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Topic: foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta (Read 72917 times) previous topic - next topic
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foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #50
To make the slash-separation issue in the artist tag more annoying, I have at least one track on my computer for which the artist uses a semicolon in his alias.

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #51
To clarify, does Foobar now map a "itunescompilation" tag to the TCMP frame in ID3v2.3 tags?

Thanks for the changes.  I and no doubt many ipod users appreciate the improved compatibility.  I have no opinion on what tag spec is better or worse than any other, I just want as many music applications to work togther as possible so I can focus on enjoying music.

+1 for additional compatibility improvements with iTunes tags.  Even if you don't start off with write/edit capabilities with iTunes tags, it would be great if exisitng iTunes-specific tags don't get deleted when saving tags in Foobar.  "COMMENT ITUNNORM" is one specific tag that I have to redo after working on tags in Foobar.  In addition, please consider adding the ability to transform Replaygain tags into the COMMENT ITUNNORM format, and extracting gapless information from file headers (LAME in particular) and write the iTunes gapless tags so that loading the iTunes library goes much faster.


thanks again for all your efforts and this direction!

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #52
Or maybe use "\\" as separator for multivalued tags, like MP3Tag?

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #53
Please forgive my ignorance, but doesn't foobar use the semicolon for multivalue tags?

edit: I found an answer here

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #54
Is there a noticeable performance impact when tagging MP3 files with this new version? I only ask because the old “compatibility mode” had a disclaimer suggesting that it was much slower than the ID3 2.4 setting. If so, I think I’ll stick with 2.4, as I have no need for my MP3s to play nice with iTunes or WMP.


What disclaimer are you talking about?  I see nothing of the sort in my Foobar.  If you have not need for a 2.3 setting why bother to change?


An ID3 2.3 setting has been available for a long time, under the name “compatibility mode.” However, in older versions that setting had a description along the lines of “Slow, contains workarounds for non standard-compliant players.” In newer versions (like 1.1.5), this message is gone, but the ID3v2.4 tagging is still described as being faster. I’m wondering if the same is true of this new ID3v2.3 setting.

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #55
In newer versions (like 1.1.5), this message is gone, but the ID3v2.4 tagging is still described as being faster.

You are mixing up 2 things.
It is ID3v2 padding that is described as "faster, maybe incompatible with buggy software".
The ID3v2 writer compatibility mode is (in 1.1.5) described as "non-specification-compliant, activates workarounds for common bugs in other software".
Note that ID3v2.3 or ID3v2.4 are not specifically mentioned in the (1.1.5) settings.
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #56
Please forgive my ignorance, but doesn't foobar use the semicolon for multivalue tags?

That's what i meant: in foobar2000 you anyway doesn't use the slash but the semicolon for setting multiple tags. So why don't use any other sign at all for that purpose. I know that is against the standard but is there any player at all that handles id3v2.3 by specification? Or am i missing something?

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #57
Maybe this is not the correct place to ask, but at this moment my iPhone does not show compilation albums correctly (tagged with foobar with Various Artists as Album Artist). I never investigated and thought Apple just did not support it.

Apple uses the TPE2 tag field to group tracks as a compilation, as did a lot of other software players after that. This is why foobar stores album artist in the TPE2 field from now on. If you re-tag all your albums with an album artist tag using the new foobar release then your iPhone will happily group those tracks together.

Yes, indeed! After retagging my Various Artists albums and rebuilding my iTunes library, my iPhone correctly shows the albums. Thanks!

I have another (totally different) feature request. Sometimes, I need to transcode a couple of albums from FLAC to MP3 for my iPhone. Is it possible to add a switch to the converter to just copy files (instead of transcoding) if the source file already has the same format as the desired destination format? Then, I just can select the albums, click convert (to MP3) and I don't have to worry if the source files are FLAC or MP3.

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #58
Oh Dear :-(

I'm not happy at all with this new shift in direction.  I use BAND tag for popular music Band names, and for Orchestra in Classical music.  I've always admired Foobar for following the Id3 standard and supporting TPE2 as BAND properly.  I have a lot of work to change all of my music library, and have no desire to do that.

eg. I use BAND as an alias name, such as:

ARTIST=Jimmy Page
ARTIST=Robert Plant
BAND=Page & Plant

I only use ALBUM ARTIST if I need to group songs together on an album when the artists differ.

i.e. if the above was tags for a song on a compilation album, I would then add ALBUM ARTIST=Various Artists.  I would not use BAND for ALBUM ARTIST, and converting my library as such would lose my BAND name data (or I'd have to translate them all to additional artist names, which is not correct).

