Version: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Audacity: 2.2.2
Distribution release
I create a radio program on my Zoom mic, export the file, and then open it as a WAV file. When I would export it as an MP3 and populate the following metadata values:
Artist Name
Track Title
Year
The radio pulls the file into Windows 7 and it does not recognize the file type. What I noticed after much testing is that only when I populate the Year value does it then come back with another field: Unknown text information frame and the tag is whatever value I put in the Year field (2018).
Yet when I would export it as an MP3 on my Windows laptop (ver#: 2.1.3) and populate the metadata values it works without a hitch.
My laptop is a dual boot wit Ubuntu 16.x LTS with Audacity 2.1.2 and it too does the same thing.
When I pull a file in from my Zoom, which is the file I assume you are asking about, it creates for me a WAV file called ZOOM000x.WAV, where “x” is the sequential number depending upon how many I already have loaded.
What does this have to do with the problem I am seeing?
I’m trying to understand what the problem is that you are trying to describe. So far I’ve got you are seeing some errors in a “radio” (?) when you “pull in” some files, but not others.
First I record my program on my Zoom microphone. It creates a WAV file which I put on my Ubuntu desktop so that I may open it in Audacity to edit it. When I am finished editing the file, I export it as an MP3 with the above metadata fields populated.
Then I FTP the file to the radio station. He has a Windows 7 machine and when he right clicks on the file it does not have an properties to the file. In other words, Windows does not recognize it as an MP3 nor is the metadata there.
Does that better explain it or did I still leave something out? Please remember, that this works without a hitch on my Windows Audacity.
Linux has much less reliance on file names than Windows. For example, a plain text file called “README” will be recognised by Linux as a plain text file, but Windows will probably say it can’t open it. Windows relies heavily on the “file name extension”, that is, the part of the name after a dot. For Windows to reliably recognise a plain text file, the file name should end in “.txt”.
To make things more confusing, if Windows recognised the file extension, it will hide the file extension. For example, a file called “README.txt” would be displayed as “README”.
Similar problems can occur with other file types, including media files. It is therefore highly recommended that you set Windows to show the file extension.
On Windows, MP3 files must end with the file extension “.mp3”.
Do the files that you export from Audacity on Ubuntu, end with “.mp3”?
It appears to be a bug in Audacity 2.2.2.
The good news is that it does not occur in the development code (Audacity 2.3.0 alpha).
Until Audacity 2.3.0 is available, I’d suggest that you use some other application for editing the metadata of MP3 files. There are several suitable applications available in the Ubuntu repository. “EasyTag” is pretty good, and it can fix these bad tags automatically.
It’s scheduled for release in a couple of months time, but it’ll be a while after that before it is in Ubuntu’s repository.
Panda Jim’s “Ubuntu Handbook” repository usually has builds available soon after release (Audacity Audio Editor and Recorder : Panda Jim)
Just to briefly fill you in, I did not originally see Steve’s post about EasyTag, and I loaded it and sent a test file to the radio station and he said that it worked great. So even if I have to temporarily implement one more step, I appreciate all of the help and also knowing it will soon be fixed for anyone else who may have run into this as well.
