Question number 3 in my quest to get everything on a portable before a month long trip in the desert. Thanks to those who helped previously.

I have a buttload of pre-2000 boots to get to a portable. I use Musicmatch to rip to MP3. Since only a few seem to have had track listings uploaded to Musicmatch everthing else has the dreaded track 01, track 02, etc as the file name and tag. I have text files with all the track listings for each so my question is this:

Is there any type of software available that can be used to either add tags or rename files in a group with the contents of a text file or something that can be used to rename files or edit tags by cutting and pasting over a block of files rather than one at a time which seems tome to be a 1980's way of doing something at best?

i upgraded for the super tagging, its not bad, but it still misses a few of the songs. i havent burned any of my whopping 5 boots, so im not sure how it does on those

iTunes can be used to rename files quickly and easily. By selecting a group of them and choosing get info, you can change the artist, album, year, etc. fields for a large number of tracks at once. To rename the titles, I know of easy ways to do this using AppleScripts, but I don't think this works on Windows. You'd still have to name the tracks one by one.

WOW.. Thank you!

I've been a Mac/iTunes user for 3+ years, and have renamed thousands of mp3s individually. I can't believe I never knew about this...

Glad I could help. Check out the applescripts on this page for more automated help naming mp3 files. Track Parser is great taking downloaded bootleg files with names like pixies2004-04-19d1t01 and parsing out the track, disc, album and artist data.

http://www.malcolmadams.com/itunes/scri ... rackparser

Very nice, thanks. Some of those look quite useful. I need to start using Applescripts more.. I tend to only use a few in the Finder for renaming files.

Unfortunately Apple doesn't like lowlife Windows 98se like me so I am still screwed since I can'tuse Itunes. This seems like an obvious thing to want to do surprised its not more commonly available.

I can do supertagging in Musicmatch buts its no good unless someone else has submitted the names before. For example I can do Soldier Field 95 and MTV unplugged but not Altlanta 94. Very sporadic for pre-2000 boots with most not there. Thankfully all the official boots were on there. Trying to do a lot of old ones myself.

You can also try an alternative to the CDDB service, like freedb.org.

I looked into Freedb.org and while this was a good suggestion according to their help it can't be accessed my any recent version of Musicmatch. It also says that Musicmatch doesn't use CDDB any more but their own servers which probably explains why this is a problem for me in the first place and will be a big strike against M.M. whenever I get a new PC and think about changing software.

The Godfather
http://www.download.com/3000-2141-10232547.html

If you have all the tracks in a certain pattern in the filenames, you can use this program to rename your ID3 tags for that track.

For example: If all your file names follow the format: Track #_Title (07-Betterman), you can enter that in to it, and it'll create the tag for that. Most any generic tagging software (iTunes, Windows Media Player, Real Player, etc.) will allow you to highlight a group of songs and change artist/album/year/genre at the same time.

Although the program takes a little bit to get used to, it can be very helpful.

The other option is to quit using shitty Musicmatch, of course.

I would probably use ITunes but would need a new PC since I am on Windows 98se. For now. I looked more into CDDB which I had not heard of and Freedb.org and now see that there are large numbers of programs available to do this. Trying to pick one that doesn't suck now. I will post here if I find a good choice.

It appears that these programs can take files already on your PC as Track1,2,3, etc and do a lookup on CDDB or Freedb and add tags and even rename files. That would provide a much larger set of data to find the tags from than on Musicmatch's proprietary database. If anyone has used a good program like this let us know the name.

Yep. iTunes lets you add information to multiple songs at a time. When I pull songs in I change the genre and/or composer to make the tracks uniform so I can query on both later, and to get rid of unwanted tags or inaccurate tag data. It takes a while, but in many cases it's easier than going one track at a time.

In order to use iTunes in addition to purchasing an iPOD I had to upgrade my Windows operating system from ME to XP, I had to purchase an external hard drive to house all of the .mp3s iTunes creates when importing CDs, and I had to also purchase Adaptec cards to expand my USB ports and add FireWire ports. It was a pretty heafty investment, but once I actually import the 200 discs sitting on my desk, it will be worth it.

Unfortunately, I have given away hundreds of CDs including dozens of Pearl Jam, Jane's Addiction, U2, and Hole bootlegs, along with CDs and CD-Singles by assorted bands, which, in retrospect, I should have imported as mp3s prior to giving them away or trading them in. I have a list as long as my arm of CDs I used to have that I now want to go back to the store and find so I can import them and trade them back in once finished.

I never got BitTorrent or Napster or any other sort of file sharing stuff to work, so this was the best I could do.

iTunes has its problems, but its working out so far, for the most part. I think they could improve it, but really what they want is they want people to rely on "playlists", when I would rather the database and the download to the iPod to be "smarter".

Anyway, I digress. I'm importing Benaroya Hall right now, it goes out and checks the iTunes database and give you all the track names; I then changed the genre and put Ed as the composer (he isn't on all the track of course but it makes sorting by composer easier for me). Took all of a Shift Select and Right Click to get to the screen to change the genre and composer for all the tracks on each disk.

Piece of cake.

c-

Tag & Rename is an excellent program for this very purpose.

http://www.softpointer.com/tr.htm

I'd like to know what problems you see with the iTunes database. I think it's excellent as a database program, especially since it can also be used to catalog pdf files (just drag and drop a pdf file into your library, then rename as necessary).
Do you have the browse feature enabled so that you have the Genre, Artist, and Album categories available across the top? If not, simply click on the browse icon at top right. I only say this because most people I know who have problems or dislike iTunes have this feature disabled for some reason.

EAC--->LAME is the only way to go.