Full compatibility with iTunes, WMP, etc is of no importance to me, as Mp3Tag and Squeezebox Server both support TPE2=BAND and TXXX ALBUM ARTIST.

What happens with Vorbis tags that have ALBUM ARTIST and BAND tags?  What happens if files are converted from one format to the other?

If I write to a BAND tag, will it write TXXX BAND now?

This change really needs to be configurable; most software that has ever supported the standard and maintained that and optionally supports a reduced functionality mode as a configuration setting.

Also, such a BIG change should be a major revision number change, not 1.1.5 -> 1.1.6!  I almost upgraded without reading the changes, expecting some minor bug fixes, and glad I stopped to check the release notes.  I'm sticking with 1.1.5, which works fine for me.

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #59
AC/DC!
Thanks for seriously but lets rock n roll! again 

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #60
What happens with Vorbis tags that have ALBUM ARTIST and BAND tags?  What happens if files are converted from one format to the other?

Vorbis has and always will write tags as plain KEY=VALUE pairs, so "ALBUM ARTIST" is literally written as "ALBUM ARTIST" and "BAND" is literally written as "BAND".

If I write to a BAND tag, will it write TXXX BAND now?

That is correct.

This change really needs to be configurable; most software that has ever supported the standard and maintained that and optionally supports a reduced functionality mode as a configuration setting.

Point out at least two popular media players and taggers which do exactly this. (An argument was given before this chane that Mp3tag, for instance, defaults to writing "Album Artist" to TPE2 frames.)

Also, such a BIG change should be a major revision number change, not 1.1.5 -> 1.1.6!  I almost upgraded without reading the changes, expecting some minor bug fixes, and glad I stopped to check the release notes.  I'm sticking with 1.1.5, which works fine for me.

You do that.

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #61
Vorbis has and always will write tags as plain KEY=VALUE pairs, so "ALBUM ARTIST" is literally written as "ALBUM ARTIST" and "BAND" is literally written as "BAND".

If load a FLAC song that has ALBUM ARTIST and BAND tags, everything will be the same.

If I load an MP3 song that has TPE2 BAND and TXXX ALBUM ARTIST, it will display 2 Album Artists, and if I make changes that need to be saved, it won't honour the original content, but write it back as two artists within TPE2 BAND?

Eg. if I just want to add ReplayGain tags, it will mess with other tags, due to being "compatible" with apps that I don't use.

Point out at least two popular media players and taggers which do exactly this. (An argument was given before this chane that Mp3tag, for instance, defaults to writing "Album Artist" to TPE2 frames.)

Mp3Tag is nicely configurable; through "Tag Mapping" settings.
Squeezebox Server, a popular streaming media player is also configurable, but by default TPE2 = the Id3 standard of representing Band.

To not support the actual standard and not being compatible with the old way that Foobar works, doesn't make it a compatible app.


Also, such a BIG change should be a major revision number change, not 1.1.5 -> 1.1.6!  I almost upgraded without reading the changes, expecting some minor bug fixes, and glad I stopped to check the release notes.  I'm sticking with 1.1.5, which works fine for me.

You do that.

I have no choice, unless I spend a few MONTHS changing my music library, otherwise it will corrupt/lose content.

I hate it when apps "dumb down", remove functionality to be compatible with other less-capable alternatives.  It sucks.

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #62
Please forgive my ignorance, but doesn't foobar use the semicolon for multivalue tags?
That's what i meant: in foobar2000 you anyway doesn't use the slash but the semicolon for setting multiple tags. So why don't use any other sign at all for that purpose. I know that is against the standard but is there any player at all that handles id3v2.3 by specification? Or am i missing something?
foobar2000 displays a semicolon as a separator when reporting the contents of multi-value fields, but internally it writes/reads whichever separator the particular tag format specifies.

For example, ID3v2.3 specifies the forward-slash, whereas ID3v2.4 specifies the null character (ASCII $00).

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #63
I don't plan on moving back to ID3v2.3 as the ID3v2.4 tags seem to be read fine by the hardware/software combinations I use: Sony MP3 player, Squeezebox server, XBMC media center and mp3tag.

In fact I am still using my fully configured foobar2000 v0.9.4.4 installation as it would take me weeks to configure v1.x in the same way.  So I won't be upgrading and regressing.

Surely this move is a backwards step or am I missing the point?

cheers,
Rob.

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #64
Surely this move is a backwards step or am I missing the point?

