Difference between tag versions?

[ChiggyChiggy]

Im not sure if this is best asked here but... What is the difference between 1dv2.3 and 2.4? Reason im asking is because apparently Winamp saves tags you manually put in idv2.4, and Windows Explorer cant show you the tags of your music if you save in that since Windows only supports idv2.3, so ive been thinking of using Mp3tag to save my entire music library's tags as idv2.3, but do i loose tags that way? Is there any benefit idv2.4 has over 2.3? And does idv2.3 support non latin characters? I remember one variation of id3 turns non latin characters to pure giberish lol.

[DrO]

you seem to be mixing things up, we save ID3v2.3 tags.

ID3v2.x supports non-latin characters (which can be forced into an ID3v1.x tag but is not in the specifications). as for the differences, you can consult the ID3 specifications for the differences, though in generally ID3v2.3 is the version that is predominantly used and is better to go with for compatibility with most software whereas ID3v2.4 isn't as widely used (reading is the norm, not writing).

and am sure others will fill in more of the gaps in my reply / point you to appropriate pages to read.

[ChiggyChiggy]

Originally Posted by DrO

you seem to be mixing things up, we save ID3v2.3 tags.

Are you sure? :s Most of the files i see that have id3v2.4 tags were the ones i remember fixing their tags... Unless Winamp's Autotagger is the one that writes id3v2.4?

Are there any tag fields that get lost if someone were go from 2.4 to 2.3? Thats my main issue now that i know 2.3 is all good with non latin stuff

[DrO]

i'm pretty sure we don't write ID3v2.4 tags.

for the tag fields, the two formats store somethings differently, but using the right tool should convert them correctly.

[ChiggyChiggy]

Originally Posted by DrO

for the tag fields, the two formats store somethings differently, but using the right tool should convert them correctly.

Mp3tag gets your holy thumb of approval? xD Its what ill be using since it does it pretty easily, load files > save > done > ?????? > profit

[DrO]

yeah mp3tag is one i suggest (and use myself).

[MrSinatra]

CC,

some info here:

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=345521

I use 2.3 / UTF-16 exclusively for id3/mp3. I might be able to answer any specific questions you may have.

[ChiggyChiggy]

Originally Posted by MrSinatra

CC,

some info here:

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=345521

I use 2.3 / UTF-16 exclusively for id3/mp3. I might be able to answer any specific questions you may have.

Wish i read that before i did some stuff xD if only it was on the top of google's search results..

Oooh btw, you should mention in said thread that theres a really big difference between id3v2.3 ISO-8859-1 and id3v2.3 UTF-16, with the former... it basically deals with non latin characters the same way id3v1 does lol.

Since it had "ISO" in the name i thought it was the default standard one everyone uses... Man do i regret that choice, but Winamp's Autotagger saved the day from the mess real fast so no worries there.

[ChiggyChiggy]

Originally Posted by MrSinatra

I might be able to answer any specific questions you may have.

By any chance you wouldnt happen to know if 2.4 has any benefits over the more standard 2.3 would you? In terms of things that are obvious to the user that is. Its so puzzling that something more than a decade old never caught on even though it was just an update to something already popular.

[MrSinatra]

I no longer can edit that post, and which Char Set is used is starting to get kinda outside the scope of the post, but I would not be against mentioning it.

however, just FYI, you can EASILY change ALL your tags to UTF-16 using mp3tag. the way I have it configured, simply resaving the tag does it. you can also sort a column by char set used.

[MrSinatra]

Originally Posted by ChiggyChiggy

By any chance you wouldnt happen to know if 2.4 has any benefits over the more standard 2.3 would you? In terms of things that are obvious to the user that is. Its so puzzling that something more than a decade old never caught on even though it was just an update to something already popular.

imo, it has no benefits that are meaningful enough vs its severe drawbacks.

It didn't catch on b/c what it offered wasn't worthwhile enough. you'll have to google search to see what was different, check the wiki, look at id3.org, etc

http://forums.mp3tag.de/lofiversion/...hp/t11726.html

[Koopa]

Originally Posted by ChiggyChiggy

By any chance you wouldnt happen to know if 2.4 has any benefits over the more standard 2.3 would you? In terms of things that are obvious to the user that is. Its so puzzling that something more than a decade old never caught on even though it was just an update to something already popular.

There are not many advantages, but the lack of compatibility makes 2.4 a niche product.

Nearly any hardware is able to read 2.3 tags, I had a lot of issues with my car radio when I tried to use 2.4 tags.

The lack of hardware support also never will change, if you look at the date, when the 2.4 standard was finalized 14 years ago...