How to import file, path names, tags

Support
1

I am new to Mp3tag and really like what I have seen so far. I have about 4000 .MP3s and somehow the tags have been messed up (not by Mp3tag). I can export the current mess to a .csv file and write an Excel macro to recover the correct tags.

I would like to save my fixed spreadsheet back to a .csv file, import it into Mp3tag, and have it use the path and file names to find the files and put the proper tags into each .mp3.

Is there a way to do this or, perhaps, another way to accomplish the same thing?

Many thanks for any help.

2

See e.g. this thread: Get tags from file

But why do you need Excel to clean up the tags? I think that MP3tag has a lot of better functions esp. with the use of regular expressions to manipulate tags.

3

Thank you for your reply. Am I correct in thinking you said that I would have a text file with 1 header line specifying the field order (title, album, etc.) and each other line would contain an mp3 file name and the field values. Then I can get Mp3tag to open each file and write the tags specified?

Nothing was mentioned about path. My mp3s are in a directory (folder) tree. I may have a number of files of the same name but in different directories in the tree. How do I get mp3 to open the correct file each time?

----------Why Excel VBA is needed:

Excel's macro language (VBA) is very powerful. For example it is possible to operate a milling machine directly from a macro. It is possible to trade stocks on the major exchanges by having Excel use using real time data to make nearly instant decisions and then actually execute the trades in a second or two.

The mess I have was caused by a bug in another program. Some, but not all, of the tags for each file are located in another .mp3 files. (Some tags were placed in other .mp3s by the bug.) Worse, some of the data I need to make decisions on how to fix the tags does not exist anywhere in the .mp3 files or in any format known to Mp3tag. That is why I cannot just use Mp3tag to fix the mess.

I am VERY impressed with the design of Mp3tag. It is very flexible and powerful, but it won't do the weird stuff I need to do.

4

The first line with the field names is only for your convenience if you import that data into Excel.
If you want to import that data back into MP3tag, then this line should be omitted - it does not help the import. you have to enter the sequence of fields when triggering the action - like this you can also leave out fields by using the variable name %dummy%.

I am not sure about the filename - whether it is possible to use a fully qualified filename including the path. Please try it.

5

Thank you - I will definitely try it. You said "like this". Did you mean to include a sample like?

6

It is a little tricky to include a sample if I do not know what data you exported
BUT:
e.g.
You have exported
Pink Floyd;Shine on you crazy diamond;Wish you were here

But now you want to import only the ARTIST and the ALBUM.
The pattern you would use for import is:
%artist%;%dummy%;%album%

7

It is possible

Instead of using %_filename_ext% in the format string, you can use %_path% and supply fully qualified file names.

I tried it and it worked.

8

SOLVED (Sort of)
I can store my spreadsheet as a tab delimited text file and then replace the tabs with semicolons.
Then I can use Mp3tag's Convert/Text file - Tag.

That is now partially working. Since the issue that started this thread is answered (THANKS to all)
I am going to start a new thread on the one remaining problem I am having.

Thanks again