Best Mp3tag v2.41 Configuration For Tagging My Songs?

[darkarn]

Hi! I am using Mp3tag v2.41 to re-tag my songs right now. What configuration should I use with the program so that I can get the best results from Rockbox? This means some of the following few things...

1. No more files being labelled as <Untagged>
2. No more unintended question marks ie. gray circles with question marks in them
3. No more strange characters eg. a "~" sign being replaced by a Chinese character!
4. No more conflicts between the ID3 versions, if any
5. Maximum compatibility with RockBox
6. No more incorrect song length

My current RockBox configuration are the following...

1. Codepage: Japanese (SJIS)
2. Language: English
3. Font: 14-RockBox-Mix

EDIT: Oh yes, I also noticed that some of my songs are using either the codecs "MPEG 1 Layer I", "MPEG 2.5 Layer II" or "MPEG 2.5 Layer III"; while the rest of them are using the codec "MPEG 1 Layer III". Should I reconvert all songs to use the codec "MPEG 1 Layer III" for better performance (ie less lags)?

Thanks!

[Lear]

Not much to worry about there, I'd say. Most important is to disable APE tags, and given the charsets involved, you might as well disable ID3v1 too.

ID3v2 tags written by MP3Tag (using ID3v2.4 and UTF-8, I think) work fine for me, but then I don't have any files with Japanese characters.

No need to worry about the codec details; they should all work fine in Rockbox (it is just different combinations of bit rates or sampling frequencies).

Incorrect song length shouldn't be related to the tag (at least not in Rockbox). Using Foobar to rebuild the VBR header or the MP3 stream ought to fix any such issues.

[spike66]

Incorrect song length shouldn't be related to the tag (at least not in Rockbox). Using Foobar to rebuild the VBR header or the MP3 stream ought to fix any such issues.

I've noticed that on some of the tracks I've got, the total length shown in the WPS is not the real length, I guess there something wrong with those tracks, e.g the song ends before it reaches that total length shown (it ends correctly though because it reaches the real end); so, what is this related to? And what effect does it have, e.g. could that affect crossfading? Thanks in advance

[darkarn]

@Lear: Ok, but how do I remove the APE part of my tags? My tags seems to be ID3v2 AND APE2 combined together!

Also, the incorrect length thingy is not seen in RockBox so that should be the least of my concerns...

[Lear]

@Lear: Ok, but how do I remove the APE part of my tags? My tags seems to be ID3v2 AND APE2 combined together!

A file may have ID3v2 and APE, but they are still separate. You can easily remove the APE tags using MP3Tag. In the settings, go to Tags/Mpeg. In the Remove group you can specify which types of tags to remove when the "Remove tag" function is used.

[Lear]

I've noticed that on some of the tracks I've got, the total length shown in the WPS is not the real length, I guess there something wrong with those tracks, e.g the song ends before it reaches that total length shown (it ends correctly though because it reaches the real end); so, what is this related to? And what effect does it have, e.g. could that affect crossfading? Thanks in advance

Sounds like an incorrect (or maybe missing) VBR header to me. Shouldn't affect crossfading.

[darkarn]

@Lear: Strage thing is, when I removed the APE and ID3v1 tags, Mp3tag reports that all my files are actually using the same codec (MPEG III Layer I) and the length seems to be reported correctly... What gives?

Should I use foobar to remove other uneeded tag information like the BPM of a song?

[spike66]

Sounds like an incorrect (or maybe missing) VBR header to me. Shouldn't affect crossfading.

Lear, ok good to know  I thought maybe croosfading would use that length to calculate the process starting point etc.
In order to fix the length anyway I've just seen there is a Rockbox plugin, the PluginVBRFix, I will use it to try and fix my tracks. Thanks a lot!