Changing Metadata

Stewaji · February 20, 2016, 9:45pm

Using v. 2.1.2 with Windows 7.
Since I upgraded to this version I am not able to change the metadata on files that have been exported.
I can get this accomplished by opening the file in Audacity and saving it again after changing only the metadata, but this is much more time consuming than using Windows Explorer. When I try, the data fields are shown, but not available for change.
Thanks

steve · February 21, 2016, 2:52am

You could try MP3TAG (http://www.mp3tag.de/en/)

Gale_Andrews · February 21, 2016, 4:17pm

Please give an example of fields that won’t change and describe how you are changing them in Explorer.

I can change fields in an MP3 exported with Standard Preset in our current code by selecting the file in Explorer, then clicking in the field at the bottom of the window.

Gale

Stewaji · February 28, 2016, 2:44am

I open a .wav file I’ve recorded, track chop it , then “Export Selected Audio” to .wav file one tune at a time. I enter metadata fields on the second screen of the Export: Artist, Title, Album, track, year, genre, and comments, then Save. All is well until I try to use Windows Explorer to change ANY field in the metadata; I am able to use Explorer to rename the file. To try to change an attribute using Explorer I right click the file name, left click properties, left click details. The metadata is listed. I left click a field such as “Title” (or any other metadata field, they all respond in this same manner) the field title and contents remain highlighted, but the data cannot be changed. If I click on the data itself, nothing happens, it just remains highlighted. When I exit Audacity, I get the same result using Explorer to try to change any metadata fields. If I run the files through a format converter such as Switch Sound, this causes a new file to be written and I am then able to change the metadata.

Stewaji · February 28, 2016, 2:52am

Gale: Apologies for overlooking this in my post: This happens when I export to a .wav file, but not when I export as .mp3

Gale_Andrews · February 28, 2016, 1:24pm

Stewaji:

I open a .wav file I’ve recorded, track chop it , then “Export Selected Audio” to .wav file one tune at a time. I enter metadata fields on the second screen of the Export: Artist, Title, Album, track, year, genre, and comments, then Save. All is well until I try to use Windows Explorer to change ANY field in the metadata; I am able to use Explorer to rename the file. To try to change an attribute using Explorer I right click the file name, left click properties, left click details. The metadata is listed. I left click a field such as “Title” (or any other metadata field, they all respond in this same manner) the field title and contents remain highlighted, but the data cannot be changed. If I click on the data itself, nothing happens, it just remains highlighted. When I exit Audacity, I get the same result using Explorer to try to change any metadata fields.

I think it’s a limitation in Windows Explorer that does not apply to MP3 files.

You can drag the WAV file into a Windows Media Player library and locally edit the metadata in the Library database. This does not change the metadata in the file itself.

You could try dBpoweramp. This has Explorer integration. It will give you extra “ID-Tag” and “Audio Properties” properties sheets when you right-click the file > Properties. You can edit the metadata fields on the “ID-Tag” sheet and dBPoweramp should make the tags in the standard “Details” sheet editable for WAV files.

It’s free if you don’t want to encode MP3’s.

Gale