Automatic MP3 tagger to fix ID3 tags

Question

I am trying to find an MP3 tagger that will automatically fix ID3 tags.

I am well aware of the options for manually fixing them such as:

• MusicBrainz Picard
• Media Monkey
• TuneUp

I've read over this article: Six Best MP3 Tagging Tools

However, all of these tools seem to be fairly manual still. I can break down the steps I've gone through with each, maybe I'm doing something wrong, but none of them seem to work quite as well as I would hope.

Ideally, I could point said application at a folder or folders and it would scan and fix most ID3 tags and file names. I understand that 100% accuracy is not likely.

I don't mind paying for an app like this, but free is always better of course.

Does something like this exist? I've tried several different applications and I know enough to know that music metadata databases exist and can likely do this – but which one, or how? I use Windows, FWIW.

EDIT #1:

By "fix" I mean to add missing tags and update wrong one's. Preferably with a combination of existing tags, file & folder names and acoustic fingerprinting.

After looking around a bit I've found a couple of promising one's, but I don't know what is best yet:

• http://www.jthink.net/jaikoz/jsp/startup.jsp
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_Brainz

EDIT #2:

I've been using MediaMonkey free for a while now and it seems to be pretty good: allowing for tagging by web, file name, etc. However, the changes did not seem to take affect. I was looking over other apps on this post and messing with it again and found that you have to "sync" the changes you've made in MediaMonkey to your ID3 tags! It is less than intuitive, but works. You have to go to tools -> advanced tag management -> synchronize tags. Hope this edit helps someone else (or me in the future).

Answer 1

I've searched for the same too and strangely enough, the best program I found for this is an Android application, running on my smartphone, called DroID3Tagger.

The feature list says, amongst other things:

The DroID3Tagger uses the same technique used by products like Shazam and Soundhound to recognize your music... Acoustic Fingerprinting.

So the apps needs no prior info about the song to help identify it. This version of the app identifies (AutoTag) the song, artist, album, albumart etc. and saves this info in the ID3 tags and also renames the mp3 to a more standard filename based on the info received from the server. The app uses the exhaustive database offered by the Last.fm's API so you can be rest assured that the app will find a match for the song.

It's pretty slow, as it has to calculate the fingerprint for each song, it's not always totally reliable (it crashes from time to time) but it does really magic: even without information, even if the file doesn't have a relevant name, it can find it back, put the correct tags, rename the file and include the cover art.

I understand it does not fully answer your question, but I haven't yet found a program so comprehensive running on Windows.

DroID3Tagger uses Last.fm API to retrieve the data, so I guess we should find some programs using the same API. Apparently Last.Fm Scrobber does something for this, and there is code available for a FingerPrinter application on GitHub.

Answer 2

I've been using TagScanner (freeware) since 2006 and have never found anything better.

You can use it to rename the files, as well as tag them in various formats, using data from Amazon, FreeDB, Discogs and TrackType.

The only possible problem with it is that it does not use standard Windows interface conventions, so it may take a little more effort to learn. However, once you get used to it you can tag an album perfectly, with artwork, in less than three minutes. The files only need to be numbered or named with the song titles.

Some tips:

You need to select the files in the main window before you can do anything with them.

The tabs are not really in the most logical order. I start with the third tab to get the tags added from an online database before moving to the second tab, where certain fields can be locked, so that they are the same on all selected files. This is also the way to delete fields which you do not want that were added from the online database. You can use the first tab to rename the files and you do not need the fourth tab unless you want to make playlists or file lists.

Here is a manual (PDF), which should help. If you have any problems, just ask in the comments.

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Before I found TagScanner, I used a paid-for program called Helium2 (since 2001), which was good, but it was overcomplicated and overfeatured and the interface kept on changing when a new versions came out. Still, you may want to check that one out too; it must have improved.

Answer 3

It depends on what you mean by "fix".

There are command-line tools like id3tool which let you set the artist/album/title etc for one or more files.

There are also ways of doing this using PowerShell, as described here

There was a tool around a few years ago called ID3 Mass Tagger (id3.exe), but the original site has rotted away, so you would have to search for it.

One newer tool I've not used (but it may to the job for you) is Tag. It claims to be able to generate tags from filenames or CDDB files, and can change capitalization in tag fields.

Update
Of course, the preferred GUI tool for many people (including me) is Mp3tag.
It has some handy features for converting between filenames and tag fields
...but my feeling with GUI-based utilities is that they need a fair bit of manual interaction, so I wouldn't really consider them automatic.

Answer 4

I've tried all of the answers and none of them seem to quite do what I want, for one reason or another. In the end, the 2 that I suggested:

• MusicBrainz Picard
• Media Monkey

Are what worked best. I was hoping for something better, but none of them seemed to work as well as what I suggested.