Audacity Forum

Audacity version 1.3.12 beta
OS - Windows Vista 64-bit (will be upgrading to Windows 7 64 bit
Computer - Dell Studio XPS

Problem: meta data not being exported to .wav files

First let me say that this software is just great. Many thanks to the developers. The software is allowing me to continue to enjoy cassette tape and LP music 35-40+ years old.

The following steps are taken:
1. Recording and saving project
2. Adding a label track w/ point labels corresponding to the track names
3. Applying "effects" as necessary
4. Open meta data editor and complete general meta data
5. Re-save the project
6. Export multiple

I thought that Windows security settings might interfere, however, with some tinkering in the "Permissions" area, I'm still not successful. I am unable to add or edit the Properties (Windows) of the .wav file. This problem has nothing to do with a media player (Windows or others). The information in the meta data window for Audacity, simply is ignored (or seems to be). I even changed the labels to range labels without any change in the meta data. I also tried to save the tracks as wma files with the meta data, also without success.

About the only thing I haven’t tried is an uninstall of Audacity and a re-install, although I wouldn’t expect a change. I have reviewed your forum without any success either. I hope there is a solution.

Regards, Pat Curci

I have included some screen shots to help show the process and results. I hope they help. (Looks Like I'm limited to 3 attachments, so can't show "results".)

Although metadata is not part of the WAV specification, it is not specifically prohibited and some metadata information can be included in WAV files. However, very few programs support metadata information in WAV files and will not display such information.
Audacity supports "Artist, track title, year and comments" in WAV files. This information will be displayed in some programs (such as MediaInfo and SUPER) but will probably not be supported by Windows Media Player. Importing a file into a new Audacity project should confirm that this data is stored in the WAV file. Note that Audacity handles one set of metadata per project and not per track.

stevethefiddle:

Thanks for your reply. It is disappointing that the metadata info can't be saved with the .wav file so it's visable in Windows Explorer and in file "Properties". It's not easy to understand why Microsoft does some things.

Regards, Pat

<<<It's not easy to understand why Microsoft does some things.>>>

It's not just Microsoft. MetaData is always a second thought. Music CDs do not carry song titles. They seem to, because the computer goes on-line quick as a bunny and looks them up.

I have not personally experienced this, but I know people who use AIFF instead of WAV files -- almost exactly the same except for minor technical considerations here and there -- because AIFF included metadata in the original specification on day one

I have a friend who is on the Hollywood association to standardize additional information inside movie files during electronic capture of Feature Film performances. Nobody thought they needed that.

Koz

Again, I appreciate the continuing comments.

I'm really new to this "digitizing" of music. I was ecstatic to find the Audacity software and be able to save my relatively old cassette tape & LP music collection.

The main purpose here is to be able burn CDs to play in most any CD player (home, car, etc) so I can continue to listen to the music with less problems. Therefore, the file type (.wav) I'm using is supposed to be the most universal for that purpose. But, I also need the media player on the computer to to help in organizing my collection. Without the metadata to assist in management, it's more difficult.

I realize, this is all a compromise, but I hope to find the right combination to best achieve my goal.

Regards, Pat

The most commonly supported format for Metadata is MP3, though this is not the best format for sound quality.
Metadata is also well supported for FLAC format and has the advantage of 'perfect' sound quality. This format is less well supported by media players, but can be easily converted to and from WAV format without any loss of sound quality (though the metadata is usually lost during the conversion).

There is a flac plug-in that allows Windows Media Player to support FLAC files, or other (better?) media players such as Foobar2000 or WinAmp (both available free) can be used with FLAC files.

Lots of FLAC related links and downloads available here: http://flac.sourceforge.net/download.html