Audiobooks ID3 tag? ID3 tag editors?

I’m downloading audiobooks from Librivox.org and Genre/Track#s aren’t filled out.  What’s the correct Genre for audiobooks on the Clip: “Audiobook”, “Audiobooks”, does it matter if I drag the book into the Audiobooks folder on the Clip?

I keep seeing people who recommend specific ID3 tag “editors” - are these editors really a benefit over just using Windows Explorer “properties”? (In Explorer, you can hilite the entire group of MP3 files, edit properties, and enter the Album, Author, and Genre to apply it to the entire list, and this works fine for me except for track-specific information.)  Can the ID3 tag editors handle editing track numbers en masse? 

Thanks!

If I recall correctly, the genre tag to use is Audiobook, singular (I had an issue with the plural form when I used it a year ago–that could have changed over time).  Note that a benefit of either filling the genre field in, or putting the audiobooks into that folder (which is not required to play the files), is that the Clip will default to folder and file names if the tag fields are not filled in.  Also, the Clip will bookmark audiobooks in the Audiobooks folder (I don’t recall if it also will bookmark audiobooks outside the folder but with the genre field filled in).  I like using the various folders on the Clip for file organization.

Tag editors will allow for “batch” (en masse) modifications of files, and oftentimes in a very robust way.  I think that’s why many will use them over Explorer.  For example, many tag editors will amend/fill in file names from tags, or vice-versa.  I like the free MP3Tag program–easy to use.  And The Godfather is a very robust program as well (although more complicated).

Message Edited by Miikerman on 06-23-2009 10:15 AM

If I recall correctly, the genre tag to use is Audiobook, singular (I had an issue with the plural form when I used it a year ago–that could have changed over time).  Note that a benefit of either filling the genre field in, or putting the audiobooks into that folder (which is not required to play the files), is that the Clip will default to folder and file names if the tag fields are not filled in; likewise as to podcasts.  Also, the Clip will autobookmark audiobooks and podcasts in the Audiobooks and Podcasts folders (I don’t recall if it also will autobookmark audiobooks and podcasts outside the folders but with the genre field filled in–I believe so?).  I like using the various folders on the Clip for file organization.

Tag editors will allow for “batch” (en masse) modifications of files, and oftentimes in a very robust way.  I think that’s why many will use them over Explorer.  For example, many tag editors will amend/fill in file names from tags, or vice-versa.  I like the free MP3Tag program–easy to use.  And The Godfather is a very robust program as well (although more complicated).

Another use of these editors is to specify the version of ID3 tag to use.  Apparently  the Clip doesn’t use the latest version and this has caused some problems for people.  I understand you have a greater potential for problems if you use foreign characters.

Thanks for the quick responses!  I didn’t know the folders would be used if the tags weren’t filled in - I’d picked up from the forum that Sansa products are pretty much dependent on the ID3 tags, so I’d always been entering them.

This was an improvement to the firmware made earlier, I think especially so that people wouldn’t have to deal with tags for files that are often temporary–notably podcasts.  Just drop them in the podcasts (or audiobooks) folder, or have the genre field tagged, and the Clip can use the file and folder names for the display. 

Of course, even better if file view comes to the Clip …

Thanks for the tips here.  I just got an mp3 audiobook that had the tracks all screwed up (10 “CDs” with tracks numbered 1 - 8). 

The MP3Tag utility’s “auto-number” feature was brilliant.  Saved me a lot of grumbling.

I did notice a latency with the MP3Tag directory browser - the Clip didn’t show up right away in the browser.  It did after a little while (of course by the time I noticed the Clip *was* showing up in the MP3Tag directory browser, I’d already copied the mp3 files to a local drive, renumbered the tracks and was in process of copying them back to the Clip via Windows Explorer).  But anyway, it worked, and I was happy!  Thanks!

You can modify the ID3 tag info of your local music files by uploading them to Streaming Audio Recorder, or you can add ID3 tag for your recorded/downloaded music tracks with it. It also features an “Identify” function that help you identify the unknown songs intelligently. Now read on this article to get details on how to edit ID3 tags for music files. edit-id3-tag.png

@vickeystew wrote:

You can modify the ID3 tag info of your local music files by uploading them to Streaming Audio Recorder, or you can add ID3 tag for your recorded/downloaded music tracks with it. It also features an “Identify” function that help you identify the unknown songs intelligently. Now read on this article to get details on how to edit ID3 tags for music files. edit-id3-tag.png

Thank you for your replies in the SanDisk forum.  You do realize, though, that you have been responding to comments/threads that are 7 and 8 years old, right?   :wink: