Best tagging/artwork software

[Lawrence001]

My ripper stopped downloading album art a while ago and the classical tagging is very hit and miss.

Is there any W10 software out there you can point your music folder to and it will go off and find and embed the album art? If it improved the tagging it would be a bonus.

Please no recommendations to pay for Roon I'm well aware of it!

 

[tuga]

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT210384

 

[orbscure]

I use EAC and dBpoweramp for my ripping and tagging duties. EAC is free but not very user friendly, whereas dBpoweramp is my go to ripper/tagger, albeit it isn't free...

Exact Audio Copy - https://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
dBpoweramp - https://www.dbpoweramp.com/cd-ripper.htm

If I just want to tag files, I use Mp3tag

https://www.mp3tag.de/en/index.html

 

[maddog_007]

Try MP3TAG.

 

[glenhb]

I've tried most of the inbuilt and standalone taggers that are available from DBPoweramp via MP3Tag, EAC and Muzic Brainz Picard, but the best tagging software I've found so far is AudioRanger.

Link here:-

https://www.audioranger.com/​

The free version is limited as to how many files it can analyse in one go but the license only costs £18 and is well worth it.

 

[Cable Monkey]

Take a look at SongKong Pro. I’ve used it and it is pretty good.

 

[t1no]

I’ve always found Foobar2000 to be pretty good at tagging, and even better for reviewing and editing tags. There’s a lot of potential to customise it to how you want to view your data in script and/or with plugins …

https://www.foobar2000.org/components/tag/tagging

 

[Lawrence001]

Thanks everyone for your input. Just to be clear, the CDs (c.2-3000) are already ripped so I need something that looks at the music folder, identifies the albums and embeds the artwork automatically. Free is better but £18 isn't much in the grand scheme of things, as long as the embedded artwork is permanent.

The music is stored and played on a Zen so I'm not sure if Apple music tags or just shows you the artwork if you use the app which obviously wouldn't work in my use case.

I'll do some research and hopefully go with one of the recommendations.

 

[t1no]

Thanks everyone for your input. Just to be clear, the CDs (c.2-3000) are already ripped so I need something that looks at the music folder, identifies the albums and embeds the artwork automatically. Free is better but £18 isn't much in the grand scheme of things, as long as the embedded artwork is permanent.

The music is stored and played on a Zen so I'm not sure if Apple music tags or just shows you the artwork if you use the app which obviously wouldn't work in my use case.

I'll do some research and hopefully go with one of the recommendations.

FWIW I have found that most automatic artwork searches only retrieve a fairly low-res or rubbish to average copy of the album. Nothing beats searching for the artwork manually and finding a high-res image (1000x1000px or above) ... one that actually matches the CD you have ... but I appreciate for 2-3000 albums it could take an age and you may lose the will to live

 

[Amber Audio]

Before I paid for the one that rymes with tune, long time back I used Bliss, and found it did a better job than others I tried, you pay for how many albums it fixes, might be worth a trial with 100 free fixes

https://www.blisshq.com/mp3-tagging-software.html

 

[Lawrence001]

Before I paid for the one that rymes with tune, long time back I used Bliss, and found it did a better job than others I tried, you pay for how many albums it fixes, might be worth a trial with 100 free fixes

https://www.blisshq.com/mp3-tagging-software.html

The annoying thing is my Zen came with a lifelong Bliss license and it somehow disappeared and asked me to pay. I don't have the account details as they were preset, and when I contacted Bliss they said they couldn't help.

 

[bencat]

There is a software program called taghycardia which does exactly what you are looking for you point it to the directory that your music is in and it will go through that then come up with suggestions and repairs were needed .

https://taghycardia.info/
If you decide to go for this read the purchase instructions carefully as if not followed exactly as explained then it does not seem to work but when you do it does in fact work.

 

[karlinamillion]

Bliss is good, there is a trial version, then you have to pay, but at 3000 CDs it's not much per disc!

Also Media Monkey, the free version will do what you need, though a bit more user input is needed, but as it's free I would recommend having it as it's very good for small tweeks to metadata.

If you have multi disc sets, MP3 tag can be used to number all the tracks sequentially across discs so your player sees it as one very long CD

 

[Cable Monkey]

Thanks everyone for your input. Just to be clear, the CDs (c.2-3000) are already ripped so I need something that looks at the music folder, identifies the albums and embeds the artwork automatically.

That is precisely what my suggestion does. SongKong Pro can be pointed at an entire collection or by folder. It can even do it across your network if you chose to. I’d do it by alphabet or artist and review the results to keep unidentified files traceable.

 

[PaulH]

MP3Tag is my choice.
Been using it for years, and it's not just for MP3 it will tag Flac etc.. as well.

 

[Lawrence001]

MP3Tag is my choice.
Been using it for years, and it's not just for MP3 it will tag Flac etc.. as well.

I've got that for tagging the odd album not recognised by my ripper, but I couldn't see a way of pointing it to my music folder and letting it go off and find the artwork and embed it. I could only see a way of me finding 3000 album covers manually and embedding them one at a time.

If it will do what I need I'd be grateful if you can tell me how!

 

[bencat]

Lawrence the software i linked above will do this so is worth a look . Not very expensive either .

 

[PaulH]

I've got that for tagging the odd album not recognised by my ripper, but I couldn't see a way of pointing it to my music folder and letting it go off and find the artwork and embed it. I could only see a way of me finding 3000 album covers manually and embedding them one at a time.

If it will do what I need I'd be grateful if you can tell me how!

Select all your tracks, then in the Tag Sources Tab along the top, there is an option for cover art.
Just choose the search source.

Personally, I embed manually album-by-album, then I know it's the correct artwork. Just use Google images and pick the one with a decent quality.
I did this for all my 5000+ albums (and checked all track spellings, release dates, etc..). It was very time consuming, taking quite a few months.
But, now it's done I know it's all correct.

 

[maddog_007]

MP3Tag is my choice.
Been using it for years, and it's not just for MP3 it will tag Flac etc.. as well.

I use DBPoweramp for ripping and MP3Tag for the rest.
Illustrate is a sub and MP3Tag accepts donations.

 

[Chumpchops]

I use DBPoweramp for ripping and MP3Tag for the rest.
Illustrate is a sub and MP3Tag accepts donations.

Ditto. It’s easy and also better to get in right first time, than try and automate entire process, then spend the next 2 years tidying it up.