There are two types of ID3 (IDentify an mp3) tags that can be in mp3 files
today. The original (version 1) tag, which is 128 bytes long and located at
the end of the file, starts with the string "tag", and has just a few fixed
fields (title, artist, album, comment) that were limited to 30 characters
each. And the version2 tag, which is usually at the beginning of the file
and can contain much more information.

Most times when I see the problem you are having it's that the version1 tag
isn't present at all, and the player doesn't understand the version2 tags.
In this case you can download a tagger that will take the version2 tag info
in your file and write it to the version1 header. (jjmp3renamer and others
do this). 

There is another possible case that your player only reads mp3 version 2
tags, and only the version 1 tag is present, but this is less common. Either
way using a tagger and making sure both tags have info about the song will
fix the problem.

Usually a current app will look for the mp3 version 2 tag first, and if it
isn't present then will look for the version 1 header.

Cheers,
Gary
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: audities-owner@smoe.org 
> [mailto:audities-owner@smoe.org] On Behalf Of drewmacdonald@ca.rr.com
> Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2007 10:50 PM
> To: audities@smoe.org
> Subject: OT: mp3 & ID3
> 
> I'm generally pretty good with techie stuff, but I'm having a 
> weird problem with my Samsung YP-T8 mp3 player.
> 
> I can't get the thing to reliably display the Artist, Album 
> and Title information in its window. On tracks I've ripped 
> from CDs myself (using a third party ripper like EAC or 
> MusicMatch), the Samsung consistently recognizes and displays 
> the pertinent information.
> 
> But on most tracks that originate from other sources (eMusic, 
> blogs, etc.) the player usually shows "None" as the artist 
> and either "None" or a three-character block of gibberish as 
> the Album.  Now I know these tracks have valid ID3 tags 
> imbedded; they are recognized and displayed by Windows 
> Explorer, MusicMatch Jukebox, Windows Media Player and even 
> the Samsung Media Studio software that came with the unit -- 
> but not the mp3 player.
> 
> What's the deal? Are there different types of ID3 tags that 
> are read differently? Is there a way to distinguish one from another?
> 
> I wouldn't be asking this here if Samung's own support site 
> (hah!) or Google had provided an answer. Any ideas? These 
> days, most of my "new purchase" listening happens from the 
> mp3 player, and I hate hearing something new without being 
> able to identify the track.
> 
> Feel free to answer off list to avoid boring our fellow Auditeers.
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> Drew
> np: Maple Mars - BEAUTIFUL MESS
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>