# What is iTunes putting in my MP3s?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-itunes-putting-in-my-mp3s/238639>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 6, 2004, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-itunes-putting-in-my-mp3s/238639 "2004-04-06T23:15:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![cheddarsnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cheddarsnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cheddarsnax)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-itunes-putting-in-my-mp3s/238639/1 "2004-04-06T23:15:00Z")

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All of my MP3s ripped using iTunes have something like this in their ID3v2 comment tag:

000022C0 00001F1C 0000B69E 0000B37D 0001DA2F 00021EF5 000090A2 0000934B 00033934 0002BFAC

What is it for? Why is it there?

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**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-itunes-putting-in-my-mp3s/238639/2 "2004-04-07T02:51:05Z")

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No idea, but it’s definitely [hex](http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci212247,00.html). For the record, I just bought a song from Music Match, and it had a code under “Notes” that said **USSM10312427** , which is apparently regular old decimal numbers. Maybe if you upload it to [insert your favorite P2P network here] it helps them find out who you are.