ID3TagEd icon - 1314 bytes

ID3TagEd

The tag edit window


The tag edit window

When an mp3 file (or selection of files) is dropped on to the iconbar icon of ID3TagEd, the tag window will open. When the selection includes directories, then if the choices option 'Recurse into directories' is set, the selection is searched recursively for all directories and sub-directories within that selection. The group of files at the top level, or in the first directory found, will then be displayed first. Moving through the full set of files will load the tags from each directory in turn.

tagbar.png - 5Kb At the right of the window is a vertical row of buttons. Clicking on these will have the actions described below.

Note that in certain cases the use of the ADJUST mouse button will change the action to the alternate tag

v1 tag / v2 tag

These two radio buttons swap between showing the version 1 tag, and the version 2 tag.

Prev / Next

The Prev and Next buttons are available only if a selection of files has been loaded. Pressing them displays the tags of the previous or next file in the selection. The action when the first/last file is reached depends upon the setting of the Next/Prev Wrap action in the Iconbar Choices... dialogue. The use of ADJUST will invert the action of these two buttons.

Rename

Rename will rename the file according to the rules set in the Iconbar Choices... dialogue. If the SELECT mouse button is used, then the fields used will be those showing at the time, i.e. if the v1 tag is showing, then this will be used in the renaming. Use of the ADJUST mouse button will reverse this action and the unseen tag will be used.

If the Advanced button is selected, as in this example, then the advanced rename rules will be used in the renaming. If Advanced is not ticked, then the simple rename rules will be used.

When Advanced is ticked, the button below, labelled Select... becomes unshaded. This provides a means of changing the advanced rename pattern without having to go into the Preferences dialogue. A small dialogue is raised containing a writable icon and popup menu button as described in the section below.

Copy all

Copy all will copy the contents of the fields showing into the other tag. If the SELECT mouse button is used, then if the v1 tag is showing, its contents will be copied into the v2 tag, and vice versa. This copying action will take account of the state of the Lock buttons, and the contents of 'Locked' fields will not be overwritten. Use of the ADJUST mouse button will reverse this action and the fields will be copied from the unseen tag into the visible tag.

Clear

Clear will blank the fields of the tag. If SELECT is used then the tag which is showing will be cleared, leaving the unseen tag unaffected. Note that all fields, even if 'Locked', will be cleared of contents. In addition, any active Lock buttons will also be unlocked. If ADJUST is used, then the unseen tag will be cleared instead.

Write tag

Any changes made to the tags will only take effect when the tag is written back to the file. Pressing this button with SELECT will write the tag which is showing in the window. If the file did not have a tag previously, then a new one is added to the file. Note that, when writing the version 2 tag, this may take some time if a new tag must be added, or the edited tag is larger than the original. The status field will show a warning if the whole audio file is being rewritten.

Using the ADJUST mouse button will cause the tag which is not showing to be written.

Batch...

ID3TagEd has the ability to process a complete selection of files using the same operation(s) on each, without the user needing to process each file individually. This button is greyed out and unavailable until a selection of files has been loaded. Pressing this button with SELECT will open the Batch process dialogue. This is described in more detail.

Selecting or editing an advanced rename pattern

Clicking the Rename - Advanced - Select... button will open a small dialogue box, which allows the management of the advanced rename facility.

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The rename pattern can be chosen from the list of predefined patterns available from the popup menu button, or can be entered directly from the keyboard.

The four action buttons operate as follows.

Use

This sets the rename pattern showing in the writable field to be the active pattern, and this will be used in any subsequent rename operations. The pattern will not be added to the predefined patterns unless the Add button is also pressed.

Add

This will add the pattern showing to the list of predefined patterns available from the popup menu button

Delete

This will remove the pattern showing from the list of predefined patterns available from the popup menu button

Cancel

This will simply close the dialogue

Any changes made here to the predefined patterns will be reflected in the iconbar menu choices settings and the batch rename settings. Changes to the stored patterns are automatically saved, and reloaded each time ID3TagEd is started.

If the maximise button (far right of title bar) is clicked, the dialogue will extend, showing the various tokens that are recognised by the rename function, to act as an aide mémoire. For a fuller description of the use of advanced rename patterns see iconbar menu choices settings.

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ID3TagEd is © Chris Johnson, 2005
Email:chris@chris-johnson.org.uk