best way to edit ID3 tags on a Mac? [solved]

smijen · Post by **smijen** » April 2nd, 2008, 8:00 pm

Hi all - I've got a new Macbook and am trying to become "bi-platform."

As a BC, I often want to edit ID3 tags without doing anything else to the file... so I don't think I want to use Audacity because I don't need/want to create a .aup file that I then have to re-export as an mp3. (Right? Maybe I'm missing something with Audacity.)

So I used to do this in Windows Explorer. I would like there to be an equivalent function in the Mac Finder, but I don't think there is.

Apparently I can do this in iTunes, but I cannot figure out what iTunes is doing with my files! I generally save everything in a folder callled Sarah/LibriVox/bookname/, but when I open a file in iTunes, (I think) it copies it into some other iTunes music folder. So if I change something in iTunes, it seems only to change that copy and not the "real" file in my LV folder. I suppose I could keep everything in an iTunes folder, but what about my own recordings? Keep those in an Audacity folder?

Does this make any sense to anyone out there? If you're a Mac lover who both reads and BCs, I'd love to hear from you.

puffin1 · Post by **puffin1** » April 2nd, 2008, 9:37 pm

I'm eager to see the answer to this as well.

gypsygirl · Post by **gypsygirl** » April 3rd, 2008, 4:22 am

If you go into Itunes preferences, under the Advanced tab and uncheck "Copy files to Itunes Music folder when adding to library" then the changes you make will be to the original file.

kayray · Post by **kayray** » April 3rd, 2008, 8:01 am

Yup, what Karen said :) I use iTunes for all my tagging needs.

Enjoy your new macbook! I've got a list of absolutely indispensable OS X freeware (mostly) utilities somewhere... Ah here it is. http://kayray.org/2006/11/20/new-macbook/
Democracy is called Miro now.

earthcalling · Post by **earthcalling** » April 3rd, 2008, 10:30 am

Try this'n:-

http://librivox.earthcallingdavid.com/tutorials/iTunesfilename.mov

David

smijen · Post by **smijen** » April 3rd, 2008, 8:50 pm

Wow! Thanks everybody.

Cloud Mountain · Post by **Cloud Mountain** » April 5th, 2008, 7:08 pm

Problems solved, smijen?

smijen · Post by **smijen** » April 5th, 2008, 9:52 pm

Yes - thanks for checking. I've added [solved] to the thread title, so potential helpers don't need to waste their time and so potential helpees know they can look at this thread for an answer.