It's a step forward in compatibility with many devices, especially Microsoft products like windows explorer or WMP. If you upgrade you can always go into the preferences and change it back to v2.4 tagging, the same way mp3 tagging has always been editable.
elevatorladylevitateme

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #65
I've tagged all my music with Picard (using a simple script to also write to Album Artist):
[blockquote]$set(~id3:TXXX:ALBUM ARTIST,%albumartist%)[/blockquote]
With this beta, if the tag is reloaded, the %albumartist% field gets duplicated!

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #66
foobar2000 displays a semicolon as a separator when reporting the contents of multi-value fields
Actually it displays a comma by default and uses the semicolon for editing in the properties dialog.

 

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #67
foobar2000 displays a semicolon as a separator when reporting the contents of multi-value fields, but internally it writes/reads whichever separator the particular tag format specifies.
I know that - sorry that i wrote my comment that it caused a misunderstanding. Let me try it in other words: You can set in foobar2000 properties window multiple values by semicolon. If you use a slash it will be replaced by "_" to avoid splitting so that you can't write some artists correctly and some users get irritated because they don't know what is happening. Why should we as users at all notice what happens internally inside a file? Additionally to that as long as there aren't known players that handles id3v2.3 tags exactly by specification in regard to multiple tags also the goal to achieve compatibility is fullfilled. So: ideal would be we use slash as literal sign and set multiple values by semicolon and can forget all that stuff about this really crazy tagging standard called id3.

@for4saken
After reloading BAND is mapped to TXXX(Band) which is empty. Probably ALBUM ARTIST shows TPE2 and TXXX(Album Artist) frame. I ask myself how is it possible to copy the old content of TPE2 to TXXX(Band)?

Edit: grammar, spelling and so on

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #68
@for4saken
After reloading BAND is mapped to TXXX(Band) which is empty. Probably ALBUM ARTIST shows TPE2 and TXXX(Album Artist) frame. I ask myself how is it possible to copy the old content of TPE2 to TXXX(Band)?

I assume, though correct me if I'm wrong, that a "Rewrite file tags" will suffice. I.e. select the files containing an ALBUM ARTIST tag; go to the "Tagging" menu from the context menu; click on "Rewrite file tags". Hold down the Shift key while calling the context menu if either the "Tagging" menu or the "Rewrite file tags" option is not available.

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #69
Quote
Improved performance when playing very short tracks.

I do benefit a lot from this improvement, since I am working intensively with such files, so thank you for that. However I am wondering how this performance gain has been achieved. Has the file opening process been optimized? But then this change would apply to all files, not only to the extremely short ones.

Regarding the ID3v2.3 vs. v2.4 discussion: I am not well informed what the differences between these two versions are. Is a comparison table available which lists for both the limitations I should be aware of, i.e. not accepted chars, limited tag capacity for text input etc?
This is HA. Not the Jerry Springer Show.

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #70
Regarding the ID3v2.3 vs. v2.4 discussion: I am not well informed what the differences between these two versions are. Is a comparison table available which lists for both the limitations I should be aware of, i.e. not accepted chars, limited tag capacity for text input etc?


Good idea. I am not well informed either (i.e. not at all) about the differences and am struggling to understand the points mentioned in this thread. I find it rather confusing.

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #71
As if by magic... Comparison of ID3 Standards. Not a complete breakdown, but a good comparison of tag support with some useful links to documentation, including the character limitations of ID3 v1.

(Hello to all on HA, by the way.)

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #72
Beta 2 is available now. ID3v2 tagging compatibility has seen some refinement. More info here.

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #73
I'm a little disappointed beta 2 didn't add any functionality, though it is good to see that some feedback for beta 1 was addressed.
Once again I ask, if the goal if 1.1.6 is to improve tagging compatibility with mainstream software, then for beta 3, can we also change:

-write to YEAR instead of DATE in mp3s
-add support for TSOC (composersortorder) in id3v2.3 and 2.4.  While it might be something iTunes created, it does not duplicate any functionality pre-existing in the id3v2.x spec, hence many people find it useful.  (mp4 tags already have this field being read)
-separate iTunes comment frames out of COMMENT, because in foobar2000 these iTunes frames like normalization, gap, cddb, etc., are display before the REAL comment.

Thanks.

foobar2000 v1.1.6 beta

Reply #74
I can't help but notice that replaygain results are very different in this version, sometimes vastly so. I've rescanned a few albums, and the difference is between 0.5-1.0db, and on a 24/96 5.1 DVD-A the difference was even reported as 4db! What am I to make of this?