# Need help with Filename - Filename **URL:** \ **Category:** Support\ **Created:** [April 6, 2020, 3:39pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/need-help-with-filename-filename/48444 "2020-04-06T15:39:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ssimlai](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@ssimlai](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ssimlai)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 3:39pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/need-help-with-filename-filename/48444/1 "2020-04-06T15:39:24Z")
Hi everyone! I just joined this group, so hello! Though I have been using the tool for quite some years now, I would like to start by admitting that I am a complete newbie as regards using the syntaxes that are used in this software. I have a specific issue with regard to file renaming. I have a lot of music files across 10 flash drives and organised by Album, because my Fiat Blue & Me audio system allows me that luxury. However, I have since past two years been travelling on international projects and hence no car!! I do have with me something called a Sound Micro from Nakamichi which allows me to use flash drives to listen to music. The player has its own complicated way of programming music which I want to avoid as it would be cumbersome. I suddenly recalled MP3Tag helped me a lot a few years ago and I had completely forgotten about it. I know it can do the job but my limited knowledge on using it restricts me. Each flash drive has multiple albums and the tracks are numbered per album, meaning Album A has 10 tracks and they are numbered (as you see under the # column of Windows Explorer) 1 to 10, then Album 2 has 20 songs and they are numbered 1-20 and so on. What I would like to do is to first sort ALL songs by Album (in Windows Explorer) and then rename them such that the album-wise sequence remains intact. So the songs will therefore have a three digit number at the beginning, e.g. 023 Candle in the Wind, so that when I plug in the flash drive into the Nakamichi, the songs start playing by sequential numbering order rather than alphabetical order like it is doing now (and thus playing tracks from different albums in alphabetical sequence). If I could get some help on how to do it using Filename - Filename conversion, I shall be grateful. Many many thanks in advance. Regards. ---
**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/need-help-with-filename-filename/48444/2 "2020-04-06T15:50:57Z")
Usually, any kind of problems with players applying their own strangely sorted order is due to missing data in the fields ALBUMARTIST, ARTIST, ALBUM, TITLE, TRACK. So, are these fields filled? The next thing that would be interesting: By what criteria does the player sort? The filename, because the tag fields are empty? What happens once you filled the tag fields? Does it still only use the filename? Or does it use the field TITLE? Finally, I doubt that the function Convert\>Filename-Filename would be the best function. I would think that Convert\>tag-filename is better even if the format string would only be `%_counter% _ %_filename%` ---
**Author:** ![ssimlai](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@ssimlai](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ssimlai)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 4:00pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/need-help-with-filename-filename/48444/3 "2020-04-06T16:00:27Z")
Hi thanks so much for such a quick response. Well I should have said in the beginning itself, my mistake, that all the songs have those fields fully filled in, i.e. album, artist, title, track and sequence. As regards the criteria of sorting used by the player, honestly I don't think the player has a lot of intelligence built in, except for a programming functionality of max 20. So what it means is that it plays using alphabetic or numeric order. Since the files are already filled with tags, and the player doesn't respond to them, I can safely assume that it can only play in the order the track names are, i.e. alphabetical order. ---
**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 4:04pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/need-help-with-filename-filename/48444/4 "2020-04-06T16:04:22Z")
> [@ssimlai](#): > > play in the order the track names are, i.e. alphabetical order. Then I would rename the files with Convert\>Tag-Filename Format string: `%artist%_%album%_$num(%track%,2)_%title%` ---
**Author:** ![ssimlai](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@ssimlai](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ssimlai)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 12:45pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/need-help-with-filename-filename/48444/5 "2020-04-12T12:45:57Z")
Many thanks for the help. It worked perfectly as far as the tagging was concerned. But then the next thing was to see how the player responded. Mine is a small machine called SoundMicro from Nakamichi - nothing special except the sound quality being superb. Controls are at best basic or in a few cases - such as USB playback - less than basic. A really weird thing is happening here. The player doesn’t bother about the order that I created by renaming the files as above. Rather it chose to play a different song, that too with a message - NO ID3. When I checked back the USB on my computer, I couldn’t see any tagging problem or missing tags. I don’t understand the syntax of the tagging and as to what really is the player seeking, so I’m again stuck there. Another thing I noticed in the manual, where it says that only FAT 16 and FAT 32 compatible. ---
**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 12:53pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/need-help-with-filename-filename/48444/6 "2020-04-12T12:53:02Z")
Perhaps that player only needs V1 tags. Or does not understand V2.4 tags ... ---
**Author:** ![ssimlai](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@ssimlai](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ssimlai)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 3:25pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/need-help-with-filename-filename/48444/7 "2020-04-12T15:25:50Z")
Well I don’t understand those terms but what’s surprising that only one song comes up As. NO ID3. All the other songs from the same album and other albums are showing alright. But yes, the sequence of playing isn’t helping. What would you suggest doing in this case? I’m truly sorry to bother you. ---
**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 3:31pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/need-help-with-filename-filename/48444/8 "2020-04-12T15:31:39Z")
As you hardly describe anything about the good cases and the bad cases, it is rather hard to give any decent advice. You have to find out - which tag versions does you player understand? - are all the necessary tag fields filled and none left out? - what is the difference between the good and the bad file? - which sort criteria does your player offer? - do the files have something to offer to be sorted by? - do the filenames (if that is a sort criterion) follow a common pattern? - which file did you grab when you copied the files to the thumb drive? Is this the one out of order? ---
**Author:** ![Crissov](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/crissov/32/6619_2.png) [@Crissov](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Crissov)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/need-help-with-filename-filename/48444/9 "2020-04-12T15:36:17Z")
- which tags does your copy of Mp3tag read and write? ---
**Author:** ![ssimlai](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@ssimlai](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ssimlai)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2020, 8:47pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/need-help-with-filename-filename/48444/10 "2020-05-02T20:47:27Z")
- which tag versions does you player understand?: How to find out? - are all the necessary tag fields filled and none left out? Yes all filled - what is the difference between the good and the bad file?: There is no good and bad file. They are all good playable files. - which sort criteria does your player offer? Don't know. Simply starts playing. - do the files have something to offer to be sorted by? Yes many options. - do the filenames (if that is a sort criterion) follow a common pattern? Yes - which file did you grab when you copied the files to the thumb drive? Is this the one out of order? Didnt understand the question ---
**Author:** ![ssimlai](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@ssimlai](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ssimlai)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2020, 8:48pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/need-help-with-filename-filename/48444/11 "2020-05-02T20:48:04Z")
How to find out? Could you please help to understand the question? ---
**Author:** ![ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/user_avatar/community.mp3tag.de/ohrenkino/32/4843_2.png) [@ohrenkino](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ohrenkino)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2020, 8:59pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/need-help-with-filename-filename/48444/12 "2020-05-02T20:59:05Z")
> [@ssimlai](#): > > which tag versions does you player understand?: How to find out? RTM? (Read the manual) > [@ssimlai](#): > > which sort criteria does your player offer? Don't know. Simply starts playing. Again: see the player's documentation or try some reverse engineering. > [@ssimlai](#): > > do the files have something to offer to be sorted by? Yes many options. > [@ssimlai](#): > > do the filenames (if that is a sort criterion) follow a common pattern? Yes Which are? > [@ssimlai](#): > > which file did you grab when you copied the files to the thumb drive? Is this the one out of order? Didnt understand the question When you drag and drop files, you usually have the mouse hovering over a particular file. Is this file that does not fit in the expected order? And a personal note: I would like to point out that it is you who has the problem, not me. So it would be in your own interest to supply as much information as possible - unless you don't care any more and you either can live with the way it is or have solved the reason why you posted. So anwers like > [@ssimlai](#): > > Yes or > [@ssimlai](#): > > Yes many options Do not help to narrow it down. Your initial statement > [@ssimlai](#): > > The player doesn’t bother about the order that I created by renaming the files as above. Rather it chose to play a different song, that too with a message - NO ID3 points into a direction where the files may be > [@ssimlai](#): > > good playable files. but this says hardly anything about the tags. Please check the files with the utilities linked here: > [@How to check files for errors?](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-check-files-for-errors/44633): > > It’s required and often helps to reduce support cycles to check files for errors before filing a bug report. Symptoms of erroneous files are often missing or wrong bitrate or length audible blips or skips tags seem to be sticky and cannot be removed There are some really good tools to check the files for errors, namely MP3 Diags — identifies many different issues in MP3 files Website: [http://mp3diags.sourceforge.net](http://mp3diags.sourceforge.net) Download: [MP3 Diags - Getting MP3 Diags](http://mp3diags.sourceforge.net/010_getting_the_program.html#binWindows) If the font size in MP3 Diags is … ---
**Author:** ![ssimlai](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@ssimlai](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/ssimlai)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2020, 9:01pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/need-help-with-filename-filename/48444/13 "2020-05-02T21:01:06Z")
Will try all advice one by one. Been so far bogged down with COVID and Work from Home pressures. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://community.mp3tag.de/uploads/default/original/2X/c/ce7035d426cb755a7916793326d23b465222a407.png) [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2026, 12:28pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/need-help-with-filename-filename/48444/14 "2026-02-09T12:28:30Z")