Track Info Export and Import

[Jerrysnb]

Any suggestions about getting all of the track info I painstakingly edited into a label-making program? It looks like there's no control over which fields are exported.

I have tracks with different composers, but I can't get the composer name in the exported track listing. It looks like the format is fixed as

<Artist> - <Track Title>       <track length>

This is the information shown in the VS track screen.

Some of my label-making software has room for additional fields, but there doesn't seem to be any way to get them directly out of VS.

One of my programs will pull the information out of an MP3, and that works to my satisfaction; but it only does one track at a time.

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

Have you tried exporting your data as a CUE sheet?  That includes the composer.

[Jerrysnb]

The programs I have won't read cue files.

If you have any suggestions for decent software, let me know. I've been using printable disks.

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

Can I just clarify, when you say 'composer', do you mean the Composer field in the Edit Album Details dialog or the Artist field in the Edit Track Details dialog.  Thanks.

[double6jg]

If you use mp3tag you can easily export info from that to all sorts of files.

[Jerrysnb]

Paul, in this particular case I'm using the composer field at the track level. I added that manually.

double6g, so far VS has been able to handle whatever I've needed. The issue is not getting the information into the MP3s; it's getting the information into Acoustica Label Maker.

The issue with VS is that the information it puts in m3u files is limited to what it would put on a CD. Acoustica Label Maker reads the file just fine; it just doesn't have everything I want.

I don't know what the format definition of an m3u file is, so I don't know if it could potentially hold all of the information or not.

I don't think mp3tag will create an m3u, playlist, or text file. Using VS to put the tags into the MP3s, and then having Label Maker import it from those MP3s, works.

The attachments show what Label Maker (and other programs, I presume) can do with the tags VS can put into MP3s. Note that the information in each MP3 is a merge of the track level and album level information. I put the artists' names in the way I did to save space in the track listings. I captured the track listing screen in two chunks, because the window is fixed in size.

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

I had another look, and .M3U Files don't support any form of composer tag, sorry:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3U

[double6jg]

I wasn't suggesting using m3u files at all

In mp3tag you can expose more fields (tags) and add composer

Then you can use mp3tag to export the data either as CSV or as html

I can't add screenshots to show you but it is easy

[double6jg]

I can add screenshots

HTML export

[Jerrysnb]

Adding tags directly to the MP3 files isn't very useful to me at this time, because the tags that VS puts in are enough. They have the advantage of sticking even if I regenerate the MP3s for some reason.

I'm using these tags to create labels and jewel box inserts, so I'm restricted to what the label making programs can read.

If I were starting with MP3s, which would not be the case if I using VS, then mpe3tag would be useful. I'll bear it in mind.

Thanks.

[double6jg]

mp3tag can and does edit FLAC tags also - my screenshots are from FLACs

I am suggesting adding to the tags created by VS and then using the CSV output from mp3tag to create your disc labels.

Are you only using VS to create CD copies of Vinyl ?

[double6jg]

I'd recommend that you create FLACs rather than mp3s from the outset. If you don't you will almost certainly wish you had at some future time.

You can easily create an mp3 from a FLAC but not vice versa

[Jerrysnb]

Understood. I've been using VS to burn CDs, and also to make stuff ready for my MP3 player (a Walkman). I only use the player when I'm out hiking (more like ambling along), so I don't worry about the loss of quality. It's an older player, and it can't do FLAC. It could do WAV, but with all the ambient noise I'm not going to get a concert hall experience anyways. I have a decent pair of noise-cancelling headphones, but when I'm walking along streets that don't have sidewalks I want to hear the traffic. I like to hear the birds and bears, too.

I do sometimes buy music from Amazon, which comes in MP3 format. Amazon claims their compression is so clever that you can't tell the difference, and it might be; but I wish I had the option of getting it in a lossless format. I burn that stuff to CD so I can play it on my "real" audio equipment. I might go back to buying CDs. They aren't always more expensive, if I can build an order big enough for free shipping.

[double6jg]

I think I am correct in saying that less than 10% of people can tell the difference between 320 Kbps MP3 and FLAC. I know I

[Jerrysnb]

When I was younger, my hearing was very good. I could sometimes hear the difference between vinyl and CD if the rig were superlative. For that matter, I could tell the difference between one amp and another and, in the very early days, between tubes and transistors. I find it amusing that things have gone full circle, and tubes are the thing to use. A "modern" top end rig looks and feels like you've opened the gates of hell. My friends tell me that when they install a tube system, they spend a fortune on super-quiet fans.

I'm sure age has taken its toll, but I can certainly hear the difference between lower bitrate MP3s and CDs. I'm not sure where the breakpoint would be now. It's not just the frequency response, it's the artifacts that can be irritating. I hate listening to Internet radio with headphones.

It would be interesting to run some A/B trials, but it would be tedious.