MP3 - Simple Tag vs Advanced Tag

[RunnerBiker]

MP3 files frequently have two TAGs.

The TAG at the beginning of the file is a ID3v2 tag. It uses variable length tags with huge limits on the size of the date within a tag. (The maximum sized frame in ID3v2 is 16 Megabytes and the maximum size of the whole ID3v2 tag is 256 megabytes.)

The TAG at the end of the file is a ID3v1 tag. It is limited to several predefined fix field length tags:
Song Title: 30 bytes
Artist: 30 bytes
Album: 30 bytes
Year: 4 bytes
Comment: 30 bytes
Genre: 1 byte

The ID3v1 tag data is frequently out of sync with the ID3v2 data.

Does the Cirrus "Simple Tag" data come from the ID3v1 Tag? and the "Advanced Tag" come from the ID3v2 Tag?

In an MP3 file where the ID3v1 tag data and the ID3v2 tag data are the same (up to 30 bytes) the "Advanced Tag" displays "Lead artist(s) with two undisplayable characters after the artist's name. The vli for the artists' name in the ID3v2 tag is correct and does not include the two undisplayable characters.

[Erik]

Does the Cirrus "Simple Tag" data come from the ID3v1 Tag? and the "Advanced Tag" come from the ID3v2 Tag?

Yes.

In an MP3 file where the ID3v1 tag data and the ID3v2 tag data are the same (up to 30 bytes) the "Advanced Tag" displays "Lead artist(s) with two undisplayable characters after the artist's name. The vli for the artists' name in the ID3v2 tag is correct and does not include the two undisplayable characters.
Could you send this file to support@scootersoftware.com?

[RunnerBiker]

Yes.

Could you send this file to support@scootersoftware.com?

There seems to be lots of space on the title line that says "Simple Tag" or "Advanced Tag" Could the titles be changed to show the source of the data ie:

Simple Tag (ID3v1)
Advanced Tag (ID3v2)

Yes, I'll send the MP3 file to your attention.

Thanks

[Erik]

The tag version and frame id's will be shown in the next release.

[RunnerBiker]

The tag version and frame id's will be shown in the next release.

NICE! (Beta 446) I like it. Thanks

[RunnerBiker]

In Beta 448, I just saw the text compare sections at the bottom of the screen. You really have something there! Woo Hoo

With long text fields (Like COMM) it was difficult to compare the contents of the the two frames. Now with the Text Compare section at the bottom, you can see the details of the longer fields.

There might still be a few details to work out.

A field that has a Carriage Return Line Feed in it displays the data on a new line, but it also displays the Non Printable blocks where the CR/LF data is.

http://www.upstateforums.com/runnerbiker/TextBlockCompare.JPG

A second problem. The COMM fileds in the MP3 files are different. One has Line1 CR/CF Line2 CR/LF BlankLine CR/LF Line3 CR/LF (en)
The second has DifferentLine1 CR/LF DifferentLine2 CR/LF DifferentLine3 (en)

There are 5 lines displayed for the first MP3, there should have only been 3 lines displayed for the second MP3, but the last line of the second MP3 was repeated two times, so 5 lines were displayed for both.

At the end, Cirrus displays (en) for the encoding. The MP3 files have "eng" in them. Did you consciously abbreviate "eng" to "en"?

[Erik]

A field that has a Carriage Return Line Feed in it displays the data on a new line, but it also displays the Non Printable blocks where the CR/LF data is.
This will be fixed in the next release (449).

There are 5 lines displayed for the first MP3, there should have only been 3 lines displayed for the second MP3, but the last line of the second MP3 was repeated two times, so 5 lines were displayed for both.
Please e-mail us these files.

At the end, Cirrus displays (en) for the encoding. The MP3 files have "eng" in them. Did you consciously abbreviate "eng" to "en"?As we've mentioned in e-mail, we're stripping off the third character of the language because it is often invalid (at least in the files you've sent us). When we were including it, the hints were broken.

[RunnerBiker]

You can use some of the files that I already sent to you.

For example Left pane has the 1962_461 - Dave Brubeck Quartet - Unsquare Dance (128M - 2.03)[Orig mono 45].mp3 file.

The right pane has the 1962_474 - Sandy Nelson - The Birth Of The Beat [45] 256 M (3.07).mp3 file.

The COMM frame of the Dave Brubeck file has four lines of text, each one terminated with a carriage return linefeed. The COMM frame of the Sandy Nelson file has one line of text terminated with a carriage return linefeed.

When you compare these two files, and then click on the COMM frame of either file, the text compare boxed at the bottom shows the error.

The Sandy Nelson (right pane) displays the one line of text and then three lines of Unprintable, Space (en)
http://www.upstateforums.com/runnerbiker/ExtraLines.JPG

The text display window isn't sizeable, so I can't show you a picture of the third repeat of Unprintable, Space (en), but once you have seen one line of it you can imagine the rest. :D

[Erik]

This will be fixed in the next release (450). Also, duplicate frames (ex. COMM) will be listed separately.

[RunnerBiker]

Somehow I managed to turn OFF the over/under display. How do I turn it back on again?

When viewing an MP3 file, by default when I clicked on a Tag Frame, the contents of the frame was displayed at the bottom of the screen in an over/under format.

I searched through the help and didn't find it. I looked in Tools/Options and didn't see it there either.

Thanks

[Chris]

Hi RunnerBiker,

To turn off the detail display at the bottom of the Window, select View|Item Details from the menu of the Mp3 Viewer.

To switch the main window between side-by-side and over-under view, select View|Side-by-side Layout or View|Over-under Layout from the menu.

[RunnerBiker]

Thanks, Chris. I thought I searched everywhere, but I didn't look there.

Thanks again.

RB

[Tim]

Try: View | Over-under Layout

[RunnerBiker]

Try: View | Over-under Layout
I tried Over-Under Layout, but I prefer the Side-by-Side layout. Maybe it is because it is what I'm used to, but it seems to me that you get a better visual representation of the similarities and differences in the Side-by-Side layout.

[Tim]

Sorry, I misread your post. Chris is right of course.

[boarders paradise]

The tag version and frame id's will be shown in the next release.
thanks for having added that, that's so wonderful. And I also wanted to say that I had been *very actively* searching for an application that would compare id3 tags for differences. I strongly believe that you have the first application that does this. I'm very proud of you ! ;)