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Topic: Not possible to delete many Tags (Read 5122 times) previous topic - next topic
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Not possible to delete many Tags

Hello there 

I have a serious tagging problem. On one hand I can edit the tags of 26,000 files in 120 folders.
On the other hand I can't edit 50 folders on another location.

A friend of mine was able to edit 97,000 files at once.
He uses version 1.3.3.

I use 1.3.8.
I even tried to copy his folder onto my desktop
and I tried some other programs. No success.
What causes this error?

Any help is highly appreciated. 

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #1
Check if the files are read only or the path is too long.

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #2
Check if the files are read only or the path is too long.


What do you mean by "read only"?
Ah k, got it.
Sorry, I have a German UI.
I checked that twice before.

The ironic thing is, the 26,000 files have a longer path name then for example the 50 folders above 'em.
I only know about two cases where the filenames are a problem.
And both of 'em were shorted out by me to avoid problems with windows and it's 255 letters.
I suppose Foobar2000 and Windows Explorer are both limited to those 255 letters.

I guess that's not a problem.
But tell me if I missed something.

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #3
You'll have to give more details about the problem you are facing.

Do you get an error when overwriting? What is it, how does it look like?

Is there anything in common among the problematic files?

Can they be edited with tools other than foobar? (For example with windows explorer, make sure to back them up first.)

Can you edit the same files on a different PC?

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #4
You'll have to give more details about the problem you are facing.

Do you get an error when overwriting? What is it, how does it look like?

Is there anything in common among the problematic files?

Can they be edited with tools other than foobar? (For example with windows explorer, make sure to back them up first.)

Can you edit the same files on a different PC?


1. I try to remove a lot of tags in one instance. Sometimes I can remove big piles other times I can't edit jack shit.
The friend of mine has no problem with removing tags.
He gets errors for certain songs.
I only get errors when it comes to removing tags from videos.
http://tinyurl.com/mctgkqh
I want "Artist Name", "Album Title", "Date", "Genre" and "Track Number" unchanged.
But often there are additional Tag-bars.
In this picture you can see the addiotional Tag-bar "<LOG>".
Now when I remove this bar with: 1. Right click ; 2. Remove
OR
Pressing just the "Del" key on my keyboard, the Tag-bar disappears, as wished of me.

After that the shit hits the fan:
A) I click on "Apply". It "applies" the settings. When it's done the Tag-bar "<LOG>" is back again.
B) I click on "OK". It "applies" the settings. When it's done the Tag-bar "<LOG>" is back again.
C) I click on the "X" on the upper right of the window to abort the crap. A new window opens up
called "Properties". If I click on "Ja" it "applies" the settings. When it's done the Tag-bar "<LOG>" is back again.
If I click "Nein" I can finally close the window.
http://tinyurl.com/nc49kes

2. Nope. I get no errors at all.

3. 99,9% is .MP3 and .FLAC. Only a few .OGG, .M4A , .AAC and .WMA files in the collection.

4. Windows explorer shows 50% of the Tags that MP3Tag shows. Foobar2000 shows 200% more Tags than MP3Tag.
Before Foobar2000 I used constantly MP3Tag. I was not knowing how much crappy / unnecessary info is packed in those files.
These tags slow down even the browsing. For example: Some of the extra added Tag-bars contain infos about the BPM meassured
in Traktor. I'm no DJ, so I don't need that. That's why Foobar2000 is so important for me in this case. Like mentioned before:
I used a portable 1.3.3 version (that the friend of mine used) and a 1.3.3 version that I got from the friend. Only copied.
I know that isn't so good, but better than nothing. I stumbled over some programm like "Beeblablabla" and ID3 Killer.
That bee-thingy didn't even know that I had tags and ID3 Killer would've deleted ALL TAGS, which isn't my goal.

5. Not possible.

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #5
Tags 'reappearing' after pressing Apply (with no errors given) is generally the sign of the files being read only. The files themselves might be marked as such, or it can be the consequence of them being stored on a drive for which you lack write permissions (e.g. network drive). You said the problematic files are stored in 'another location'. Where exactly? Them being stored inside a compressed archive could also produce similar results. Same thing if you by any chance only loaded *.cue files and not the actual files themselves to your playlist.

Can you write values to these files using foobar? Are they editable via MP3Tag? You answered 'not possible' to me asking whether the files are editable on another PC. Did you mean 'it's not possible to test, since I don't have another PC' or did you mean 'the second PC can't edit them either'? If neither another program, nor another PC can edit them (especially the combination of both), you can conclude that the files themselves or their location is the culprit from which point the problem is unrelated to foobar.

