New discovery: Track tag editing not intuitive but works

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dale
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Dale

I've posted a few comments about not being able to edit ID3 tags for files
not in your library and not from the Now Playing panel. Even the Microsoft
people on these groups have not challenged those statements. Well, I
finally figured out that you can do it. I guess rather than file these
issues under "lost functionality" we can file them under "simplification".
Of course, Microsoft's definition of simplification must be different from
mine. These things are definitely NOT simple or intuitive. As in much of
the WMP11 interface, simplification means to make advanced features so hard
to find or get to that only the simplest use of WMP11 is practical.

The things I have said that you can't do, that I now know you can do, are:

1. I said you can't edit tags for files not in your library but you can.
This is related to #2 below. If you can't edit tags from Now Playing and
Now Playing doesn't have the context menu option for Edit in Advanced Tag
Editor any more - this has been replaced with Find in Library - then it
would appear that you can't edit files not in your library. Well, since I
figured out, as described in #2, how to edit from Now Playing, then it turns
out you can edit tags for files not in your library.

2. My habit for editing tags in WMP has usually been to drop files into the
Now Playing panel at the right of the Now Playing tab. To edit files in
bulk - for instance to set the Album Artist for a group of albums of the
same artist, I would select all the tracks in Now Playing and choose Open in
Advanced Tag Editor from the context menu.

You can't do this in WMP 11 but you can get the same effect by dropping all
the files you want into the Now Playing panel at the right of the Now
Playing tab and then switching back to the Library tab at the top toolbar.

On the treeview at the left of the Library view, there are 4 first-level
options: Playlists, Now Playing, Library and (yuck!) URGE. Click on Now
Playing here. This presents, in the larger library view, the same list as
is in your Now Playing panel. From here, you can select multiple or all of
the tracks as desired, right click on one of the selected files, and have
the option of editing in Advanced Tag Editor - whether those files are in
your library or not. Definitely not pretty or a simplification but it gets
the job done.

Of course, this does not fix the problem that WMP11 removed the file list
from within Advanced Tag Editor. You can no longer do the bulk edit
described above and then work with each individual tag to make individual
changes within the same set of files. Now you have to do your bulk edits
and then open Advanced Tag Editor for each individual file and close and
re-open to get the next individual file.

Dale
 
Dale said:
I've posted a few comments about not being able to edit ID3 tags for files
not in your library and not from the Now Playing panel. Even the
Microsoft people on these groups have not challenged those statements.
Well, I finally figured out that you can do it. I guess rather than file
these issues under "lost functionality" we can file them under
"simplification". Of course, Microsoft's definition of simplification must
be different from mine. These things are definitely NOT simple or
intuitive. As in much of the WMP11 interface, simplification means to
make advanced features so hard to find or get to that only the simplest
use of WMP11 is practical.
Click to expand...

Or you could just do it the easy way: right click a file (or group of
files) in explorer and select Properties, Details tab.

Mike
 
Mike said:
Or you could just do it the easy way: right click a file (or group of
files) in explorer and select Properties, Details tab.

Mike
Click to expand...

Which does not expose the full set of tags...
 
Actually, the list on the Properties page is pretty complete - more so than
most ID3 tag editors. It is missing picture tags and only allows a single
comment tag. There are other tags not in the set, but like I said, the set
of tags there is more complete than most so I only listed the significant
missing tags.

Worse than the missing tags, though, is the lack of standards enforcement
for the remaining tags:

The ID3V2.3 requires comments to have a description and then the comment
text. Multiple comment tags are permitted. This is not supported in the
Properties page.

The spec allows track number to be entered in two ways: the number as in 5,
or the number in relation to the total number of tracks, such as 5/12.
Again, this is not supported in the Properties page - it only allows the
first example. This is minor for me because I prefer the first way anyway.

A more significant variance from the standard is that the Part of a set tag
in the Properties page allows free text. In testing, for instance, I
entered "Not part of a set" as the value and it stored that value. The
standard allows for part of a set, or TPOS to be set as the disc number
within a set, such as 1 or 2, etc. or the disc number in relation to the
total number of discs in the set such as 1/2, 2/2.

These are just a few examples. An unaware user could break their library,
making it unusable.

So, there are a lot of reasons for using a smarter tag editor than the
properties pages in Windows Explorer. Or a smarter tag editor than the one
in WMP for that matter.

Dale
 
Dale said:
Actually, the list on the Properties page is pretty complete - more so
than most ID3 tag editors. It is missing picture tags and only allows a
single comment tag. There are other tags not in the set, but like I said,
the set of tags there is more complete than most so I only listed the
significant missing tags.
Click to expand...

It doesn't support composer, or differentiate album vs contributing artist,
or handle multiple genres. But then again WMP is still having trouble with
these, despite many more iterations than Windows since the library was
introduced.
 
Mike Williams said:
It doesn't support composer, or differentiate album vs contributing
artist, or handle multiple genres.
Click to expand...

It handles all of these. I'm talking about Vista here, not XP.

Mike
 
Mike said:
It handles all of these. I'm talking about Vista here, not XP.

Mike
Click to expand...

You have crossposted so much it's hard to tell. And from my own 9 months of
beta-testing Vista, it doesn't handle those tags properly.
 
Mike Williams said:
You have crossposted so much it's hard to tell.
Click to expand...

Way to change the subject. I haven't crossposted any more than you have.
I'm simply responding to the thread - just like you.
And from my own 9 months of beta-testing Vista, it doesn't handle those
tags properly.
Click to expand...

In your opinion. But it does, in fact, support them. Which means you
were wrong when you claimed that it didn't.

Mike
 
Actually, I posted the original post into multiple groups because I had
posted my complaints about the functionality in all of those groups.
Therefore I posted my correction to all of those groups at once.

I suppose we all should have stripped out the multiplicity when we responded
but crossposting is not, in spite of some opinion to the contrary, a capital
offense.

Dale
 
The issue that I have, and many others have, with WMP and its library
management is that it doesn't meet our needs or expectations. Just like the
Windows Explorer property pages doesn't meet our expectations.

On the other hand, for the vast majority of users, who perhaps aren't so
anal about the accuracy of their data as I am, it works just great. Most
people put their CDs in their drive, rip to WMP, and then play. That's all
they care about. And for them, "supports" is good enough. I have no
problem with that. I am not one of those people. I am anal about it and I
want my data to be accurate and consistent. For me, "supports" is not good
enough.

If the Windows Explorer property pages editor meets your needs and
expectations, then you should use it. More power to you.

Dale
 
Dale said:
Actually, I posted the original post into multiple groups because I had
posted my complaints about the functionality in all of those groups.
Therefore I posted my correction to all of those groups at once.

I suppose we all should have stripped out the multiplicity when we
responded but crossposting is not, in spite of some opinion to the
contrary, a capital offense.
Click to expand...

Unlike top-posting - which is, in fact, a capital offense. ;-)

Mike
 
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