# MP3/M4A tagging **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 9, 2013, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-m4a-tagging/660524 "2013-06-09T03:58:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2013, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-m4a-tagging/660524/21 "2013-06-11T00:07:27Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Based on the artist tags I inherited in my MP3 collection, I have found that many people seem to think that Bruce Springstein, Bob Dillian and Bob Marley are the artists for any song that shows any similarity, no matter how remote, with their styles. Wouldn’t happen if you actually bought the music. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2013, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-m4a-tagging/660524/22 "2013-06-11T02:59:14Z")
> [@Pitchmeister](#): > > Well, that doesn’t really solve the problem, does it? You still end up with some “Guns And Roses”, some “Guns & Roses”, some “Guns N Roses” and some “Guns ‘N’ Roses”, right? And what program does the sorting and archiving of those barenaked files for you? Tags are a great thing if you know what to use them for, they really are! I do the renaming of the files and the program i use to sort my files is called windows explorer. My needs are fully met. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2013, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-m4a-tagging/660524/23 "2013-06-11T13:50:16Z")
You could just stop using iTunes, you dirty hippies. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-m4a-tagging/660524/24 "2013-06-11T19:09:47Z")
ID3 predates iTunes by… 5 years!? That’s it? Well even more years since anyone took notice. iTunes does add its own extra tags, but the regular kind are attached to the file itself and visible external to itunes. And pre-tagging in iTunes is done by IIRC Gracenote, which is used by many many other programs as well, so hard to avoid. The same problem might arise from buying mp3s eleswhere, or ripping a physical CD. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-m4a-tagging/660524/25 "2013-06-12T15:03:07Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Honestly, the idea of multiple artists should have been built in from the start. Even before the whole “featuring” craze you often had multiple people contribute. Wouldn’t it be great if you could list a band and its members, so you could listen to all music played by that one guy? Spotify does this for “featuring” tracks. So “Get Lucky” isn’t listed as by Daft feat. Pharrell Williams. It’s listed as by Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams, and you can look it up under both artists. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-m4a-tagging/660524/26 "2013-06-13T01:22:59Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Spotify does this for “featuring” tracks. So “Get Lucky” isn’t listed as by Daft feat. Pharrell Williams. It’s listed as by Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams, and you can look it up under both artists. Cool. Similar to how Facebook’s tagging is so much better than the kind built into JPEGs and other image files. Too bad I don’t listen to enough music to justify the expense of Spotify. I only truly like a small number of songs, and only listen to streaming to learn to play other songs to please others. And since all I need are popular songs, YouTube’s free VEVO channels are enough for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mp3-m4a-tagging/660524.md?page=1)