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #6
"Where exactly?"
On a external 4TB USB HDD.
I dunno, do you need the path?

"Them being stored inside a compressed archive could also produce similar results."
Nope. I tried a funny thing. I have a folder of audiosamples, songs, folders, ideas and songstruktures.
Just for the kek I tried to erase the tags there. It worked fine. Had paritally even a deeper path and longer filenames.
I was even able to remove some tags in my gaming folder. I was just trying that out, just for interest.

"Same thing if you by any chance only loaded *.cue files and not the actual files themselves to your playlist."
I fucking hate those files. As well as .M3U. I delete 'em. I searched on my HDD especially for these files to erase 'em.

"Can you write values to these files using foobar?"
What do you mean by that?

"Are they editable via MP3Tag?"
Shows almost no tags < shows more tags < shows the most tags:
Windows Explorer < MP3Tag < Foobar2000.
Without Foobar2000, I would've never known that there existed more tags.
Maybe there's even a better program out there, which shows even more tags or even all of 'em.
I fee like I made mental jumps in relation to the tagging system from Atheism to Christianity to "Sciencism" and now Quantummechanics.
tl:dr = The tags that I want to edit with Foobar2000 are not visible for MP3Tag.

"You answered 'not possible' to me asking whether the files are editable on another PC. Did you mean 'it's not possible to test, since I don't have another PC' or did you mean 'the second PC can't edit them either'?"
Not possible to test, since I don't have another PC.

"you can conclude that the files themselves or their location is the culprit from which point the problem is unrelated to foobar. "
I found yesterday 2 or 3 broken files but I fixed 'em. I even got some errors for these files. But after the fixing the tagging error was still occuring.


Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #7
By 'are they editable' I asked what happens if you attempt to modify these files using MP3Tag (add a custom field, change a value etc). It doesn't matter if you can't see all the tags. We are merely testing whether changes can be made to them at all. Do your changes persist in this case?

Otherwise you can perhaps attempt right clicking on these files in foobar and choose tagging. 'Reload info from files', 'rewrite file tags' and 'MP3 tag types' are all options here you can try.

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #8
"By 'are they editable' I asked what happens if you attempt to modify these files using MP3Tag (add a custom field, change a value etc)."
I can't add a custom field in MP3Tag, that's what makes it so basic / dumb.
http://tinyurl.com/qb9v9yn
I can change all the tag bars you see on the picture.

K, I changed all possible / necessary / visible parts in MP3Tag. Result:
It worked.

Is there some software especially for Foobar2000 that tests me files?
I mean every other program's cool with it.

Also very interesting:
The same friend suggested me TAGSCANNER 5.1.
It shows a little more tag bars than MP3 Tag and less than Foobar2000.
It shows not the custom made tag bars of course...
However:
I was able to remove a couple of pictures from some files.
The interesting thing is: Foobar2000 and MP3Tag "said" there were no pictures.
So there are 3 options left:
A) TAGSCANNER 5.1 is fucked up
B) Foobar2000 and MP3Tag are fucked up
C) All of 'em are fucked up.

I know this is a bad example, but I experienced the same thing with audio and videoprograms.
Everyone of 'em are good in some ways but fucked up and broken on other ways.
I will experiment and remove everything possible / unnecessary with TAGSCANNER 5.1 too.
Just so we have more data.

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #9
Since you don't seem to get any error message after tag removal you can be pretty certain that the operation does not fail. If files were read only or you otherwise lacked access rights there would be a visible error informing about this.

Try removing the unwanted tags again and after you do, try hitting the Tools button and selecting the "Reload info" option. This will force foobar2000 to re-read the current tags from the files even if they for some reason appear unchanged to foobar2000 (some NAS firmwares might not have working file change notifications for example).

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #10
"Try removing the unwanted tags again and after you do, try hitting the Tools button and selecting the "Reload info" option."
I did and clicked on "Save" when it asked me. Result is: Nothing changed.
Kinda strange even that it asks me to save the settings.

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #11
Now try forcibly reloading the info for all of those files. As an experiment, of course.

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #12
Now try forcibly reloading the info for all of those files. As an experiment, of course.


Whaddaya mean by that? Could you gimme a step-to-step instruction?
I'm kinda confused here.


http://tinyurl.com/nu6f4am
TAGSCAN did work partially after 2 complete runs (over 10 hours or so).

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #13
Is that a network share? Does it support file modification times? If file modification timestamps do not change, then you need to do this any time you retag a file:

Select file(s), hold the Shift key, right click, select Tagging -> Reload info from file(s).

