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Adding album art via WMP12 corrupts ID3v2 tags - reproducible
Adding album art via WMP12 corrupts ID3v2 tags - reproducible
- Any mp3 file where I add album art via WMP12 becomes unplayable when transferred to my Windows Mobile phone. If I connect the phone as a USB drive and try to play the file on my pc it still works but if I play it on my phone either using the phone Windows Media Player or the HTC player I get a message that the file is corrupted.
Is anybody else having this problem?
Here is an example: this file used to play correctly in my windows mobile phone. After adding album art the file still plays in WMP12 but it is reported as corrupted in the phone WMP.
http://cid-782dc040b3e04c5c.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/01%20-%20A%20Sort%20Of%20Homecoming.mp3
- Edited byUtenteAnonimo Wednesday, November 04, 2009 11:22 AM
- Edited byUtenteAnonimo Wednesday, November 04, 2009 9:31 AM
All Replies
- Hi,
I downloaded the mp3 file you provided and put into my HTC mobile phone. As you said it cannot be played by Windows Media Player --- but I'm able to play it in another third party player named CorePlayer. So it should be caused if Windows Media Player in Windows Mobile do not support the file. It is a 320Kbps file, please test to rip the CD to a lower quality such as 192Kbps to test.
Meanwhile, I found a CD and rip some 320Kbps files, delete all information and input some value such as album art, but they can still be played in my mobile phone. - Thanks for your answer.
I am not willing to use a third mp3 player on my phone when I have two already. WMP12 is doing something to these files to make them unplayable and now I have a library full of these corrupted files!
As you suggest I have uploaded a file with a lower bitrate but the problem is the same:
http://cid-782dc040b3e04c5c.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/02%20-%20I%20Should%20Have%20Known%20Better.mp3
More information on what I do to corrupt the files:
I copy an image from a website into the clipboard (right click and then "copy image")
I add the album art via WMP12 navigating to the album, rightclicking on the empty icon and then choosing "paste album art".
Every mp3 file that goes through this treatment becomes unplayable on my phone!
A few more comments:
- I am using 64bit Windows7
- All software involved is by Microsoft!
- Assuming that the problem is due to the album art being saved incorrectly, thanks to the lack of the Advanced Tag Editor, now I cannot remove those images from the files and therefore all my library is spoiled!
At least can you investigate what is wrong with the two files I posted? As I said whatever is wrong it's been done by WMP12.
- I tried to add my dog icon to a MP3 file but it can still be played on my HTC. Here is the file.
Please try following steps to restore music information:
In Windows Media Player, click Tools --- Options --- Libraries --- Check the box Retrieve additional infomation from the internet and choose Overwrite all media information, click OK.
Then file the corrupted file in Libraries in Windows Media Player, right click on it, choose Find Album info. It should be updated if correct album is found. Test if they will back to work after finish the update and re-put them into mobile phone. - I can't afford to use your suggestion to fix the files... I had thousands of files where I have accurately included mp3 tags the way i like and I am not going to let WMP12 overwrite everything with who knows what results.
Can you let me know if the second file I posted works in your phone? I would like to understand what WMP12 is doing to the files to make them unusable.
I understand you can put the dog picture in your file but I am trying to do something similar and it doesn't work, so I'd like to know why... maybe it's the size of the picture? Can you please copy the album art from one of my files, put it into another mp3 file and see if this edited file still plays in your phone.
Or maybe it's something else...
I have a very plain fresh Win7 installation and I am doing exactly the same as what I used to do with WMP11 to add album art and I never had problems with WMP11... - I have now looked at the tags of some of my mp3 files using the mp3tag freeware program and ALL the files that don't play on my phone are reported by mp3tag as having bad ID3v2 tags and the program doesn't not show the added picture.
I can reproduce this problem on 100% of my files. As soon as I drop a picture via WMP12 the file gets corrupted with a bad ID3v2 tag.
The complete flow is as follows:
- I rip a CD using ExactAudioCopy and compress to mp3. I choose to generate both ID3v1.1 and ID3v2.0 tags for artist, album, song title, year, etc
- The mp3 files play fine in any players.
