Magic MP3 Tagger

[Ed62]

Has anyone used this program? I think I saw it mentioned in Popular Science or Popular Mechanics. http://www.magic-tagger.com/eng/index.php

Ed

[Uncle Cracker]

I have not used it, but it sounds like it would be handy. I would be cautious, however, as this kind of thing can often be used to conceal malware or keyloggers, and I am a bit suspicious of the fact that there are several typos and grammar errors on their website, indicative of something not as polished or professional (or safe) as one might hope...

[Pappy]

Some of the typos and grammatical errors could be in the translation. The address for the developer is in Austria.

[buckeye95]

Ed,

Usually before I download freeware or shareware, I go to download.com and check out the reviews. Download.com has the software ( http://www.download.com/Magic-MP3-Ta...html?tag=mncol ), but no reviews, yet it does have a "Tested Spyware Free" note on it.

Pete

[plarval]

I use MediaMonkey, and I believe it will tag everything as well through the freedb music database.

[handchop]

I use MediaMonkey, and I believe it will tag everything as well through the freedb music database.

freedb is very inaccurate, I would try out http://www.jaikoz.net which is very accurate and the developer has a forum where he responds to questions promptly.

[Ed62]

I haven't downloaded it because I was wondering if there were any hidden goodies included. But....

Ed,

Usually before I download freeware or shareware, I go to download.com and check out the reviews. Download.com has the software ( http://www.download.com/Magic-MP3-Ta...html?tag=mncol ), but no reviews, yet it does have a "Tested Spyware Free" note on it.

Pete

Thanks for the info, Pete.
This is the second time I heard good things about MediaMonkey. Thanks.

Ed

[ntmatter]

Looks a bit dodgy to me, and most of the functionality would see to be available in more reputable tools, or for free in your operating system.

[cgallery]

Well I tried it and it is fine. It does a nice job retagging files that were ripped from CD with about four different applications (over the years) and didn't have consistent tag data. There were also some downloaded (legitimate) files in there, and it standardized those tags nicely, too.

Two thumbs up.

I'm thinking about buying it. The only thing that is stopping me is that I see the product is based on Musicbrainz technology. So there may be alternatives worth investigating first. Maybe some are free.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MusicBrainz

http://musicbrainz.org/


Thanks Ed!

[Ed62]

Thanks for the info, c. I even have an mp4 or two bought from iTunes that were not tagged properly (wrong title). Do you know if it does mp4s?

Ed

[cgallery]

Thanks for the info, c. I even have an mp4 or two bought from iTunes that were not tagged properly (wrong title). Do you know if it does mp4s?

Ed

Okay, the Musicbrainz guys have a free (open-source) retagger that I'm going to try. I prefer open-source where available.

I don't think these will handle MP4 files, though. Do your MP4 files contain video? Maybe you have M4A (audio)? I don't know if it does those, either, but there are converters that will convert M4A to MP3 (try BoncEnc at http://www.bonkenc.org/). However, I don't know if Bonc will destroy some of the tag data that the retaggers rely on for their algorithms.

[Ed62]

Thanks again. I'd be interested in hearing how the Musicbrainz software works for you. I can convert the MP4s to MP3s with no problem. It's just another step that might be avoided.

Ed

[RayintheUK]

+1 on the http://www.jaikoz.net recommendation - brilliant piece of software. I've got nearly 300GB of music files and I can just set it going on the files or folders and leave it to it.

Ray.

[cgallery]

+1 on the http://www.jaikoz.net recommendation - brilliant piece of software. I've got nearly 300GB of music files and I can just set it going on the files or folders and leave it to it.

Ray.

The Jaikoz seems to be another paid product that uses Musicbrainz. There are two paid, and one open-source (that I know of).

The Magic MP3 Tagger seems over-confident in its retagging, and doesn't seem to do artwork (which would be nice).

Jaikoz does artwork. I'm not sure if Picard (the open-source offering) downloads artwork, I haven't tested that.

I don't like the registration method of Magic MP3 Tagger, BTW. It requires generating a key on the PC you've installed it on, and using that to get a corresponding registration code. The problem is, if the outfit ceases, you're kinda SOL. No way to upgrade your O/S to Vista (for instance) and get a new registration code if the company shuts its doors. And an O/S upgrade apparently DOES require reregistration.

[Ed62]

Okay, the Musicbrainz guys have a free (open-source) retagger that I'm going to try. I prefer open-source where available.

Do you have a link for it? I tried to find it, with no luck.

Ed