Windows – Editing MP3 details in Windows 7

id3mp3windows 7windows media playerwindows-explorer

I've recently discovered an annoying problem with Windows 7: Windows Explorer and Windows Media Player cannot edit ID3 tags if the version used is 2.4 (and presumably above, and sometimes even v2.3 – bah!). It just doesn't work!

Does anyone know of some way to allow me to edit the details of newer MP3s within Windows Explorer?

(I realise that I could use another bit of software like MP3Tag, but it's annoying to have to change my habits just because Microsoft haven't updated their software. Why haven't they??)

Thanks for any help!

Best Answer

This doesn't answer the original question, but here are two suggestions on using free software to rewrite the tags in ID3v2.3 format, which is common to both Windows Vista and 7:

  1. The free Kid3 - ID3 Tagger (source)
  2. The free Mp3tag as follows, quoted from this thread :
  1. Install mp3tag, and open it
  2. Brought up my Music library
  3. Chose Arrange by: Song* so that all my songs would be shown in one list (even those contained in folders) in detailed visualization
  4. Typed "*.mp3" in the search box right over the arrange by option so that only mp3 files would show up in the list (excluding album covers etc.)
  5. Scrolled all the way down till songs with no tags started appearing
  6. Selected all these files and carried them over to the mp3tag window
  7. Selected all the files in mp3tag and right-clicked them
  8. Clicked Cut Tags, chose Yes and waited
  9. Repeated step 6 and clicked Paste Tags.

It's unlikely that Windows 7 will ever support IDTags 2.4 or above as it uses UTF-8 which Windows Explorer doesn't support. There are Explorer extensions such as Infotip Shell Extension that show ID3 v2.4 info on mouse hover, or extensions such as MP3Ext or AudioShell that add a new property-page.

A last solution would be to use another viewer than Explorer. Many such are available,.

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