ID3 tagging confusion

[Basket Case]

I?m a new podder 3rd gen 15G using 2.0.1.
I?ve gradually been adding songs to my pod using Ephpod 2.70a. I?ve tried to keep the tags valid purely to help to identify the song when it?s in a list which is currently approaching 600 songs.
I?ve read on this forum at various times about tags, but have to admit don?t fully understand why labelling your songs seems to generate so much correspondence. However my query is this : my songs seem to have a mixture of tags, namely most are id3v1, some are id3v2 and a few are id3v1 & id3v2. These forums seem to suggest id3v1 is bad, and id3v2 is good. Is there any value in changing everything to id3v2 (using one of the free tagging tools available), and if I do, will I have to delete all my songs off my pod and re upload them?
Seems like a lot of trouble for no apparent reason ? unless you know different.
Thanks in anticipation for any comments.

[ashawley]

With ephpod you should delete your id3v1 tags and only use id3v2. The reason why is sometimes it gets confused. And if the tags aren't the same, you will too. ;)

Go ahead and download id3-tagit (www.id3-tagit.de) and you can do what you need to. There's a simple button to delete id3v1 tags. Another button to convert input id3v2 tags from the data that's in the v1 tag. Whatever you want.

Oh, and with ephpod, you will have to delete and reupload. It's not able to process tag changes. Other programs are (MC9, Xplay too I think).

Adam

[theflyingbeagle]

Basket Case,

I had the same problem as you and I used ID3 tagit sucessfully. I was using ephpod at the time, although now I use MC9 and also have no problem tagging. It can also access an online database to tag, which ID3 tagit cannot do.

Paul

[Basket Case]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I've followed your suggestions and have started using id3-tagit and so far so good. However I have also decided to give MC9 a try, and consequently I have a couple of questions.
1. The version available on the J.River site 9.0.xxx, is it suitable for use with a 3rd gen iPod 2.0.1 straight "out of the box" as it were.
2. I've seen many references to MC9.1 on this forum, can I go straight to this version, and if so, can someone please post a link.
Thanks in anticipation.

[ashawley]

The best version to get right now is the 9.1 version. You can get the latest version from their forums (http://www.musicex.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=MediaCenter). It will always be the first post.

It's still in beta officially, but it's very stable, they are just about to release it. Don't worry about crashes etc.

You can use it straight out of the box. I do recommend that you unistall the iPod Plugin for MMJB if you've got that installed. Also, might want to get rid of MMJB totally (after you get rid of the plugin).

Also, you don't have to, but I always recommend you uninstall the iPod software. It's not needed for anything and can cause connection problems.

There's a board here for MC9 that's very good. Post any questions you have there and one of the MC9 crew will help you out.

Oh, and you can also check out a little help guide (http://www.home.earthlink.net/~ashawley01) I put together. It was written for the older version, but it still applies.

The thing to remember about MC9 is that it's a media managment tool that just happens to be the best (IMO) iPod uploader as well. The best thing about it is the smartlists and the tagging, shoot everything. Oh, and soon it will support the iPod Playcounts and Ratings features so what you listen/rate on your iPod will be reflected in MC9's library (and automatically update smartlists). Very cools stuff.

Adam