Save and Update TagsSave File Properties in Disk Files
You can configure the Input Plug-ins to save all Media Center database fields in the files themselves (this applies to most plug-ins). Go to Tools | Plug-in Manager and select Input in the tree, and click on the Configure button for your plug-in’s options.
For MP3 users, database information is stored in ID3 tags.
Why use ID3 tags?
Use ID3 tags to store database information into the files themselves, so that you can still see the information when playing the file on another player, and so that the information is still available if you have to re-import the file.
You can use ID3v1 or ID3v2 tags. There is a table displaying the basic differences between the two:
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ID3 v1 |
ID3 v2 |
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Stores information for the following fields: Track Title, Artist, Album, Track #, Genre, Year, and Comment
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Stores information in many more fields than v1, including Notes, Lyrics, Cover Art, Composer, etc.
Media Center will store any data the user creates.
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Stores a maximum of 30 characters of information in those fields. For example, the album called "The Segovia Collection Volume 9 – The Romantic Guitar" when saved as an ID3v1 tag will look like this: "The Segovia Collection Volume".
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No limit on the number of characters in most fields
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Read by many portable devices and car players.
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Cannot be read by many portable and car players.
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Files with v1 tags will be smaller.
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File size can become quite large.
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For more information on tags, see http://www.ID3.org/.
Note: Media Center supports all ID3v2 tags up to version 2.3
Using Tags with Media Center
When you select your Input Plug-ins, you can configure them to save the Media Center database information in the files themselves. Media Center no longer depends exclusively on id3 tags. And, Media Center will now save all fields to the files themselves, in most formats.