- I add these files to the WMP12 library (without adding any other information)
- They still play fine everywhere
- I add album art via WMP12
- the files still play in WMP12 but are reported as corrupted in other players
Can I please ask someone willing to spend some time to try and reproduce the problem? I think the key thing is that WMP12 messes the ID3 tags when adding a picture if it finds a file already containing both v1.1 and v2.0 tags. - Hi,
The second file you provided still cannot be played. However I cannot reproduce the issue on my side. I tried a 1024x768 picture on a MP3 file which ripped from a CD but it can still be played on my HTC.
Please provide a picture which causes the issue.
As you said it may be a ID3 issue as after modified mp3 files, Windows Media Player in Windows Mobile cannot recognize it.
I highly recommended to create a new post to Windows Mobile support site to see if it is a known issue. As I said a third party player on my HTC can help play the file which failed to be played in Windows Media Player. So the issue only occurs on Windows Media Player in Windows Mobile.
Here is the site. - Shaon,
The ID3 tag corruption happens on my pc when using WMP12 so I don't think it is a Windows Mobile issue. Some players will accept mp3 files with corrupted tags but some won't. I would like to avoid corruption rather than just find a more forgiving player.
Later I will post a file without picture and a picture. You can add the picture to the file via WMP12 and you will get corrupted tags. - Here are two mp3 files; they both play fine on any players and mp3tag shows all tags correctly. Note that all tags respect the specification so there is no problem on these files at this stage.
http://cid-782dc040b3e04c5c.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/02%20-%20I%20Should%20Have%20Known%20Better.mp3
http://cid-782dc040b3e04c5c.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/03%20-%20If%20I%20Fell.mp3
Put them in the same folder, import them into your WMP12 library and drop any picture (one provided below) as album art.
http://cid-782dc040b3e04c5c.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/c64167l8jq3.jpg
The files will still play in WMP12 but the ID3v2 tags will be corrupted (as shown by mp3tag) and other players will not play them.
If you can reproduce the problem, can you please help me to log a bug report? I think file corruption is the worst bug for an application.
Please note: files provided for testing purposes only, as this is copyrighted material.
- Edited byUtenteAnonimo Friday, November 06, 2009 9:35 AM
- Hi Shaon (and anyone who wants to give it a try),
Can you please confirm that you can reproduce the problem? Thanks. - BUMP!!!
Since Microsoft has gone quiet on this problem I will appreciate if someone can use my files and reproduce the problem. Maybe if more people confirm the problem, it will get some attention.
I find it surprising that no-one is facing the same issue. Or maybe people are letting WMP12 corrupt their files without being aware because the files still play even if the ID3 tags are corrupted.
- I too have had a problem with WMP12, artwork and corrupted tags. My isn't as serious as yours though.
What i have found is that the "album artist" tag is corrupted as are my custom tags "style" and "discog release #". I now also use "band" as album artist as that is what WMP12 uses.I only use WMP as i need it for streaming via WMP12 and Media Centre.
I have to periodically check my library to see if any have been corrupted and fix them (thanks to custom scripts) using my music player of choice ... Foobar2000. It is a most annoying problem.
I don't use WMP12 to add art as i use MP3Tag but files still get corrupted. - Hi UtenteAnonimo, sorry I did not response quickly. Yes I can reproduce the same issue with the files you provided. It seems like a MP3Tag issue and I will try more tests to see if I can find a solution.
Hi UtenteAnonimo, sorry I did not response quickly. Yes I can reproduce the same issue with the files you provided. It seems like a MP3Tag issue and I will try more tests to see if I can find a solution.
Hi! Thanks for your reply I am glad you will perform more tests.
To be honest I don't think the problem is with mp3tag. That program is only showing the problem caused by WMP12 to the ID3 tags. I hope you reach as soon as possible the conclusion that this is a bug in WMP12 so that a fix is quickly issued to minimise the risks of file corruption for other users.
- I tried a third party tool named mp3 tag editor. With it i found that the CDDB information in More Fields tab showing incorrect. After delete the information, mp3 file can again be played in mobile phone.
Note: this issue cannot be always reproduced. As I mentioned, some pictures will not cause the issue. I tried your mp3 file with my little dog picture and it will still play fine in my HTC. - Shaon I guess you are justing confirming that dropping pictures (maybe not any picture but I would say most) into an mp3 file leads to tag corruption. That's why the "More Fields" tab shows as incorrect.
So it might not happen 100% of times to you but it's still a bug. Can you please make sure that this problem gets into the queue of the million things that eventually must be fixed in WMP12.
THANKS! - Hi,
I have already report this as I can reproduce the issue. Sorry for the inconvenience it causes.
