The Foxpop Masstagging Guide

How-to with screenshots for automated id3 masstagging with foobar2000.
Nov 2006

Summary
I describe a series of methods to quickly tag my mp3 collection in a semi automated-way. For this I use foobar2000, which is a powerful, but not user friendly application, so I give step-by-step instructions. Usually, I can tag a collection of ~100 albums of mp3 (4-5 GB) with this approach in an hour.

Introduction

• My mp3 player will show correct music information whatever the filename is.
• My Creative Zen and the majority of other mp3 players (iPod, etc.) cannot play music based on folder structure . To transfer the files and to select music on the player, they need the correct mp3 tags.
• I can rate my files (1 to 5 stars), play 'jazz' playlists, get music suggestions with Audioscrobbler.
• I find music in no-time!
• I can mass download cover pictures, which works with correct ID3v1/v2 tag data. When the collection is well tagged, it's just a few clicks to get the covers!

My tagging approach is the following:

1. I break down the collection into groups of ~1-200 albums or so and move them into one root folder. I import the root folder into the foobar2000 Media Library database. (Press the Pref button.)
   In the Album List window (AlbList button), I quickly check for wrong artist names, album names, missing fields, etc. (rigth click\Properties)
   
2. Then I feed the entire collection into the Playlist window, and check for track numbering (AutoT# button).
   
3. Now the slow part comes: I fill in the missing information for artist, album, track title, year. First I check freedb, then guess for filenames, finally I look up the track list with Google. (freedb, Google, MngScripts buttons)
   
4. When all fields are correct, I auto-rename all the tracks in one go to \nn - title.mp3 format (MassRen button),
   and I auto-rename folders if necessary to \artist - album\ format (MassRen button and Total Commander).
   
5. Finally, I update the Genre fields in large groups (Jazz, Pop, etc.).
   When still have time, I mass download covers from amazon.com (AlbumArtAggregator and Cover button).

Steps 1-2 go very fast, then my time goes mostly to fill up missing field names (step 3). Steps 4-5-6 again go very fast.

This is how it looks in action:

foobar2000 v0.9 set up for masstagging: Media Library, Playlist columns, custum tagging buttons.
Now I popped up the properties dialog to correct the spelling of Billie Holiday for all files.
Click to enlarge.

Advantages:
+ very fast,
+ can handle super large amount of data,
+ all software used is free,
+ foobar2000 won't interfere with other apps (iTunes, Creative Media Explorer, etc.).

Disadvantages:
- no shiny-intuitive user interface (but I give step-by-step instructions),
- needs 20 min to setup (but well worth the investment).

Ten years ago, I had about 50 CDs altogether, and it was so easy to keep track of my music. Then, I had more and more CDs and started to catalogue by writing up all data in a copybook. With the arrival of my PC and my first portable mp3 player, I ripped all my CDs so I can listen to them. Usually I made this in whatever format, I didn't even know much about tagging that time.
However, my mp3 collection grew to quite a size over the years, and I have spent more and more time to find the right stuff on the hard drive. Then, I couldn't settle down using any shiny mp3 player software, because all the stuff was in differently named folders, tags were present here and were missing there. After scanning the drive for music, all the apps presented me a huge chaos, but, at a shiny interface.
So, last weekend I decided to cut a path in the jungle, and organize the music into nice folders and work on all those mp3 tags. I searched for mp3 tagging utilities with Google, and tried 3-4 of them, but either they lacked features (no freedb support for a tagger utility, come on!), or were overwhelmed with unnecessary options. The feature I missed the most is mass-tagging, I mean to import like a 100 cds, and quickly correct problems like uppercase/lowercase, extra spaces, typos, etc. (Like Paul Anka, PAUL ANKA and PAUL   ANKA are all different artists for my Creative Zen).

foobar2000 is sort of "Linux friendly" to me, as I call it. Even for basic things, instead of a nice icon on the toolbar, I have to search the net for tech manuals, download plugins that I would expect to be part of the basic application (even for a volume control), and almost go command line. So the learning curve is very steep. But the feature set is a limit breaker, and as I love to do things fast and well, now, with foobar2000, I tag music in no time with high precision.
However, I have no plans to stick to foobar2000 as my default music player. The fancy X-files style icons don't help either.

So here I present both the concepts and features in foobar2000 that I use. Because none of my friends here knew about foobar2000, I decided to give instructions in the 'newbie of the zero' style.
Here I heavily use the Masstagger plugin, which has many options detailed in long wiki manuals. But to keep focus of the how-to for quick tagging large collections, I just describe the steps that are required to perform these tasks. The same is valid for the Media Library and the File Operations components.

Contents

1. Install and setup foobar2000
2. Quick clean up
   1. Import the collection into the Media Library database
   2. Typos
   3. Auto numbering tracks
3. Fill in missing data
   1. Import music data from freedb
   2. Guess music data from filenames
   3. Enter music data from Google
4. How to organize mp3 on the hdd
   1. Folder strategies
   2. Track filenames
   3. Two levels of folder depth
   4. Chronological order, bitrate and 'The'
5. Power tips
   1. foobar2000 setup tips
   2. Tips for other apps
6. Links

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Last edited on 14-Jan-2007.

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(c) Imre Oliver Kozak and @Foxpop.