How to create properly ordered tags

Support
1

I have installed MP3TAG on Mac OSX. I have many MP3 audio files that need to be copied to MP3 Player. I currently have files on Desktop in numerical order. However when I copy to MP3 player, the order gets shuffled. A post said that the "Tag" needs to be labelled in alphabetical order (aaa, aab, aac, etc)-i.e NOT the title.

First. When I open MP3Tag (which I cannot seem to keep in Mac dock), I don't seem to be able to add anything into the tag field.

Second. The player seems to remember the order in which files are copied: if file#10 is copied first, it stays on top. When I copy File #1, it appears after #10 and so on.

I need to find a way to edit the tags so they insert themselves in numerical (or alphabetical) order regardless when they're copied.

Any help appreciated

2

Which tag fields have you filled?
If there is no data in the fields, it is very likely that you will get more or less random results in the player.
Sorting files by filename requires to add padding with leading zeros to the numbers depending on the highest number.
So if you rename your files to 01.., 02.., 03 ... 10 it may lead to the favoured order.

3

Can you please create a sample file example for MP3Tag that shows me what to type in each field, and which menus/tools I need to use to do so? So far I've only been able to import a folder of audio files from desktop into MP3Tag. the files look like:
000-First Meeting.Mp3
001-Second Meeting.Mp3
002-Third Meeting.Mp3
Etc.
When I copy to Mp3 Player the order gets scrambled.

Thanks

4

You could try the function Convert>Filename-Tag
Format string: %track%-%title%
The preview should show what the result will look like.
It should be that
000 ends up in TRACK
First Meeting ends up in TITLE
and so on.
Once you have filled these 2 fields, you should also fill the tag fields
ALBUMARTIST, ARTIST, ALBUM
If you do not have any source where to get the original data or you do not really care, then you should enter some dummy data but still fill the fields as most players can cope better with orders if they find some data.
To fill the named tag fields with the same data for all files ...

  • select all files in the files list (Ctrl-A)

In the tag panel on the left ...

  • enter a name for ALBUMARTIST (e.g. Meeting Coach)
  • enter a name for ARTIST (e.g. Speaker)
  • enter a name for ALBUM (e.g. Meetings)
  • Press Ctrl-S to save the modification

Transfer the files to the player and see if they show up ok now.

5

Thanks for reply.
When I use covert, filename-Tag, the string is different: artist, album, track, title.

The "Tag" column is presently empty. So am I actually creating a Tag?

6

OK thanks. Sorry for being dummy. I've now figured out how to write the tags using Mp3Tag. I imported a folder of 53 files to MP3Tag and created tags as you outlined. I saved them. Now what to do? When I try to "export" I get 2 new files inside my original desktop folder: "Mp3Tag.html" and "Mp3Tag.3mu."

I copied this entire folder back to my MP3 player and everythings still a mess. If I try to open the newly added files inside my MP3 player I get an error message-does not recognize file format.

Question 1. Once I've created tags in MP3Tag-how do I get them to my desktop so I can use them to copy over to my MP3 Player?

Question 2: Do I need to change the type of ID Tag for my particular MP 3 Player?

Question 3: When you showed how to use Covert to edit string, you left the example as
%track%%title%. Must I add the other fields as well? artist, album, etc?

Thanks

7

I think I already answered this question:

The export in MP3tag is to create files in various text formats.
MP3tag saves the modifications directly to the files.
So you just copy the files to the place where you need them.