How to clean up your MP3s to display correctly in Zune.
This article uses Mp3tag, a freeware application. But you can accomplish the same thing in the Zune software using Edit Track Info.
This first screen shows more or less the default view for Mp3Tag. The screen shows two compilation albums, where the album name is the same, but the songs are performed by different artists. Prior to cleaning, the Zune software would show these songs scattered around, where I wanted them all under the same album.
To key MP3 tag is Band, or as Microsoft calls it, Album Artist. To add this field to the main view, right-click the column header and choose Customize Columns.
The screen shows the columns that are displayed, but Band/Album Artist is not listed. Click the new field button
and enter the new tag information like in the screenshot.
I found the column order shown to be the easiest to work with, you might have a different preference. When you click OK, the screen shows the new field.
As the screen shows, the album artist for both albums is Fat Wreck Chords, although each song has a different artist. This means the Zune software thinks: There are two albums by Fat Wreck Chords, instead of: There is an album called Fat Music… by Propaghandi, and an album called Fat Music… by Lagwagon, and an album called Fat Music… by Strung out, etc.
After adding this field you may be saying “That’s where that came from”. I found lots of variations on the artist name in this field, which was confusing because they would show up as two different artists in the Zune software, each with their own album listing. Or the songs would be split into two albums when they should be together. Or you may just see a bunch of blanks. When this field is blank, Zune uses the Artist field. The problem is when some songs have the band field and some don’t.
So how to resolve it? Highlight all the songs by the same artist, and click the View>Extended Tags menu (or right-click>Extended tags, or Alt-T) The screen will show the merged values of all the selected songs. If the values are different, like album, the field shows <Keep>, otherwise it shows the common value.
Edit the Band field to be a common value. If you do not have a band field, click the new button
and create the band field like in the screen below. I recommend having the artist and band fields the same unless you are dealing with a compilation.
And that cleans up the Zune software, but what about the Zune device? It’s funny, actually. The Zune device uses the Artist field. So if you are browsing artists (in my example), you will see all the values in the Artist list. So I see Propaghandi, Lagwagon, Strung Out, etc. I also have a full album by Lagwagon, so if I choose Lagwagon in the Zune, I see the album listed first, then the straggler songs listed below. But I can also find Fat Wreck Chords in the artists and see all the compilation albums listed under it. So I have the best of both fields.
In summary: All your MP3s need to have Album, Band (Album Artist), and Artist fields defined
Cleaning up your ID3 tags is very time consuming, but if you don’t do it, you will have a poor mobile music experience. Hopefully this article will put you on the right track (no pun intended).
Cleaning up your MP3 tags
