Anyone have any recommendations on an alternative (to iTunes) for reading a large library and then converting the mp3s to mp3s (to remove audio silence that got put in)? I did this in iTunes and the silences all got fixed (they were almost everywhere in my library after working in mp3tag last fall) but after the itunes mp3->mp3 conversion I could not see about half artworks in either Windows or Musicolet Android App music player. I will still need to read my folders, and all their artwork should be embedded (I removed the albumart and folder jpgs) and I want to just remove the silences.
I doubt that this is caused by MP3tag as MP3tag only deals with the tag data but not the audio part.
An
only reduces the quality of the MP3 files as a lossy audio format is again converted into a lossy audio format.
Which files do you see if you load all the files into MP3tag and then apply the filter
%_covers% MISSING
?
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Well that is why I was looking for a good recommendation for a reconverter. The iTunes, according to that previous poster about the Opus art, replied by Motley says that iTunes format for artwork is not recognized around other programs. So I need a different than iTunes for the reconversion. There's been way too much stuff done with all the retagging, I don't really want to do it all again busting out some backups from a year ago. Besides I'd added those 2600 songs we discussed on that other post from that blog, and they all got retagged and were looking good, until I found that they had the long silences added to almost every track after the most recent work tagging all of them. I don't know why it happened. So I went with the reconversion of all the mp3s. Yesterday listening, they seem to sound great. However they are missing a large swath of their artwork (presumably due to it being done in iTunes).
I thought it was interesting that though iTunes default "HQ" was used 192, (96l, 96r) kbps, that the conversion shaved an additional 46GB off the entire library from what was in Windows. (366GB) I suppose you could assume that it was the silences being lopped off the files. Anyway they sound pretty tight now. Just seeking a different converter that does good audio via some recommendations. You know, you just look for a converter that processes the bits and places them back in place removing the silence. Is that what is called normalization? I D K.
Yeah there's way too much work done. The 2600 songs were new, then there is the most recent work which I did over Feb/March here, which was to go thru the iTunes song list reading all looking for Album to repeat and then if it was the same song, remove any duplicates. There were just a ton of things I took out. So going back to my prev backup before that would put those all right back in. As it stands I have good sounding and good length music mp3s but need to redo the artwork. I could possibly get the same with the artwork embedded carried forward with a tagophile savvy audio converter. No more of this McTunes.
Unfortunately, you do not reply to my questions about the presence of embedded pictures.
I would think that getting all the tag data right is a first step and then see what the audio part does.
Just a footnote
Is not the best setting. The maximum and therefore probably best setting ist 320.
But as you recode the files, the sample rate right now does not really matter any more as you cannot get any better than the original file.
And furthermore: re-encoding in general does not remove silence at the end. I would not use an audio editor that on its own throws away parts of the audio data.
I have the impression that only listening to the tracks is not a good test environment as some players insert gaps on their own.
You would have to look at each file and see if there is really a silent part somewhere and then decide if that part can really be cut.
So: which files does MP3tag show if you use the filter
%_covers% MISSING
?
Unfortunately I have become somewhat reticent towards the mp3tag program. Also I begin to gloss over whenever languages only learned in institutions of higher learning ...not trying to be funny (though I am thinking it may get a few guffaws), I am just a musician you know?
See I am not sure how to use a filter. I will try to do this difficult % thing and get back to you very soon. I have all day to work on this so I will be back very soon.
See the documentation on filters:
Well, using the filters field at the bottom of the interface I selected the covers string from the dropdown, and then it said 0/46000 (in the original files pre iTunes) and then typed in MISSING after the string and it continued to say 0/~46000.
You mentioned before something about APE tags, and getting rid of the silences. I see a lot of these still have APE after their tag type. I am working on a backup here is there anything you would recommend trying to get rid of the silences (pre iTunes conversion files here).
I have not loaded up the files with the missing art yet in the interface I am still operating on the library as it is with the best form (but with the silences on everything)
I would say that is a good sign as it proves that all the loaded files have embedded covers.
So it would be interesting to see if anything changes in respect to the silence if you treat them with MP3tag
You mentioned APE.
You could check the contents of the APE tags and see whether these tags have the same data as the ID3 tags.
If that is the case then you don't need APE tags - get rid of them as they may cause confusion also with the player if that does not understand how to deal with 2 tag versions in a file.
E.g. it could be that the picture is only embedded in the ID3 tags but not in the APE tags and if the player prefers the APE tags, then you don't see a picture in the player.
In respect to pictures: it could also be that the jpg pictures came as progressive jpg files which some players do not understand. You could try the following:
Get a file from the player without picture,
load it into MP3tag,
convert the picture from jpg to png
See whether the player now shows a picture.
But this would be a step after you have cleaned up the APE tags.
I loaded up the interface and got up the directory with the iTunes converted files and the filter also shows that there is 0/46000 songs that are missing covers.
I have never used any png files for ever. It would be interesting if the picture embedded files that the Windows OS won't see are the ones with the APE tags. I can only look at that one folder at a time though.
Could you take care that there is a space character between the property variable and the filter keyword?
Right now I see
%_covers%MISSING
which should be
%_covers% MISSING
Ok, sure now it's 77 missing covers. Many of those being from this Mu Mesons Phlegm album. Several others from some YouTube downloads I did a decade ago. However 77 does not begin to approach the number that don't show up in Android app Musicolet or Windows Explorer.
also worth mentioning once again these are the files that were converted and have no silences at the end.
