New Zuner - Trouble with Metadata (file tagging)

[follyrob]

I just got a new Zune 120 and mostly love it. I am an avid iPod hater and think my zune is pretty badass.

I installed the 3.1 software (hey, it's my first time with this) and I am not at all happy with it. I am looking into the zSuite but for now I have a basic question.

Why in the heck is the Zune screwing with all of my metadata? I use winamp to manage all of my music, and in winamp my collection is beautifully organized. All the tracknames, artist names, and albums are meticulous on all 14,000 of my files. However, when I load them into the Zune software they look terrible. It looks like a mess of id3 tags and metadata that I just don't have the time to sort out (14,000 files). Most of it is okay, but there is a bunch of messed up data. Why is that? Also, it's not taking all of my files. What gives?

Hypothesis:
Maybe the Zune only accepts one version of id3 and I have several (ex: id3v1 or id3v3).

The Zune probably doesn't support my .flac files. Microsoft hates anything that they didn't think of.


What do all of you do to keep your music tagged properly?

[Aden]

Originally Posted by follyrob

I just got a new Zune 120 and mostly love it. I am an avid iPod hater and think my zune is pretty badass.

I installed the 3.1 software (hey, it's my first time with this) and I am not at all happy with it. I am looking into the zSuite but for now I have a basic question.

Why in the heck is the Zune screwing with all of my metadata? I use winamp to manage all of my music, and in winamp my collection is beautifully organized. All the tracknames, artist names, and albums are meticulous on all 14,000 of my files. However, when I load them into the Zune software they look terrible. It looks like a mess of id3 tags and metadata that I just don't have the time to sort out (14,000 files). Most of it is okay, but there is a bunch of messed up data. Why is that? Also, it's not taking all of my files. What gives?

Hypothesis:
Maybe the Zune only accepts one version of id3 and I have several (ex: id3v1 or id3v3).

The Zune probably doesn't support my .flac files. Microsoft hates anything that they didn't think of.


What do all of you do to keep your music tagged properly?

Generally I tag with the Zune Software the first time I listen to a particular album, so its setup the way I like it, then I sync it.

If not I manage some of it with Windows Media Player.

Get DBPoweramp and convert all your flac to wma lossless, dbpoweramp can keep your metadata intact too and place all your newly converted files into a custom hierachy of folders.

Zune sounds best with Lossless

[follyrob]

I can certainly add cd's to the Zune software in the future, but what about the 14,000 songs I already have? It's far too many to go through and edit in the Zune software. If I physically add them with the zSuite physical drive feature will that preserve my metadata? If it will, how do I revert my zune software back to 2.x so that I can use the suite?

[Aden]

What format file are they?

[follyrob]

Mostly they are in .mp3 format. A good bit of .flac too but I am going to take your advice and convert them to lossless .wma.

[Aden]

Yeah, i'm not too sure about MP3 files.. but I always have trouble getting them tagged correctly. They are fine as you say under winamp, but as a user of WMP for years and also the Zune Software since day one.. I've grown acustomed to WMA & WMV for all my media files.