Cannot View or Change File Info

[eamon_oneil]

I am having a problem with viewing the file info of CD's that I have ripped to my local media. I have winamp 5.61 and when I right click on a song that I have ripped and click 'view file info' it just comes up with a box saying:

{Waveform File Info}
Signed 16bit PCM
2 channel(s)
44100 Hz

..and then my only option is to click ok and that's all I can do. Winamp cannot find some of the album art for certain albums and when I want to add it manually but I cannot because it wont let me view file info properly.

If anyone knows what im talking about or has a solution please let me know

Cheers
Eamon O'Neil

[ryerman]

If anyone knows what im talking about or has a solution please let me know

Hi Eamon,
If you provide a correctly named image file in the folder containing the wave file(s), it will become the album art for all files in the folder.
See here for more details. I suggest you use "folder" or "cover" as the image file name for folders containing wave files.

I'm fussy about album art, so I search my favourite websites.
But, Winamp has the native ability to search and obtain art (approx. 200x200 pixels). Here's how:
1. Use a view with an album art pane. For every album there will be either an image Winamp has found in your files or folders, or the default Winamp Llama image.
2. Right click on an image and select "Get Album Art". This will open the Cover Art Downloader and automatically search using the artist and album.
3. Edit those fields and search again. (if desired)
4. Click on "Select" below the image you want.

A JPG image is copied to the folder. Winamp will name the file according to its own way.
Any existing file with the same name will be overwritten without warning.

If your files have metadata (tags) like artist, album, composer etc., Winamp can use them to populate the search fields in the Cover Art Downloader (and everywhere else).
This won't happen with wave files. I believe that Winamp does not read tags from wave files even if they exist. (There is no specification of ID3 tags in wave files.) However, values for album, artist, title, and track number can be obtained if the filepath is in a specific format. See attachment.

If you use the format shown in the attachment, you must also choose the appropriate setting in Preferences:
Preferences> Media Library > Local Media > Watch Folders > Configure > choose Smart

Metadata can be edited in the usual way but Winamp does not write tags to wave files so any changes will not survive removal of the file.

Jim

[DJ Egg]

Nice reply ryerman

@eamon_oneil

I assume you don't want to use WAV?
As ryerman said, WAV has no tagging system (at least not an official one anyway).

Go to: Winamp > Prefs (Ctrl+P) > CD Ripping > Encoder tab
and change the Encoder to some other format besides WAV.

FLAC would be the ideal alternative to use instead of WAV as it's a lossless format.
The default Encoder is M4A/LC-AAC (a decent but lossy format).
Note that the MP3 Encoder is only available if you've entered a Winamp Pro license key to unlock it.