I just want to point out that the “silence remover” in iTunes do not alter the file, but only stores a start and stop time in iTunes database for mp3 files. Only if you make a copy, the new file will be shorter (but also reencoded).
That is also why modifications outside of iTunes adds back the silence as it thinks it is a different file.
It is also worth noting that by default the conversion is to AAC, but you can choose both bit rate and format in the settings.
I think that may be a newer feature. I am still using iTunes 12 which I have been for a decade or so. I don't go on the internet with that computer and I decline iTunes updates. So since I have converted these files (though only from mp3 to mp3) I would think they are actually now the length that they are? As I converted the 46000 pruned song library I hit on a few brick walls, about 10. 10 times the iTunes player stopped conversions over a 3 day period because it ran up against files it couldn't convert. The entire Supersuckers album (I only let it zing me twice) I removed (How The Supersuckers Became The Greatest....) two songs from Alice Cooper's "Welcome To My Nightmare" , the Cardigans song "Bonus Track", Porpoise Head by Porno For Pyros and a few others threw these wrenches. Don't know why. I'd originally ripped 3 of these albums off cd in 2011 straight to iTunes M4A and had converted the originals maybe 10 years ago to mp3.
But it is a first step to see that not all files actually have embedded covers.
(BTW: you have ID3v2.2 tags in the files - which is a little outdated. But it also shows that these tags have not been written by MP3tag as otherwise you would have ID3v2.3 or V1).
It would be a nice experiment to add covers to these files and see whether your player picks it up.
For further investigations the check of the necessity of APE tags, a possible conversion of pictures to png and a reload of files which show no picture in the player back into MP3tag and check them there would be the steps to go.
I am looking forward to hear about the results of these checks.
I made that backup and the first attempt will be to remove the APE tags in the backup files. I found this other page about ape removal from I think 2008 or 2006 or 2009 in here. I will just uncheck the other 2 choices if the same is available and the APE tags to remove with any luck to see what happens in that backup folder with the songs. At what point I don't know will I see the silence time come off the files. I don't know. If it takes another load into the MicroSD or maybe will show in Windows Explorer which is much faster.
That’s how iTunes worked when i used it to create ringtones for my Motorola razr v3i and also iPhone 4, so before 2010 something.
I have these 3 screenshots of the top and bottom of the sorted tag column segment that showing APE tags. Also the tool panel for Tag actions screenshot. I don't know if this is correct? I don't understand what it is going to do as far as read and write sections in these options.
Also here is the original version (pre iTunes) showing an extra 10 (lossless wav files) with missing covers.
here is the top of the APE segment
bottom of the APE segment, (showing some missing track #s Can not explain! and my option selection boxes. Does this seem right for ape removal but keep what ever else?
It's actually not that many not having track #s. The various non numbered compilations or playlists. Don't remember what that Van Morrison is maybe a single. Beach House.. There are some unknowns in here. It's not as many as it appears to be of missing track #s.
Let us stay with the removal of APE tags.
You can filter for files with APE tags with filter:
%_tag% HAS APE
In short these are the settings in the options which you set before you load the files:
set Ctrl-O Tags>Mpeg all off for all non-APE-tags.
For APE set to on: read and delete
Save the settings with OK.
Load the files.
Select all the files that should be treated in the files list.
Select "Cut tags" from the context menu of the files list.
Wait for the process to finish.
Reset the options for all tags except APE to read, write, delete, as you had them before,
set APE to delete only.
Reload the files with F5
After each of the manipulations you should check whether your player now shows more of the expected data.
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Well so far it's lookin good. I see both the Zimbabwe (both versions were not missing their art in Musicolet, only the Survival version) album covers in Windows and also the Lacy Jill Dalton is now showing in Windows. Well that worked How bout that. So far anyways....next thing is to load these on that MicroSD if they are largely working. First I see several issues with the current metadata though like these missing tracks. Thanks in order. I will have to get back to you on the Files goin to the MicroSD though because it's not time to do that till I get the other things like the 77 missing artworks and the track #s fixed. Well Thanks a lot ohrenkino. Oh wait.. .I am jumping the gun these are backups pre iTunes. Oh yeah that's right. Well maybe they won't have the silence at the end? 26000 or so songs. Maybe. But I still have a lot to do.
Ok Ok remember that Clarence Carter album I mentioned a month and a week ago, well that's got the right times now and you can contrast them to the other versions on the same computer that I made the backup of, right here in this screenshot (APE tags rmoved on the left and original with APE tags on the right, I just made this backup a few hours ago):
So. Allright man. Looks like it was all in those APE tags eh? Or at least for this particular album. I wonder where the APE tags came from. I remember messing around with that menu before when I was using the mp3tag program last year. Maybe you should put a warning on it. I may have activated it I was checking and unchecking boxes the whole time I was using it in that little tool option menu for the MPEG tags. I remember it well but I don't remember exactly what I did then I just remember it didn't seem to do anything at the time. 
A warning is only right for those who use other programs that do not keep the different tag versions in sync.
For the track numbers:
Consider the use of the track numbering wizard Ctrl-K to assign track numbers.
This is not really clear. Did you check the contents of the APE tags and see which data could be found in them? Esp.: was the cover missing?
And further: all these tags are usually valid tags - it depends a lot of how the player interprets them.
What we try to do at the moment is to get all the variables out of the system. And one is: which data is stored in which tag versions.
The next thing to clearify: what kind of picture is embedded in files that do not show album art in the player.