[Stealth]

Here's the deal.  i've got a couple thousand of MP3s.  my songs are named in this way:
ARTIST - SONG TITLE

or on a few occasions, like movie soundtracks:
SOUNDTRACK NAME - SONG # - SONG NAME

but 95%+ of my songs are just ARTIST - SONG TITLE.

now that's fine for me.  however, i'm getting an iPod in the next few days, and i know they can organize according to "Artist" and according to "Song name".  that's a feature i really want to take advantage of, but i also know that 99% of my songs have no ID3 tags, or incorrect ones...

SO my question is, is there a way to write the ID3 tags of all the thousands and thousands of my MP3s with some script or something?  

I'd just need the "artist" portion of the ID3 tag to be whatever comes before the "-" of the song name, and the "title" portion of the ID3 tag to be whatever comes after the "-" portion of the song.  i'm trying to automate it, so i don't have to sit down and go through 4,000+ songs...

How would i do that?

[pyro-manic]

Have you looked at ubernet.org? They have a lot of good stuff about digital audio. Dunno if they'll have what you're looking for, but it's a good place to start.

[Galemp]

IIRC iTunes will actually do much of that for you. Look in the options before you import all your music, there should be an option to get ID3 tags from the filenames.

[Grey Wolf]

Just divide them up if need be. One folder with the names one way, and one folder with the names the other way.

[Ford Prefect]

Perhaps this is the opportune time for me to ask the burning question: What are ID3 tags?

[Mongoose]

They're information tags in MP3 files that contain data about the track title, artist, album, year, genre, file data, etc.  They're displayed by just about every media/digital audio player and can be pretty useful for organizing your music, depending on which program/device you're using.  If you use Winamp, just hit Alt+3 to see the ID3 editor.

[Deepblue]

Grrrrrr.... iPod....

[Ford Prefect]

I'm still waiting for someone to give me real reasons why iPods are the Great Satan.

[Stealth]

so iTunes can do that? can someone confirm this before i spend $400 on a good iPod and accessories?

[Grey Wolf]

Just try it with iTunes first. Doesn't cost any money. Should be at something like www.apple.com/itunes or something.

[Deepblue]

Originally posted by Ford Prefect
I'm still waiting for someone to give me real reasons why iPods are the Great Satan.

iTunes. Stupid format.

[karajorma]

Most ID tagging software will allow you to change the ID3 tags based on the name of the file. Just sort the files depending on how they are named and the program will do the rest for you.

If you need a reccomendation I use TagScanner. It takes a little getting used to so try it out on a few mp3's at a time but once you've got the hang of it, it will set all your ID3 tags pretty quickly.

Here's the Download.com reviews page in case you want to read some more opinions on it.

[Stealth]

will give those ideas a try and let you know which one worked out best

Thx all for the help

[Grey Wolf]

Originally posted by Deepblue


iTunes. Stupid format.

MP3s. MP3s work on everything.


Incidentally, AAC is, in fact, a standardized format. The only think that's off is the order in which Apple put the letters in the extension. Just change the .m4a to .mp4, and it'll run in anything assuming you have the appropriate codec installed (3ivX, for example, though I distrust them a bit).

[Stealth]

sooooo iTunes, does it mess with your audio formats or extensions, right?  I don't want my thousands of .MP3s to suddenly be M4As or whatever iTunes decides to put them...

[Grey Wolf]

Not unless you tell it to you. By default, it will organize them by artist and album, but that's it. Actually, I use iTunes without an iPod. I like the browsing options built into the software.

[Janos]

Originally posted by Stealth
sooooo iTunes, does it mess with your audio formats or extensions, right?  I don't want my thousands of .MP3s to suddenly be M4As or whatever iTunes decides to put them...

Well so far I have been pretty safe and my MP3s are still mp3's, so apparently no.

[Ford Prefect]

I'm pretty sure that there are also other media programs that will accept the iPod, because I know RealPlayer does. I happen to like iTunes, but you're not stuck with it.

[Sandwich]

Try Dr. Tag. It's so good I actually bought it.

[Mongoose]

I believe there's a Winamp plugin that allows you to sync it with your iPod.  Even so, the fact that iPods need to rely on any kind of software is somewhat of a turning-off point for me.  Plus, as much as they get lauded by the media, the things are sorely lacking in features.  Just look at the Shuffle, for instance; that thing's just pathetic.  It lacks a simple LCD screen, and yet they use that lack of a feature as a marketing tool?  And worst of all, people acutally buy into it?  What a bunch of tools. I own a SanDisk Flash-based media player that costs about the same as a Shuffle, and even it has an LCD screen.  It may only hold 512 MB (which is still around 130 songs), but it also has an FM radio tuner and voice recording capabilities, both of which the iPods lack.  I would probably avoid any HD-based player, seeing as how easily my roommate's Creative player broke after he dropped it. The main thing I hate about iPods, though, is how the media laps them up and acts as though they're the only brand available.  Just as bad as them are all of these iPod-exclusive accessories that completely ignore different players.  Last time I checked, product diversity = better options for consumers.