MusicBrainz Picard - MP3 Tagger

Sebby · Jan 02, 2009, 16:30:13

I've made a start of making some kind of sense of my MP3 collection today. I came across a program called Picard by MusicBrainz. It's a community based music metadatabase.

The interface is a little clunky, but actually it's quite simple once you've understood it. Basically, you add you music folder, then press cluster, which groups everything that already has an album tag. You can then select the clusters and press lookup, which finds them in the database, and updates the tags. For those MP3s that are left behind, you select them and press lookup, and it will find an album that they belong to.

It's pretty much spot on for albums that are correctly tagged already, but a bit more manual intervention is required for the really dodgily-tagged MP3s.

There are also some pretty useful plugins.

If you have a look in the options for Picard, there are some other useful things it can do, such as clearing all existing tags before it writes the new one, and renaming the filenames based on the new tags. I find a good thread about it here - it's actually quite powerful.

It's going to take some getting to grips with, and probably quite a lot of reading (there's lot on the MusicBrainz) site, but it can yield a really tidy MP3 collection.

I hope this is useful.

Rik · Jan 02, 2009, 16:39:10

Nice find, Seb.

Steve · Jan 02, 2009, 18:19:58

Useful programs especially when you have a list of unidentified music i.e track 1,track2 etc

Rik · Jan 02, 2009, 18:22:54

The anonymous album, eh Steve?

It's even worse when it's recorded by the Anonymous 4.

Steve · Jan 02, 2009, 18:42:14

Stimulating discography

Rik · Jan 02, 2009, 18:48:50

It's a good sound if you like the music.

Steve · Jan 02, 2009, 19:02:18

There is a link to another useful program on that site called Jaikoz, certainly useful for flac files as well. Apart from correcting the ID3 tags it gets the album art as well. Full license £15

Simon · Jan 02, 2009, 21:12:53

Thanks for the link, Seb!

I don't actually have all that many MP3s, so my collection is manageable within one folder on the PC. I tend to listen to MP3s as testers, then buy the real thing.

Sebby · Jan 02, 2009, 21:39:17

I'm glad it was useful.

vitriol · Jan 03, 2009, 07:48:58

Will try this out today, thanks for the link.

Sebby · Jan 03, 2009, 11:23:23

NP.

Steve · Jan 03, 2009, 16:10:58

Just managed to correctly tag 4,400 songs in Flac format using MusicBrainz database and then hopefully if I reconvert this lot to MP3 their tags should sorted as well.

Why do I keep two formats? Keep the flacs for the Squeezebox and also as reference files to be converted as required into whatever format/compression a device requires currently trying 256VBR MP3 (same as Amazon) for the ipod.

Rik · Jan 03, 2009, 16:14:38

I find 256 is about right for an iPod, Steve. Very little music benefits from more within the limitations of the hardware.

Steve · Jan 03, 2009, 16:23:52

I think 256 VBR is equivalent in performance terms to 320 CBR so its the least compressed you can go for MP3 and on a purely hand held device with earphones its probably wasting its disk space.

Rik · Jan 03, 2009, 16:25:34

Not with the Verdi Requiem.

Steve · Jan 03, 2009, 16:29:50

I can only tell the difference between 192kbps and higher if I plug it into the hifi

Rik · Jan 03, 2009, 16:33:27

Or a good pair of headphones.

Steve · Jan 03, 2009, 16:49:17

I have a pair of Sennheiser HD640s but have never plugged them into ipod

Rik · Jan 03, 2009, 16:50:30

Try it, Steve, you may be pleasantly surprised by the extra detail revealed.

Steve · Jan 03, 2009, 16:52:48

I've probably lost the adaptor I put somewhere safe;D

Rik · Jan 03, 2009, 16:53:31

There's a feeling I know well.

Sebby · Jan 03, 2009, 18:03:11

Quote from: stevethegas on Jan 03, 2009, 16:10:58
Just managed to correctly tag 4,400 songs in Flac format using MusicBrainz database and then hopefully if I reconvert this lot to MP3 their tags should sorted as well.

How do you find the interface? I think it could be a lot more intuitive, but it works okay.

Steve · Jan 03, 2009, 18:49:00

As you say not very intuitative but it does produce a set of organised folders. Not sure about the £24 registration fee. I thought the Jaikoz was better value at £15 as it supports a variety of file formats and since my music was already sorted into Artist/Album I was only really interested in getting the tags corrected and album art retrieved. MP3tag(free) will also correct id3tags but won't get album art unlike MP3Tagger.

The MP3Tagger does give you a preview of what it will do before it reorganises things which is very useful otherwise you can end up with a few rogue folders if the tags are not accurate I suppose.

Sebby · Jan 04, 2009, 14:37:36

Registration fee? Where's that?

Rik · Jan 04, 2009, 15:34:21

There speaks a true accountant.

Steve · Jan 04, 2009, 16:49:22

Quote from: Sebby on Jan 04, 2009, 14:37:36
Registration fee? Where's that?

Oops sorry there ain't one

that's for the other program on the page, magic mp3 tagger

Rik · Jan 04, 2009, 17:06:06

You've just caused Sebby's balance sheet to feel faint, Steve.

Sebby · Jan 04, 2009, 19:05:40

Quote from: Rik on Jan 04, 2009, 15:34:21
There speaks a true accountant.

Quote from: Rik on Jan 04, 2009, 17:06:06
You've just caused Sebby's balance sheet to feel faint, Steve.

Sebby · Feb 21, 2009, 02:27:33

I've been tagging again tonight (hence the time!). I've also delved into the world of editing existing records and adding new ones - it's no easy task, at least for a beginner like me. The rules (or perhaps I should say guidelines) are very stringent, understandably. There is so much to learn in order to get it right, but then that's why it's such a good database (in terms to accuracy).

Rik · Feb 21, 2009, 10:48:45

And there was me thinking you'd taken up rugby.

Sebby · Feb 21, 2009, 13:24:27

That's highly unlikely.

Rik · Feb 21, 2009, 15:06:47

One day we'll persuade you.

Sebby · Feb 21, 2009, 19:07:56

It's not rugby specifically, it's just sport in general. I know that might sound narrow-minded, but it just does nothing for me.

Rik · Feb 21, 2009, 19:10:54

You're not alone, Seb. Only rugby interests me, and much less so this season following all the tinkering with the laws.