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #14
Is that a network share? Does it support file modification times? If file modification timestamps do not change, then you need to do this any time you retag a file:

Select file(s), hold the Shift key, right click, select Tagging -> Reload info from file(s).


A lot of confusing answers and questions there.
"Is that a network share?" You mean the TAGSCANNER picture? Nah, it's a screenshot from my PC.

"Does it support file modification times?"
Not that I know of.
TAGSCANNER and MP3Tag are on the same tagging level = Both worse than Foobar2000 I would say.

"If file modification timestamps do not change, then you need to do this any time you retag a file:"
I suppose you switched the subject back to Foobar2000 again, right?
Where can I find this mod stamp?

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #15
kode54 meant the following things:
  • Are your audio files on a network share, i.e. a drive on another computer or some kind of storage device (NAS) which is connected to your computer via a network?
  • If they are does this network share support file modification times? The file modification time is a property of a file. It is normally updated by the filesystem driver when an application writes to the file. However some network drives might not support file modification times. foobar2000 uses the file modification time (and the file size) to detect changes of the file. This is also used when foobar2000 itself updates the tags of a file in order to achieve a uniform handling of tag updates, no matter whether the tags where updated by foobar2000 itself or another application. If the file seems unchanged foobar2000 does not read the updated tags automatically.
  • If you hold the shift key while you right click a track in foobar2000 the context menu will display additional entries. One of them is the "Reload info from file(s)" command which forces foobar2000 to reload the tags even if the file seems unchanged.

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #16
kode54 meant the following things:
  • Are your audio files on a network share, i.e. a drive on another computer or some kind of storage device (NAS) which is connected to your computer via a network?
  • If they are does this network share support file modification times? The file modification time is a property of a file. It is normally updated by the filesystem driver when an application writes to the file. However some network drives might not support file modification times. foobar2000 uses the file modification time (and the file size) to detect changes of the file. This is also used when foobar2000 itself updates the tags of a file in order to achieve a uniform handling of tag updates, no matter whether the tags where updated by foobar2000 itself or another application. If the file seems unchanged foobar2000 does not read the updated tags automatically.
  • If you hold the shift key while you right click a track in foobar2000 the context menu will display additional entries. One of them is the "Reload info from file(s)" command which forces foobar2000 to reload the tags even if the file seems unchanged.


1. Nope. Just simply using my external 4TB USB 3.0 HDD.

2. I suppose this point doesn't concern me, because USB HDD, right?

3. K, at first I loaded the tags in.
I tried to deleted the unwanted tag bars and save it.
Did. Like ever nothing worked.
I did the shift-right-click-reload-thing and tried to delete the tags again.
Result is: Still not working.

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #17
So is this it guys...?

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #18
What happens if you try to delete the unwanted tag information from just one track? If it still doesn't work please share one of these files.

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #19
Do you have ownership to the drive in Windows? It could require administrator privileges to change anything on that drive.

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #20
"What happens if you try to delete the unwanted tag information from just one track? If it still doesn't work please share one of these files."
Just tried it out. It works with one file and it also works with two other files. Didn't try it any further.

"Do you have ownership to the drive in Windows? It could require administrator privileges to change anything on that drive."
AFAIK I do. How can I check it out?

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #21
"Do you have ownership to the drive in Windows? It could require administrator privileges to change anything on that drive."
AFAIK I do. How can I check it out?


- Is any of the files a format which can be tagged in Windows Explorer? Try that.
- Try to run fb2k, resp. mp3tag, as administrator. If it works then ...


Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #22
- I can tag the .MP3 files as usual in the Windows Explorer. But not the .FLAC files. But I guess you guys also use Windows and you guys
also have .FLAC (which can not be edited via Windows Explorer)
Picture related: http://tinyurl.com/ns5vupw

- I run those programs all the time as admin. It has become my usual habit to right click 'em and run 'em as admin.
The error occurs since day 1 when I try it that way as admin. What do you mean by "resp."?
English is not my mother tongue and I'm really bad, when it comes to slangs and abbreviations, sorry.

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #23
Hello there guys.
I just found out something interesting.
When I start Foobar2000 as Admin, it won't let me drop any files.

Not possible to delete many Tags

Reply #24
I run those programs all the time as admin. It has become my usual habit to right click 'em and run 'em as admin.


this is very bad behaviour. i know it was a pain when vista came out and we were all trying to run legacy XP apps on it but this was 8 years ago now. nowadays, you should rarely if ever need to run a program as admin by manually doing it. apps (and mainly installers) that really do need admin access should prompt you and all other applications should be ran normally. do that and you'll find most problems like this...

Quote
When I start Foobar2000 as Admin, it won't let me drop any files.


will magically go away.