5 replies to this topic

[Wah]

When converting CD using the LAME FLAC codec only track name is recorded on the TAG. When I use MP3 codec all information is recorded. ie Track, artist, album, composer, Genre etc. Is this a bug in the software and is there a fix?

[tbrewst]

I tried it and it didn't pick up the info.What I did do is right click on the file,hit edit tag,the edit audio tags box popped up.Then I hit the Music ID button and it went out to Gracenote and filled in the rest of the info.

[honustbonus]

While there are manual alternatives, I expect Roxio to pass all the info they collect into the Vorbis comments of the FLAC file.  Using Roxio's LP and Tape Assistant, I've experienced the same thing, where of all the data collected, only the track name is inserted into the FLAC tag.  Seems they could do better, or at least somewhere acknowledge the shortcoming.

[d_deweywright]

honustbonus, on Apr 29 2006, 10:45 AM, said:

While there are manual alternatives, I expect Roxio to pass all the info they collect into the Vorbis comments of the FLAC file.  Using Roxio's LP and Tape Assistant, I've experienced the same thing, where of all the data collected, only the track name is inserted into the FLAC tag.  Seems they could do better, or at least somewhere acknowledge the shortcoming.

I'm guessing here, based only on my personal experience, and the fact that a search of "flac" only turned up 8 threads, that the flac format is not the most frequently used format for audio.  Possibly why it didn't show up during their testing.  (Then again, I don't usually bother with tag information in my .MP3 files either.)  

But, now that it's known, maybe it'll get fixed.

[honustbonus]

Thanks Dave.  But FLAC is primo for several reasons: 1) it is lossless, unlike MP3, and yes with my Paradigm speakers I can pick out the difference in a blind taste test; 2) unlike other lossless formats, it is compressed much like a zip file, resulting in a much smaller file but uncompressing upon playback wit the original fidelity; 3) unlike AIFF or Apple Lossless, it is an open-source, lossless format; and 4) it provides for comments in the header for tags, unlike WAV or some other lossless formats.

Those of us with large LP collections have treasures that no one today ill ever purchase in digital format.  These are lost relics.  We want to preserve them forever in a high fidelty lossless format (with tags) that is easily encoded to other popular formats du jour.  We want something on the order of FLAC for archival purposes, which we can convert to another format for our iPods for practical purposes.

Now Roxio LP and Tape Assistant is a handy LP recording app.  However, while it provides for input of metadata, it does nothing with it.  Rather it prefers to supersede it with its MusicID lookup of an online database.  This latter approach is not very effective here because the database is looking for the familiar thumbprint of the audio cd version, not the less-than-perfect version of the LP capture.

So, Roxio comes up short on this issue.  Frustrating, because it's not really much of a technical challenge.  They have the data, they just need to map it to the Orbis comments.

[d_deweywright]

honustbonus, on May 3 2006, 12:51 AM, said:

Thanks Dave.  But FLAC is primo for several reasons: 1) it is lossless, unlike MP3, and yes with my Paradigm speakers I can pick out the difference in a blind taste test; 2) unlike other lossless formats, it is compressed much like a zip file, resulting in a much smaller file but uncompressing upon playback wit the original fidelity; 3) unlike AIFF or Apple Lossless, it is an open-source, lossless format; and 4) it provides for comments in the header for tags, unlike WAV or some other lossless formats.

Those of us with large LP collections have treasures that no one today ill ever purchase in digital format.  These are lost relics.  We want to preserve them forever in a high fidelty lossless format (with tags) that is easily encoded to other popular formats du jour.  We want something on the order of FLAC for archival purposes, which we can convert to another format for our iPods for practical purposes.

Now Roxio LP and Tape Assistant is a handy LP recording app.  However, while it provides for input of metadata, it does nothing with it.  Rather it prefers to supersede it with its MusicID lookup of an online database.  This latter approach is not very effective here because the database is looking for the familiar thumbprint of the audio cd version, not the less-than-perfect version of the LP capture.

So, Roxio comes up short on this issue.  Frustrating, because it's not really much of a technical challenge.  They have the data, they just need to map it to the Orbis comments.

I'm not arguing any of your points at all.  I've used the APE lossless compressor for some time now to archive in a lossless format.  I too have an LP collection that is slowly getting digitized.  These days though, most of my listening is done at the office, on a modest pair of speakers/subwoofer, and the .MP3 format works well in this "lo-fi" environment.

Again, now that the problem has been pointed out, maybe it'll get addressed, if not in this version, then the next.