in iTunes by artist, album, composer, etc.

However, when utilizing USB integration for music more often than not about 10-20% of my albums fail to be recognized according to Artist/Album. Instead, I have to search them out under "DIR" or under the "Various Artists" section of the "ARTISTS" directory. A minor inconvenience, but slightly annoying.

How can I overcome this issue? Again, the MP3s/M4A's in question all have Artist and Album tags in iTunes.

You don't state whether you are using an iPod or a storage device.

If you are using an iPod, are you using the Y-Cable?

[Debaser]

I am using a storage device. 4gb USB stick.

I'd like to one day purchase a Y-cable, but it's $115+ here in Canada. Ridiculous.

[HermesRider]

I had this exact problem. I examined the ID3 tags. They all had version 1 (v1) tags that were correct, but a small percentage of songs came up as Various Artists in the car. I converted those to version 2 (v2) tags and deleted the v1 tag, and the problem was solved. I therefore only use v2 tags. Most tag editing software worth a damn will allow you to copy your v1 to v2. Or if you have linux or mac, just script it and your entire music collection is done in 2 minutes flat!

[Winston1961]

Originally Posted by HermesRider

I had this exact problem. I examined the ID3 tags. They all had version 1 (v1) tags that were correct, but a small percentage of songs came up as Various Artists in the car. I converted those to version 2 (v2) tags and deleted the v1 tag, and the problem was solved. I therefore only use v2 tags. Most tag editing software worth a damn will allow you to copy your v1 to v2. Or if you have linux or mac, just script it and your entire music collection is done in 2 minutes flat!

Remove albumart from the Mp3 is the cure for this problem.

[BK]

The mp3tag program linked above is great (and free IIRC). I've been using it for a couple of years now.

[Debaser]

Originally Posted by HermesRider

I had this exact problem. I examined the ID3 tags. They all had version 1 (v1) tags that were correct, but a small percentage of songs came up as Various Artists in the car. I converted those to version 2 (v2) tags and deleted the v1 tag, and the problem was solved. I therefore only use v2 tags. Most tag editing software worth a damn will allow you to copy your v1 to v2. Or if you have linux or mac, just script it and your entire music collection is done in 2 minutes flat!

Thanks again, everyone.

Hermes, I'm not familiar with tagging. Do you know how I can go about scripting a v1-->v2 swap on OS X?

[HermesRider]

Originally Posted by Winston1961

Remove albumart from the Mp3 is the cure for this problem.

Yes I saw albumart and removed it, but also had this happen with tracks that did not have albumart. Once I changed to the v2 tags though, they seemed fine. I could be wrong about the cause though.

[HermesRider]

Originally Posted by Debaser

Thanks again, everyone.

Hermes, I'm not familiar with tagging. Do you know how I can go about scripting a v1-->v2 swap on OS X?

Perl is your friend here. If you are savy with it, install and use the MP3::Tag module. If you are not, then buy a book and learn how to use Perl! It's relatively easy and is a fun way to start programming.

Essentially I would start with a loop that traverses a directory tree and reads in each file as $filename, then some bits of code like this...

  $mp3 = MP3::Tag->new($filename);

  # scan file for existing tags
  $mp3->get_tags();
  if (exists $mp3->{ID3v1}) {
      $id3v1 = $mp3->{ID3v1};
      if (! exists  $mp3->{ID3v2} ) {

          # create a new ID3v2 tag
          $mp3->new_tag("ID3v2");

          # create ID3v2 album, artist, track, song, etc.
          $mp3->{ID3v2}->add_frame("TALB", $id3v1->album); 
          $mp3->{ID3v2}->add_frame("TOPE", $id3v1->artist);
          $mp3->{ID3v2}->add_frame("TRCK", $id3v1->track);
          $mp3->{ID3v2}->add_frame("TIT2", $id3v1->song);

          # write out the ID3v2 tag
          $mp3->write_tag();

	  # remove the old ID3v1 tag
          $id3v1->remove_tag();
      }
  }

  $mp3->close();

This is obviously incomplete and untested, but should be enough to get you started on writing your own script. Just hack on it a bit to make it do what you like. Always test your script thoroughly on a few backed up files first!!! Look at the MP3::Tag documentation to see the full power of the module. It does a lot of cool things. You can use the config() function to get info from multiple sources like filename, ID3v1 tags, or even CDDB...

Good luck. If you are the least bit familiar with programming languages, this is a weekend project at most.

Alternatively, just use a GUI based ID3 tag editor to manually copy over each v1 tag to a v2. You might just try it on your problem files first to see if it solves the issue.