I would like to draw attention to a low-profile Windows utility called “Taghycardia”, the purpose of which, according to its site, is “to make sure your music albums would be fully accessible on your iPhone/Windows Phone or other “tag-sorting portable media players”. The author is also positioning it as a “tagging utility for the lazy”.
And indeed, the program is essentially a highly automated easy-to-use mp3 tagger that requires rather little interaction: you choose a folder, press a “go” button, and after some prompts (if any) – “apply changes”. While going about the folder structure, the program prompts on any “inconsistencies” it spotted, like missing album or artist name, or when those names are not the same across a folder. Often, the utility itself offers correct info to complete missing fields, but when it does not, one can consult an online source in a semi-automatic fashion to get the needed metadata.
There is a feature of compilations processing, which is rare among common tag editors. The program has an option to “skip” compilations not displaying an inconsistency prompt. In addition, apparently it can add “iTunes compilation” field to the tags of a compilation album so one need not later check the checkbox manually in iTunes. The same could be done with “personal compilations”, when a folder contains many tracks from different albums by various artists. Moreover, the utility warns when track numbers are out of order often fixing them automatically.
In addition, the program has several cover art processing modes. In one of them, it discovers and embeds cover art into music files whenever it is missing. The plus side it uses both local and online images for embedding thus speeding up the process. In another mode however, the utility removes the images from tags, which can be useful to save space on a mobile device. The removed images optionally could be extracted into their respective folders.
Finally, there is an embedded semi-automatic mass tag editor, which can be used when the program was unable to correct a tag deficiency automatically. For instance, the editor can help to clarify an album’s track listing using an online source either matching it itself to the files or offering an option to perform a manual match.
The program is thoroughly documented on its site, so I had no problem learning its features.
Download the utility here: http://taghycardia.info
