Solution to 'Square' character on titles!

justintime · 01-08-2007, 04:44 PM

OK, at first I thought this was related only to RC5, but then I did some more testing and figured this out... it turns out that all versions of CF (at least all recent ones) have issues if your extended MP3 ID3 tags are populated.

If you are having issues with square characters populating on your album titles etc in Media Manager, or perhaps even 'commas' in the Genre listing within CF, then the solution is this:

-Open up the files with a good ID3 tag editor such as The GOdfather, and perform a Full Tag Edit.
-Then switch to 'More Data', and finally look at the 'Extended Fields'.
-If you have any info on those fields, delete them all, save, and re-index your CF library.

YMMV if you are using a different tag editor. Just try to find a way to see the Extended ID3 fields, and delete them...

David: You should look at supporting these Extended ID3 fields, they are useful!

midiwall · 01-08-2007, 06:49 PM

Justin; what are examples of the extended tags? Is this the stuff to support chapters?

fwiw, the 2.4 standard is here: http://id3.org/id3v2.4.0-frames

then there are addendums:
http://id3.org/id3v2-chapters-1.0
http://id3.org/id3v2-accessibility-1.0

midiwall · 01-08-2007, 06:53 PM

n/m I just installed The Godfather and see what you're looking at.

Wow... yeah, those tags have been around for a while, and what's interesting is that Album Artist is in there which David seemingly started supporting in RC4.4. Hmm... Sounds like he's getting confused with the extra tags.

hari-bhari · 01-11-2007, 06:39 PM

i too have this square block problem although ive gone through great pains making all my id3 tags uniform and clean. david, will this issue be fixed? for me, the square block is showing only after the album name at the top of the playlist.

midiwall · 01-11-2007, 06:54 PM

side note... David's at CES so any responses from him will be a couple of days off yet.

justintime · 01-11-2007, 06:57 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by hari-bhari

i too have this square block problem although ive gone through great pains making all my id3 tags uniform and clean. david, will this issue be fixed? for me, the square block is showing only after the album name at the top of the playlist.

Did you read my solution to this? Unless you really need them, just delete the extended tags, and the squares will be gone for good.

veetid · 01-13-2007, 04:21 PM

justintime: can you email me a file to support so I can fix this issue?

It probably happened when I added the Album Artist support...

It shouldn't be hard to fix...

david

justintime · 01-13-2007, 04:27 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by veetid

justintime: can you email me a file to support so I can fix this issue?

It probably happened when I added the Album Artist support...

It shouldn't be hard to fix...

david

David,

I cleaned all my files already

Just grab any MP3 file, open with The GodFather, and add an Extended tag of your liking...

hari-bhari · 01-15-2007, 05:01 PM

i dont see an extended tag option. i see 'standard' and 'extra' and ive cleared all the entries under extra, but my album names still have the square block. either im really stupid, or something else is going on. david, if you'd like an mp3 file exhibiting this behavior, PM me with your email address and ill send it right over. thanks

veetid · 01-15-2007, 05:10 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by hari-bhari

i dont see an extended tag option. i see 'standard' and 'extra' and ive cleared all the entries under extra, but my album names still have the square block. either im really stupid, or something else is going on. david, if you'd like an mp3 file exhibiting this behavior, PM me with your email address and ill send it right over. thanks

I would like an mp3 with the commas near the genre and the squares...

just reference the topic and send it to the standard support email address on the website...

thanks, I will get it fixed once I have the files...

david

justintime · 01-15-2007, 05:10 PM

You're not stupid. I think you're just blind!

1) Open The GodFather
2) Click TAG icon at the top
3) RIGHT-CLICK on any of the MP3 files, and select Full Tag Edit
4) Click MORE DATA at the top
5) Now click 'User and Other Fields' as shown here:

Quote: Originally Posted by hari-bhari

i dont see an extended tag option. i see 'standard' and 'extra' and ive cleared all the entries under extra, but my album names still have the square block. either im really stupid, or something else is going on. david, if you'd like an mp3 file exhibiting this behavior, PM me with your email address and ill send it right over. thanks

midiwall · 01-15-2007, 05:11 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by hari-bhari

i dont see an extended tag option. i see 'standard' and 'extra' and ive cleared all the entries under extra, but my album names still have the square block. either im really stupid, or something else is going on. david, if you'd like an mp3 file exhibiting this behavior, PM me with your email address and ill send it right over. thanks

Two ideas...

Just to be sure everyone's looking at the same thing, this is "The Godfather" that Justin's talking about:
http://users.otenet.gr/~jtcliper/tgf/

Install that, point to a folder with MP3's in it and then:
- Right click on a file
- "Full Tag Edit"
- "More Data"
- "Extended Fields"
Some of these tags can be set through WMP, most cannot.
I'd be happy to look at an MP3 for you: mp3@midiwall.com

justintime · 01-15-2007, 06:41 PM

I also found a way to clear the extended/custom tags in batch, so you dont have to go one by one.

If ppl are interested, I can post instructions. It's very easy.

hari-bhari · 01-15-2007, 10:00 PM

i have no values in the extended tags field and i still have the blocks on some of my files. guess ill jus wait for david to fix this. but go ahead and post the instructions and ill give it a shot.

justintime · 01-16-2007, 06:30 AM

Are you rebuilindg your CF library after cleaning the tags?