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Topic: LAME info tag and ID3v2 frames (Read 7777 times) previous topic - next topic
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LAME info tag and ID3v2 frames

When reading information about LAME info tag format at: http://gabriel.mp3-tech.org/mp3infotag.html , I encountered a strange comment:

remark: applying any (ID3v2) kind of tagging or information in FRONT of the LAME/Xing Tag frame is a very bad idea.  You will disable the functionality of all decoders to read the tag info correctly.

Does it mean that should I need to add a new ID3v2 frame I can only use the tag at the end of file? I cannot get my head around - how can adding an ID3v2 information in front can cause problems to find this LAME/Xing frame/tag. And it sounds a pretty "lame" idea to add something in middle that disables any possibility to modify preceding content.

I've been adding ID3v2 frames in front before, without any visible damage, but it might be that something is breaking that I'm not using. Or this message means something completely different? Any ideas?


LAME info tag and ID3v2 frames

Reply #1
The documentation you are referring to seems rather old (draft 0, LAME 3.88). Can you find a more recent document?

LAME info tag and ID3v2 frames

Reply #2
The documentation you are referring to seems rather old (draft 0, LAME 3.88). Can you find a more recent document?

There does not seem to be any. The same link is referenced for example here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAME
http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title...nd_LAME_headers

Kind of understandable, you do not change data format every release.

And BTW the document talks about using "Info" string (instead of "Xing") in CBR; and that is supposed to be available only since 3.94 according to this link http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title...nd_LAME_headers

So it might have been updated without changing title/revision info.

LAME info tag and ID3v2 frames

Reply #3
It was true when it was written (2001?), but AFAICT things can happily look past the ID3v2 tag to find the Lame info tag these days.

Cheers,
David.

 

LAME info tag and ID3v2 frames

Reply #4
Tags at the beginning of a file are better for streaming, because it can show info without first downloading the whole file. Tags at the end are easier to modify without having to rewrite the whole file or worry about padding.

The concern with id3v2 initially, was that they aren't part of the official mp3 spec, so decoders might choke on them. Nowadays they are such a standard you shouldn't worry about it.

In addition, the most common id3v2 type (version 2.3) can only exist at the beginning. So just do it and don't worry!