Mp3tag allows for importing tags and cover art from two online databases — Discogs and MusicBrainz — via Tag Sources → Discogs and Tag Sources → MusicBrainz. The last used Tag Source can be triggered by ⌘ I.
The import works on a per-album basis and is usually a 3-step process:
- Search via Tag Source
Here, you provide artist and/or album details to search for the release in the online database. The more complete, the better the result.
- Choose one of the search results
There is usually a complete list of results and you can use the details on the search results window to decide on which result to import.
The Score column in the example window is available for the MusicBrainz Tag Source and gives an indication on the quality of the match (where 100 is best).
This step is omitted for Tag Sources → Discogs Release ID where the Discogs Release ID (usually found on the upper right of any release on Discogs) is used to directly jump to the search result.
- Confirm data to import
After choosing the result and proceeding with Next, this window shows the complete data to be imported. You can use the check boxes next to the field names to decide if this particular field should be imported or left out. The same applies to the album art.
If you hold down the ⌥ Option key while clicking on on of the field check boxes, all fields are activated or deactivated.
If you want to change the order of the track ↔ file mapping, use drag and drop in the file list of the results window to change the mapping.
Save replaces the tag with the fields enabled in the Tag Sources results window, Merge combines the existing tag with the fields enabled in the results window (overwriting any existing contents).
Please note that the search works on a per-album basis and is not automatic. Mp3tag doesn’t auto-magically detect unnamed files and tags them correctly.
Custom Tag Sources
Mp3tag comes with a basic set of Tag Sources but it's not limited to those.
Here at the Mp3tag Community Forums, you'll find a plenitude of other user-contributed Tag Sources that allow you to import ALL data from Discogs, access Bandcamp or Beatport or import lyrics to your files.
You can explore (and download) them at the Tag Sources Archive.
To use a user-contributed Tag Source, you need to copy its files to the Tag Sources Folder at Tag Sources → Open Tag Sources Folder. The copied Tag Source is now available via Tag Sources.
Organizing Tag Sources
If you use the # character in a Tag Sources file name, Mp3tag uses anything before the # as name for a submenu and anything after as a menu item in that menu. By that, you can organize Tag Sources that belong together.