Modifying ID3 Tags?? No!!!
 

One of the reasons I can't use iTunes is because it modifies ID3 tags so my CRC checks subsequently fail.

I have a massive, perfect collection of music which is all CRC certified original. If I modify any part of the tag the CRC check fails and my collection becomes unique. This is an extremely big problem!

Is the newest version of Winamp going to modify my tags? Is there some way I can permanently disable this "feature" immediately upon install?

If iTunes modified tags, that is beyond Winamp's control. But Winamp doesn't modify ID3 tags unless you do it yourself or specifically tell it to.

If you want to disable Tag writing you can look in Prefs -> Plug-ins -> Input -> Configure the Nullsoft MPEG Audio Decoder -> Title/Tags tab -> Uncheck both "Write ID3v1" and "Write ID3v2". No other plugins have these kinds of options.

And I thought that MP3's checksum was of the audio data. Or do use a file checksum?

Sawg, I am not blaming WinAmp for iTunes blowing Rhino nuts. I got scared and turned back when I stumbled accross this new feature during installation: "Auto-Tagger provides automatic updates to file information" - a new feature in v5.52.

J_Darnley, WOW that is exactly what I was looking for, thanks! I use QuickSFV, a file checksum.

So i guess i'm not deathly afraid of the latest winamp now.. thx again

But the Auto-Tagger in Winamp, you specifically have to tell it to do it's thing, it doesn't do it on it's own like some substandard media players. (And still using SFV, bump it up to MD5!)

there was a good discussion of this on the picard boards the other day. CRC/md5/whatever is not a good method for verifying veracity of music files for exactly this reason. we need something that will check just the music portion of a file and ignore the tags.

That would be great. But .sfv checksums are widely used so I also check consistency of data files using .sfv. Like when I download a 50 part .rar archive, I want to know whether any piece of it got corrupted during the transfer and .sfv allows me to do that too.

The reason I don't use MD5 is because sfv is the most common standard. Most sfv checkers can also check md5, it's just not used much.