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Question

ID3 tag editing, strange characters appear for artist

Jun 14, 2012 12:55AM PDT

Running Windows XP, SP3. I have noticed that when I try to edit an id3 tag on an mp3 using Windows properties, when I try to edit another field (like genre or song title), I end up getting a strange character tagged onto the end of the Artist name and I have to manually delete it. Why does this happen, and is there a way to prevent it?

Discussion is locked

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Answer
XP may get it wrong.
Jun 14, 2012 1:02AM PDT

Try a tag editor if you must do this. Yes, might be a bug but XP bug fixes are not going to happen.

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which one?
Jun 14, 2012 1:08AM PDT

Can you recommend a good FREE tag editor? And I noticed that this is a relatively recently occurring thing, didn't used to happen. Could it have been introduced say with SP3?

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Sorry no.
Jun 14, 2012 1:18AM PDT

We only have a few working XP machines left for production testing and when I see this it usually is the same in the tag editor. Digging deeper I find the user had downloaded from somewhere and the mystery is over.

There are some rippers and files that have odd tag fields with non-standard formats that will trigger this issue. No fix will ever be seen for reasons I'm sure we don't have to discuss.

I apologize but why didn't you use google or download.com to look for another editor?
Bob

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confused...
Jun 14, 2012 1:39AM PDT

First you tell me to try a tag editor, then you tell me that when you see this it is usually the same in the tag editor. So why bother using a tag editor if it won't fix the problem? And the reason I didn't simply google it was because I figured that if you were recommending I try a tag editor, you must have significant enough experience with these things to be able to share the one that YOU prefer. That is the whole point of asking someone for a specific recommendation. Of course I can google it and spend the entire day trying 20 different ones at random.

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Because the tag editor only shows it.
Jun 14, 2012 1:45AM PDT

Most tag editors will auto fix those badly formatted tag areas.

Good to know you can try a few editors but I hear you. For me I rarely edit tags but when I do, it's with iTunes. Some folk bristle at that software but I can't tell why. Maybe it's Apple, maybe they had an issue but here it is flawless.

My specific recommendation is to check download.com and try the top five folk like. Just like iTunes you may hate what I choose.
Bob

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ok, and for those interested, Mp3 Tag Tools seems ok:
Jun 14, 2012 1:51AM PDT

Thanks. If anyone else is following this, I seem to be doing ok with Mp3 Tag Tools. Will probably stop here.

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and BTW, the problem was in the id3v2.x artist field
Jun 14, 2012 2:10AM PDT

I noticed in using Mp3 Tag Tools that there was no strange character in the id3v1.1 field, so it was a quick fix simply to batch-copy the id3v1.1 fields to the id3v2.x fields and now the artist fields display correctly in Windows.

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Answer
I'm suggesting you try Helium Music Manager
Jul 29, 2012 1:22AM PDT

My tip would be to use Helium Music Manager. It might be a little bit bloated if you only want tag editing, but it's the best there is IMO. It has helped me many times when wanting to fix invalid tags.

http://www.helium-music-manager.com