Multiple genre and artist tags

[Steve Crook]

I'm in the habit of using multiple tag values for track artist,genre and composer. I enter them separated by "; ".

For example, generated FLAC files have a single GENRE tag field with "; " separated values. I'm using MinimServer, which has chosen not to deal with all the different separator variations, but to rely on each genre tag being in its own field. So the tagging is pretty much useless.

Does VS have a specific separator for that ensures multiple tag values end up in separate tag fields? If not, could you consider this as an enhancement?

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

Hi,

No it doesn't, and I've not heard of putting multiple tags in files before.  We'll look into it.

[GaryG]

Paul,
I just noticed this post.  DISCOGS will have multiple genre values for many albums.  I used a Mp3tag DISCOGS script to tag the majority of the albums I ripped using Vinyl Studio, and it handled the multiple genres without any problems.  However, the problem is that most players ignore multiple tag values.  Sonos and Bose ignore them, but Foobar2000 and JRiver support them.

Gary

[Steve Crook]

It's made more complicated because there's also no agreement on the appropriate separator character. Semi colon+space, comma+space, forward slash and even double backslash have all been used. Some, dbPowerAmp for example, will take semi colon separators, but write separate tag fields others just write a single field with the separators. Some apps just read the first field separators and all, others will parse the separators and treat them as individual fields.

It's a complete mess.

I'd like VS to take the separated string and write separate tag fields. I don't mind what the separator is, though I'd prefer ;+space because I've already been using in my VS recordings :-)

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

Hi,

Revisiting this after a long hiatus.

> I'd like VS to take the separated string and write separate tag fields. I don't mind what the separator is, though I'd prefer ;+space because I've already been using in my VS recordings :-)

Do you think that's wise?  Wouldn't it be better to pick up the multiple GENRE values from (say) Discogs and put them all in the one tag separated by semi-colon + space.  I think, actually, we might be saying the same thing.

[Steve Crook]

I think the way the meta is written should vary depending on the file type of the track.

• For flac, ogg and wma it should be one item per tag field as that's what the standards support/expect
• For MP3 it's a single field with separators ; / and null are OK for id3v2.4 AFAIKT, though earlier versions of the format required / and then null.
• For m4a and other Apple formats it appears to be a single field with a / separator

I know that minimserver expects ogg container (flac and ogg) files to use multiple fields.

As I said in an earlier post it's an utter mess with everything that's wrong with MP3 tag handling being fixed in multiple ways and particularly uneven support for multiple tags.

I can live with it as a single ; separated field as I have a program I run to deal with the other tagging issues like the 100 char limit on track artists and to add custom tags that record how and when the LP was ripped along with any notes I make about the rip itself. But, obviously, I'd prefer multiple tags for track formats that support it.

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

OK, thanks, that's very helpful.  We'll look into it.

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

This is implemented as per your recommendations in the latest beta (V11.8.0 Beta).  This version also picks up multiple genre and label tags from Discogs.

You can get the software here:

https://www.alpinesoft.co.uk/VinylStudio/VSInstall_Exe_Beta.exe (Windows)

https://www.alpinesoft.co.uk/VinylStudio/VinylStudio-Installer-Beta.pkg (Mac)

Please let me know if you have any problems.