MusicOne Windows · Importing your library
Mp3 Tags – Explained
Know the difference between an mp3 file name and its tags, and why internet stations need the right Title and Artist tags.
Updated
Many people don’t know the difference between the mp3 file name and mp3 “tags” (also known as: meta-data). If you’re running an internet radio station, it is important to not only know the difference, but to have the correct tag data entered into the Title and Artist fields. This video explains.
Watch the video on YouTube: Importing - Mp3 Tags Explained
Check your mp3 tags before you import
If your automation system uses mp3s, with playlists that find and play the audio files by their drive\path\file name, check the tags on your audio files before you import your song data into Music 1, and update them where needed.
What a tag is
Open one of your audio folders in Windows. The file name is one thing; everything else you see is metadata, contained within the file. Metadata is another name for tags.
An audio file holds more than just audio. It has a little mini database sitting on top of the audio, with fields for information about the file. When you listen to something online and there’s a crawl across the bottom of the screen showing the title and artist, that title and artist come from the tags.
The tag fields
Right-click a file, select Properties and click the Details tab to see the tag fields. There are fields for hit year, genre, beats per minute and more. The only two that really matter are Title and Artist (which, for some unknown reason, is named Contributing artist). You may also want to fill in the album title, but Music 1 doesn’t require it.
Correct your tags
Spot a tag that’s missing or wrong? Right-click the file, select Properties, click the Details tab and type the correction into the field. You can do this in Windows 7 and Windows 8. I’m not sure about Windows XP, but if I remember correctly you can’t correct tags there.
If a lot of tags need correcting, use one of the many free tag editing apps. My favourite is MediaMonkey: see Using MediaMonkey To Edit mp3 Tags. Correct your tags before you even try to import anything into Music 1.