Certain FLAC files not showing file details

2016-01-26 04:28:31

Hello, I use Exact Audio Copy to rip my CDs in FLAC but the other day I noticed something strange with some songs when I was trying to look at the file details. I noticed that some tracks didn't feature any details (artist, title, track number, album etc.) and were seemly blank other then the file name. For whatever reason when i try to edit the file manually nothing changes and the information remains blank. Strangely however if I open the file in foobar all the correct details are there, the file itself also features all the correct details if I turn it into another format such as an MP3.

After playing around with the file information in foobar I think I managed to discover the source of the problem. I noticed that this only appeared to happen with songs that had multiple artists, specifically anytime I used either a comma like "____, ____ & ____" or when there was a period such as in "____ feat. ____" Again, for whatever reason this only appears to apply to the certain individual FLAC files since as I mentioned above, if I'm viewing them in foobar or use foobar to convert them the resulting MP3, all the correct information is shown.

There does appear to be one way around this, that being to open the file in foobar, delete the artist, save, open the file up in foobar again and change it back. In doing that i could get it to display the correct track number, title and album. However I also found that if I tried once again to edit any of the file's information directly as apposed to doing it in foobar it all became blank again.

I was curious if anyone knew what the problem was and if there was something I could do to keep it from altering it's information when I try to edit it directly. I also noticed that for whatever reason, the files only show the Album Artist and nothing for the specific 'Contributing Artists,' which is also strange since once again, it shows that information in foobar and in any converted MP3s. Do FLAC files simply not allow you to normally see the information in the "Contributing Artists" section or is there perhaps something else wrong?

Anyway if anyone has any idea on what's going on with the FLAC file information, why they go blank when the artists section features commas or periods and why it only shows information for the Album Artists but not the specific track artists outside of viewing the file in foobar etc. It be greatly appreciated since I'd prefer there not to no information displayed when there should be.

Also here's some images if that helps anyone.

Commas
http://imgur.com/a/XTq5J

Periods
http://imgur.com/a/Amo4V

Re: Certain FLAC files not showing file details

Reply #1 – 2016-01-26 14:16:26

Windows 10? It has problems with tags in FLAC files.
https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,107402.msg903068.html#msg903068
https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,107402.msg904038.html#msg904038

Re: Certain FLAC files not showing file details

Reply #2 – 2016-01-26 14:54:09

I see, that would explain it. As far as I recall my old laptop running on Windows 7 didn't appear to have this problem. Just to clarify, this merely a visual drawback on Windows 10 right? For example if I copied the files and put them on a computer with an earlier early version of Windows they'd still display the correct information right? I'm uncertain if Microsoft ever intends to fix this problem or not, but in the event that they do not I just wanted to be reassured that it hasn't in some way tampered with any of the files I spent so much time trying to properly tag.

Re: Certain FLAC files not showing file details

Reply #3 – 2016-01-26 20:11:05

Very unlikely a older version of Win will display this info in Explorer.
Much to every-bodies surprise M$ started support of FLAC from Win10 on.
If you have seen this info in Explorer on older versions, you must have used a plugin e.g. dBpoweramp can do this for you.

However, as long as you don't try to use the Explorer or WMP to change the tags, you are fine with win10