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Topic: FLAC tags in separate, external files (Read 3411 times) previous topic - next topic
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FLAC tags in separate, external files

I'm ripping my whole CD collection to FLAC and tag them with many custom tags mainly for classical music (e.g. opus, movements etc.). With this comes that I often change tags quite a while after I've ripped them (say for example I add an opus number or a key for a Symphony etc.). So far so good - the tagging works fast since fb2k generates the files with enough padding for additional tags. BTW: what is the default padding space fb2k uses for FLAC files? Haven't found much on the forum about this.

The problem is that when I update some tags the file gets a new modification date. When I do a backup of my music library many large FLAC files need to be backed up even though only a small part of the file changed. Of course this could be avoided if the tags part would be separated from the audio part in a separate, external file. Is there a way to do this with FLAC and fb2k? Are there other (lossless) file formats that would support something like that? How do others in this forum deal with this? I'm pretty sure I'm not the first one having this problem.

BTW: I'm already keeping the artwork in a separate folder structure, so I can easily replace cover images etc. So it is only an issue with the tagging.

FLAC tags in separate, external files

Reply #1 –
There was recently a very similar thread, which I relocated using a forum Google search for backup tags. You may find some useful suggestions there, although the user’s latest post was inconclusive.
* Easiest way to backup/mirror tags of flac-files?

FLAC tags in separate, external files

Reply #2 –
a) you can use CUE files.
b) if CUE is not enough, convert it to APL files (foo_input_monkey is needed).
c) IIRC fb2k input component for Shorten writes tags to separate files (because Shorten format doesn't support tags itself).

FLAC tags in separate, external files

Reply #3 –
Quote from: lvqcl on
c) IIRC fb2k input component for Shorten writes tags to separate files (because Shorten format doesn't support tags itself).
That's an interesting way to present a shortcoming of the Shorten format - of which it has many compared to FLAC - as an advantage. I generally would not recommend to use Shorten instead of FLAC.

FLAC tags in separate, external files

Reply #4 –
Quote from: lvqcl on
a) you can use CUE files.


I wouldn't recommend CUE files. This format has many limitations that make it useless. I prefer embedded cuesheets.

FLAC tags in separate, external files

Reply #5 –
Quote from: jszania on
I wouldn't recommend CUE files. This format has many limitations that make it useless. I prefer embedded cuesheets.


OP wants tags in a separate file.

FLAC tags in separate, external files

Reply #6 –
mp3Tag has an export feature.

FLAC tags in separate, external files

Reply #7 –
I don't know how keen you are on using an external app for tag editing, but Mp3tag has the option "Preserve file modification time when saving tags". To help ease the burden of using an external editor, you can use foo_run to add a command to open selected files with Mp3tag. Another downside is that you will need to manually instruct foobar2000 to reload tag info, after editing, because without the mod date changing it obviously will not know that they've changed.

FLAC tags in separate, external files

Reply #9 –
Quote from: trout on
I don't know how keen you are on using an external app for tag editing, but Mp3tag has the option "Preserve file modification time when saving tags". To help ease the burden of using an external editor, you can use foo_run to add a command to open selected files with Mp3tag. Another downside is that you will need to manually instruct foobar2000 to reload tag info, after editing, because without the mod date changing it obviously will not know that they've changed.
That might circumvent the automatic backup of the file, if it is decided on modification date alone, but this would mean the updated tags weren’t backed up at all.

I guess OP has to decide between (1) a segment-based backup system such as rsync (see the linked thread) and (2) one of the few and not necessarily ideal solutions for storing metadata in a separate file.

FLAC tags in separate, external files

Reply #10 –
Quote from: dv1989 on
[...] but this would mean the updated tags weren’t backed up at all.

True, unless the tags were also exported.

I agree that this isn't ideal, but it's an option I thought might be worth mentioning.
 

FLAC tags in separate, external files

Reply #11 –
Hmm - so there is not really a satisfying solution around. I guess the easiest way is to go ahead as I do already and just backup all modified files. I can run the backup over night or so - not a big deal. Just thought conceptionally it would be a smart idea to have different contents like audio, tags and artwork in different containers, i.e. files. But it seems that this does not (yet) exist.

FLAC tags in separate, external files

Reply #12 –
well, actually CUE sheet format has ONE irritating limitation - it allows using a few, predefined metatag fields only. Maybe you won't need more - check it. I needed, that is why I switched to embedded cue sheets after using external cue sheets for a couple of years.

I have a different problem now - how to check quickly in a large database that the bits in "music area" of the files remain unchanged over time?