Audacity Forum

Hi, I use audacity to record tapes and records.

The older version of audacity allowed you to type in the artist, album and genre information ONCE for multiple export, which was really convenient.

The beta version wants to input the tag info for each song (same group, same album, same genre).

Is there a way to input the data once and have it apply to all songs?

Yes, in the Metadata editing window, fill in the fields you want as default values and click "Set Default"
Those valuse will appear each time the editing window opens. If you want, you can Save the values as a template in an XML file, which you can load again in a new project.

PO'L

Thanks! You click on File: Open Edit Metadata Editor, then make a "template" which opens when you 'export multiple' . Then you just change it for the next recording project.

My record and tape collection, (which includes some Irish tunes) thanks you greatly, really!

In current Beta versions, the easier way (IMO) to enter the information common to each track just once is:

1: Turn Metadata editor off for the export step, then
2: Enter the common metadata except Track Title and Track Number at File > Open Metadata Editor before the export step

To turn Metadata Editor off, click Edit > Preferences, then the Import / Export tab, and in the "When exporting tracks..." section, uncheck "Show Metadata Editor prior to export step".

If the Metadata Editor is set to appear at export time, you can load a template, but it won't be passed to the Editor window for the next file to be exported. "Set Default" does pass the data from one window to the next, but only for a new project that otherwise has no metadata. Set Default isn't a way to pass metadata from one window to another in an existing project, or to force the metadata to particular content when an imported file already has its own metadata.

The Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 Nightly Builds have experimental code so that Metadata Editor has an option "prompt for metadata before first file only". Feel free to test it. We haven't had time to bug fix and commit this yet. I can see at least some bugs with "prompt before first file only":

* The Track Title and Track Number are not set dynamically from the tracks or labels as happens when prompting for each file (Track Title and Track Number should probably be set to Auto)

* When the editor does not have content from Set Default, there is no metadata in any exported files except the second one

I'm not sure whether a template or "Set Default" really should pass data from one window to another in a current project. There may be an expectation "Set Default" would do so, but people may not realise the "default" is then for all new projects not just for the existing session or project. When we have the new "prompt for first file only" functionality committed, most people who choose to prompt for each file will do so because they want the metadata for each file to be different.



Gale

Thanks for the clarification, Gale,

I'll have a look at 1.3.13 and report.

PO'L

Hi Gale!

Thanks for helping me with a similar problem as Irish reported.
I downloaded the Nightly Build and tried the "Before first file only" option in "Export Multiple", but this is a) buggy and b) not what I'd expect.

I recorded a short track of silence, set 3 text labels (with Ctrl-B) and tried "Export Multiple" with the option "Before first file only". Then only track 2 had this data, not 1 and 3. And all did not have the expected track name and track number in it.

So the only "working workflow" at the moment is:
1. Enter everything BEFORE export in the Metadata Editor.
2. Then start "Export Multiple" with asking before each file. This fills track name and number.

My "dream workflow" goes like that (and it worked in the 1.2 version):
1. Start "Export Multiple" with asking before each file. For the 1st file I fill out all the data.
2. For all following files it keeps the data. Only track name and number will be changed automatically.

The thing is simply to keep what has been entered from one window to the next.

The above mentioned "working workflow" is OK with me, (once I knew it thanks to your hint).
The "dream workflow" from the old version 1.2 is more intuitive, as all the action is in one pass.

Thanks for your support!
Thomas

Mausschubser wrote:the only "working workflow" at the moment is:
1. Enter everything BEFORE export in the Metadata Editor.
2. Then start "Export Multiple" with asking before each file. This fills track name and number.

Yes, that's true with the Nightly Build at the moment, and is more of a nuisance than in the Beta release. In that version the common metadata will be filled for each file and the track number/track title taken from the tracks or labels if you fill the common data before export, and set preferences not to show Metadata Editor.

I notice that preference doesn't stop Metadata Editor appearing in the Nightly, so I'd think the simplest solution would be for the export multiple choice "Do not write metadata" to be linked to that preference, and also applied to single export. So if you hid Metadata Editor at export time by unchecking that preference, you would get no metadata in the exported files (meaning not just empty metadata tags, but no tags). Otherwise, a choice within the preference:
"Export any existing metadata" would mean what happens now in the Beta, with metadata passed to multiple files.

Mausschubser wrote: My "dream workflow" goes like that (and it worked in the 1.2 version):
1. Start "Export Multiple" with asking before each file. For the 1st file I fill out all the data.
2. For all following files it keeps the data. Only track name and number will be changed automatically.

... The "dream workflow" from the old version 1.2 is more intuitive, as all the action is in one pass.

I agree that should be the default behaviour to aim for. A significant minority (people exporting compilation albums for example) do want separate metadata for each file though, so we should still try to accommodate them, which we don't in 1.2.

Thanks for testing.


Gale