Track Lengths screwed up
On a number of my MP3s that were originally ripped with MMJB but are now accessed with iTunes, the track length field in the song tag is incorrect (One particular Meat Loaf song was clocking in at over 58 minutes!).
Other than manually editing the "Info" for each individual track (and having to look up the proper track time), or re-ripping the albums, is there any more automated way to fix the tags?
[411 byte] By [
ijgordon] at [2007-11-9 15:14:54]
# 1 Re: Track Lengths screwed up
Do you mean the length is inside the tag and is editable, or do you mean it is calculated. If it is calculated, then VBR files sometimes have the incorrect time calculated, but not out by that much.
There are programs that can do mass tag editing, doesn't MMJB do it? iTunes also does it.
Adam at 2007-11-15 16:46:04 >
# 2 Re: Track Lengths screwed up
Yeah - my VBR copy of one of my Santana albums has the same problem. Some of the tracks clock in at >40 minutes in iTunes.
I believe iTunes assesses the bitrate of the first frame of music in the file, then takes the file size and extrapolates the length. Obviously, the first frame is often silence, so uses 32kbps (in my case), whereas the song average is something like 192kbps, making the estimate of length about 6x too high.
My library seems only to contain one album with this problem, so I think I'll just rip it again... I've been keeping the original rip out of curiosity, and to see if a fix comes out.
# 3 Re: Track Lengths screwed up
Yeah, now I'm really mad. I have the same problem. Lots of my VBR files have the wrong time after importing to iTunes (the new release 4.1.1.54). I thought someone said this was fixed with the new release?
Good news: After I start playing in iTunes, the song's length is updated automatically in iTunes to the new length.
Bad news: I do manual syncs. Not sure if that matters, but when I sync, now on my ipod I have 2 copies of the song. The one with the incorrect time tag, and the one with the correct time tag. So I have lots of doubles.
So what, am I going to have to play every single song in iTunes and re-import?
If this can't be fixed, bye bye iTunes. I really gave you a chance.
EDIT:
Here's a test for you with VBR files to try
1) Sort your files in iTunes by length.
2) If any of your longer songs look ridiculously long, try playing them and seeing if iTunes automatically updates. (as soon as the song starts playing)
3) Do a sync to your ipod.
4) Do you have 2 copies of that song now?
# 4 Re: Track Lengths screwed up
Ok... my problem was fixed by doing an automatic sync instead of a manual sync (dragging all library songs to ipod in iTunes). I guess maybe that makes sense?
# 5 Re: Track Lengths screwed up
No, when I start playing these particular files, iTunes does NOT adjust the track time. And sorting my files by track length doesn't reveal any useful information: the track lengths are pretty evenly distributed from 0:08 to 39:25, so no apparent "cutoff" to clue me in as to which ones need to be fixed.
I'm testing to see if I finish playing the entire track if iTunes will update the time. If it works, I guess I can just set a playlist of all the songs and let it run overnight.
Wait a sec, that'll take 6.7 days according iTunes!!!
Wait another sec -- that's probably based on the bogus track lengths.
UGH!!!!!!!
(But it may be worthwhile re-ripping a lot of these albums into AAC for the smaller file size).
# 6 Re: Track Lengths screwed up
OK, I found out some info on the official help site message boards.
Apparently, the original version of iTunes was unable to properly read the tags (including track times) of MPEG files ripped using VBR.
This has been fixed in the most current version.
So, now that I upgraded the software, as soon as I start playing a song, it properly updates the track time. I also get the album art now.
Unfortunately I haven't figured out a great way to get all the files to update properly. The best way I can figure out is to sort by descending track time, and starting at the top, right-click and select "Get Info". That updates the track time, then you can click "Next" in the window and "quickly" go through the rest of the songs.
Good luck.
