If you are a music lover and have numerous music tracks stored in your music folder, it becomes necessary to add important metadata to the files in order to make them identifiable while they are being played by a music player application, or any other physical music system.
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Such metadata that is added to the music files is called ID3 tags. The ID3 tags make the files identifiable, which also becomes useful while clustering the files, i.e. when arranging the tracks on the basis of a particular criteria such as album, artist name, etc.
Nowadays ID3 v2.4 is mostly used because of its advanced features and increased number of supported file formats, and the applications that help you manage the ID3 tags of the music files are called ID3 tag editors or id3 taggers for short.
A few ID3 tag editors that you can use on Mac OS X El Capitan are listed below:
01 – MusicBrainz Picard
(Download URL:https://picard.musicbrainz.org/downloads/)
MusicBrainz Picard is a free id3 tag editor that can be downloaded from its official website. In addition to allowing the end-users to add ID3 tags to the music files, the program also allows them to organize and manage the file clustering.
Pros
• Performs online search for correct ID3 tags for the files and adds them accordingly using the acoustic fingerprinting technology.
• Allows manual ID3 tag addition/editing to the files.
• Enables file clustering.
• The program is free.
Cons
• Understanding the interface of the application might be challenging for the new users, and they may have to refer to its user manual for assistance.
02 – iSkysoft Audio Recorder for Mac
(Download URL:http://www.iskysoft.com/audio-recorder-mac/)
Mainly an audio recorder and editor, iSkysoft Audio Recorder for Mac allows you to add and edit id3 tags of the audio files as well. Simply put, with iSkysoft Audio Recorder, you can record audio, get the audio recorded from the Internet, and can also manage the ID3 tags for the files.
Pros
• An efficient multipurpose application for audio recording and ID3 tag editing on Mac OS X El Capitan.
• Can record audio from various online streaming sites such as iTunes Radio, Yahoo Music, etc.
• Capable of recording audio from online streaming video websites such as YouTube, etc.
• Available for both Mac and Windows platforms.
Cons
• iSkysoft Audio Recorder for Mac comes with a pricetag.
• Many advanced ID3 tagging features are not present in iSkysoft Audio Recorder as id3 tagger is its built-in tool.
03 – id3 editor
(Download URL:http://www.pa-software.com/release/download.php?nm&prod=BC3B2E3A )
Developed by Pa-software, id3 editor is available for both Mac and Windows platform. With the ability to support MP3 and AIFF file types, id3 editor allows you to manage ID3 tags in these types of files from a single-windowed interface.
Pros
• Offers Command Line Interface (CLI) that can be used to write scripts for batch editing.
• Allows you to mark the music files as copyrighted.
• You can add lyrics to your favorite tracks.
• Allows group editing that saves time when the information is to be added or edited to multiple files.
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Cons
• Both Mac and Windows versions of id3 editor come with a pricetag.
04 – Kid3 for Mac
(Download URL:http://kid3.sourceforge.net/#download)
Yet another efficient open source audio file tag editor, Kid3 – audio tagger supports several file formats including FLAC, MP3, OGG, AAC, MP4, MP2, etc. and allows you to add, edit, and convert from version 1 to v2, v2.3, and v2.4 ID3 tags with ease.
Pros
• Kid3 is an open source program for Mac, Windows, and Linux and is free to use.
• Allows bulk tagging.
• Automatically manages the upper and lower cases of the tags whenever and wherever needed.
• Can generate filenames from tags and vice-versa.
Cons
• With too many options and fields to work on, the interface sometimes looks messy.
05 – MetaBliss
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(Download URL:http://metabliss.com/)
MetaBliss, like many of its competitors, is a full-fledged id3 tag editor but with a few advancements such as better UI and easy-to-understand interface. With the ability to manage ID3 tags of the files comparatively easily, MetaBliss can help you save your decent amount of time.
Pros
• Has row-like alignment of the added files to manage their ID3 tags.
• Easy adding and removing the tag fields by checking or unchecking the corresponding checkboxes.
• Has integrated find and replace feature for bulk editing.
• Has straightforward user interface.
Cons
• The MetaBliss is a shareware and must be purchased to use all its features at full.
06 – Wondershare TunesGo for Mac
(Download URL:https://www.wondershare.com/tunesgo/)
Wondershare TunesGo
An efficient product by Wondershare and probably the best among its competitors, TunesGo is a full-fledged id3 tagger that also allows you to transfer your music files from one device to another without losing any data or quality.
4,088,454 people have downloaded it
Pros
• Wondershare TunesGo can work in compliance with iTunes.
• Allows you to import files from your iTunes library.
• Identifies and removes duplicate tracks from your music library.
• Allows you to fix incorrect ID3 tags and populate the tag fields with the correct values.
Cons
• Wondershare TunesGo comes with a price tag.
07 – Audacity for Mac
(Download URL:http://audacityteam.org/download/mac)
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Even though Audacity is mainly used as an efficient voice recorder, it has an integrated id3 tag editor that helps you add, edit, and manage ID3 tags for the audio files. Because the application itself supports several audio file formats, its built-in id3 tag editor can manage the tags of all the supported file types as well.
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Pros
• Audacity is a freeware.
• Available for both Mac and Windows platforms.
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• Supports various file formats.
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• Allows you to add the ID3 tags to the recorded files as well.
Cons
• The program has a complicated interface that may be hard to understand, especially for the new users.
• Since the id3 tag editor is an integrated feature of the application, it doesn’t have some advanced ID3 tagging features that other, full-fledged id3 taggers do.
Conclusion
ID3 tags are an important aspect of the music files, and managing them correctly becomes equally important when it comes to organizing your music library and synchronizing the music files with other devices.