# removing ape tags

**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/removing-ape-tags/4597
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [March 12, 2007, 7:20am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/removing-ape-tags/4597 "2007-03-12T07:20:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 1

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### Author: ![saras](https://community.mp3tag.de/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@saras](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/saras)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2007, 7:20am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/removing-ape-tags/4597/1 "2007-03-12T07:20:18Z")

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files:mp3s  
tags: mp3v1, mp3v2, apev2  
mp3v1, mp3v2 contain song and album data  
ape tag contains replaygain data

settings  
read:mp3v1, mp3v2, apev2  
write:mp3v2  
remove:mp3v1, ape

actions:  
select all  
alt+T  
delete replaygain tags  
save files

result:  
files rewritten (slow)  
mp3v2 tags deleted (title, performer, etc. all gone)  
apev2 tags still in file  
apev2 tags still contain replaygain data  
hex editor shows two apev2 tags at end of files

actions:  
select one file  
alt+T  
delete replaygain tags  
save file  
close mp3tag  
reopen mp3tag  
select same file  
alt+T

result:  
mp3v2 tag contains replaygain and mp3gain data  
program doesn't see ape tag, but hex editor shows two ape tags at end of file

I give up - the program is so confusing that I don't think I will ever know if it works correctly. And I can't afford to delete any more tags in order to find out. BTW it can't find the album on Amazon to fix the tags, though MediaMonkey finds the same album in Amazon US, UK, Germany, Japan, and France. Unfortunately MediaMonkey is writing the _$^%_ ape tags and other programs don't LIKE ape tags on mp3 files.

There are a half dozen places where mp3tag holds outdated information and needs to refresh itself. It also needs to show all tags at once, and not make assumptions about which ones are desirable, especially if these assumptions conflict with program settings!

If I set it to not read ape tags, it doesn't see them. If I set it to read them, it uses that (incorrect) data in lieu of the correct mp3v2 data. Even if I knew what settings to use, it's too much trouble to do such a simple task (delete and remove all APE tags, delete and remove MP3v1 tags, do not alter MP3v2 tags).

The more I experiment to be sure I'm describing things correctly, the more my files get hosed, and the more unpredictable things MP3tag seems to do. Enough.

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_[View the full topic](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/removing-ape-tags/4597)._