Audacity knows the track title, so why do I have to enter it manually in metadata?

[CliveyC]

I’m digitising my vinyl using Audacity. I name the tracks at breaks in the audio file before exporting them as mp3s. When the Export dialog box comes up I click on Multiple Files, Split files based on: Labels; and Name files: Using Label/Track Name. Then I click on Edit Metadata… and go into a series of Edit Metadata Tags boxes, one for each track I have named. However, although the name of the track appears automatically above the Tag and Value boxes, it doesn’t automatically populate the Track Title field. This seems odd, since I have already named the track and Audacity has picked this up from the audio file. Is there any way to make the Edit Metadata Tags box automatically fill the Track Title field with the track name I have already given it? Thanks.

[evilmrb]

I think the link below refers to the problem you describe:
https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/mp3-metadata-only-saved-to-first-track-when-using-export-multiple-based-on-track-names/119179
The issue has been around for over a year, I think. You need to find an external metadata editor for Mac (similar in function to MP3Tag on Windows). ChatGPT suggests something called Kid3.
Mark B

[romontschun]

MP3tag for the Mac is available from here.

[billw58]

Kid3 is free and open source.

[CliveyC]

Thanks, Romontschun. I may try Kid3 first because it’s free. MP3Tag looks very good, but seems to be aimed at music production professionals etc. who need to add metadata to long lists of tracks.

[CliveyC]

Thanks billw58. I’ll give it a try.

[CliveyC]

Yup, that’s where I got the information from that the problem remains unresolved in/by Audacity. Thanks.

[mitch_park]

Actually, Audacity knows nothing about the text in the labels you assign to chunks of audio. Audacity will happily divide your audio at the boundaries of even textless labels. Of course, you’ll have file system problems, trying to write nameless files! There’s no way to tell Audacity’s metadata mechanism that your label is a track title. The best you can do at present is to create labels in a consistent format that convert into filenames that Mp3Tag or equivalent can convert into tags thus: Album-AlbumArtist-Track-Artist-Title (Composer). For the moment, Audacity requires a separate metadata editor.

[maggykalson]

@CliveyC

I’m digitising my vinyl using Audacity. I name the tracks at breaks in the audio file before exporting them as mp3s. When the Export dialog box comes up I click on Multiple Files, Split files based on: Labels; and Name files: Using Label/Track Name. Then I click on Edit Metadata… and go into a series of Edit Metadata Tags boxes, one for each track I have named. However, although the name of the track appears automatically above the Tag and Value boxes, it doesn’t automatically populate the Track Title field. This seems odd, since I have already named the track and Audacity has picked this up from the audio file. Is there any way to make the Edit Metadata Tags box automatically fill the Track Title field with the track name I have already given it? Thanks.

In Audacity, when exporting multiple MP3 files using labels, the “Track Title” field should automatically use the label names, but if it doesn’t, try updating Audacity to the latest version, as this might be a bug. Ensure you select “Name files: Using Label/Track Name” during export and avoid manually editing metadata to let the labels populate automatically. If the issue continues, setting common metadata as default before exporting can help.

[CliveyC]

Yes, but my Mac won’t let me download it. It can’t verify that it’s free of malware.

[romontschun]

I can download Kid3 (for Intel) without any problems from this site.

I can open the .dmg file without any problems.

I can drag the applications’s symbol into the symbol of the Applications-folder.

I then can double-click the application (which resides in the Applications folder, not the one in the .dmg) and the program opens.

Make sure you have selected in your security systems that you can download apps from the App Store and from certified developers.

[CliveyC]

Hmmm. My Safari Preferences are set to allow downloads from Sourceforge, which is where your link sends me (and is where I downloaded it from the first time). But when I try to open it I get the message about not being able to check it for malware.

[romontschun]

Mh… you wrote “my Mac won’t let me download it” - there is a difference between downloading and opening an application.

And your Safari settings are not important, I wrote about the system settings which you find under the Apple menu.

If the Mac doesn’t open an application with double-clicking, just use the right-hand mouse button and select the “Open” command from the pop-up menu. It will warn you about risks, but you can confirm. However, it did not warn me, the program just opened using a double-click…

[CliveyC]

Sorry I misled you. Yes, I typed the wrong word. I should have said my Mac won’t let me OPEN it. I tried the right-click and selected Open from the menu and it works, thank you, despite Apple’s misgivings. I did have the … and certified developers button checked. I will now try to figure out how to use it to enter the metadata for the albums I’m uploading! The interface isn’t intuitive, but I’ll dig around for instructions.