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Topic: SonicStage / iTunes Bizarre Nero AAC Tagging Bug (Read 4384 times) previous topic - next topic
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SonicStage / iTunes Bizarre Nero AAC Tagging Bug

Hello everyone. This is a rather trivial bug, but it took me hours for me to isolate the problem and I am now turning it over to the HA community to figure out what exactly is happening.

Everything began when I attempted to import freshly-ripped Nero AAC files into SonicStage, and to my chagrin, no tagging information was imported. I then imported the files into iTunes. I discovered that with the "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" option checked, iTunes somehow refreshes the tagging information when copying the files into its library. I tried importing the newly copied and refreshed files into SonicStage and presto, SonicStage now imported all the tagging information. This all happened on one of my mobile laptops.

Everything is sounding okay so far, right?

The problem began when I attempted to recreate the above steps on my desktop box, which has its music library set up slightly differently (I will get to this detail in a moment.) I ripped the ACC files, imported into iTunes, and then imported into SonicStage. To my complete surprise, NO TAGGING INFORMATION. I was pulling my hair out.

I then spent hours hopping back and forth between my laptop and desktop trying to figure out what was going on. I finally discovered the issue.

Bug: When iTunes' "iTunes Music Folder location" setting is changed to a custom folder instead of the default, iTunes' "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" feature will handle ACC tags differently! How/why is what I do not know, and this is what I need HA users to help me figure out. Please read the "Instructions" section below for full details on this bug. I have been able to recreate this bug on three machines.

The reason I use a custom folder on my desktop is because I keep all my music on a shared network drive (which we'll call volume "N".) I have my "iTunes Music folder location" set to "N:\Music" and this is what caused the bug.

The reason I need to import files into SonicStage is because I use it to manage my portable player. So I use iTunes to manage my main music library, and SonicStage to manage the one on my portable player. This all worked swimmingly on my laptop which has its iTunes folder set to default, but this bug is causing me problems on my desktop, which acts as a music server in my home. Keeping all my media content on a shared drive on the desktop makes it easy for all the family members to access it from any computer in the home, so this is why I have things set up this way.

I know this is rather trivial, and probably only effects SonicStage, but iTunes is still clearly doing something it shouldn't be doing (or not doing something it should be doing). Now can anyone find out why this is? I will maybe submit a bug report to Apple, but properly documenting all of this will be a pain in the arse ... It would be easier if I could just get some Apple technical staff to read this post. I may just end up posing in their support discussion boards with a link to this post.

INSTRUCTIONS TO RECREATE THIS BUG:

Tools needed:
  • Exact Audio Copy
  • Nero AAC encoder
  • iTunes 7
  • SonicStage 4.3 (SonicStage CP 4.3 also works)
Steps:
  • Install all programs. If you currently use iTunes (i.e. have an iTunes library to worry about) here is how you can backup and reset an existing installation of iTunes (if not, skip to next step): Make a backup of the iTunes library folder at "My Documents\My Music\iTunes". If you use the "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" feature of iTunes, this folder contains all of your music files. If you do not use the "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" feature of iTunes and have all your music elsewhere, this folder contains the library file which tells iTunes where each music file is on your machine. Make sure that you still backup this folder.
  • If you are using an existing installation of iTunes, you must reset the program to clear all settings. (If you are using a fresh installation, skip to next step.) Navigate to "%appdata%\Apple Computer\iTunes." If you have iTunes settings you wish to preserve, make a backup of this folder now. Delete this folder.
  • Open iTunes. On the first run, iTunes should run you through a wizard. When it asks to search for music files, uncheck all options (don't make it search.) The rest of the settings are not vital to this bug. Just click through them and finish the wizard. Once inside iTunes, press "CTRL + , (Comma)" or navigate to menu "Edit -> Preferences". Under "Advanced -> General" make sure the "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" setting is checked! This is the setting we are testing, so it is vital that it is turned on! Also, turn off the MiniStore at the bottom (it's annoying.)

    Note: For this test, we'll just use one song for the sake of ease, but you may use multiple songs if you wish. The results are the same either way.
  • Rip a track off of a CD to AAC using Exact Audio Copy. Make sure to tag using "neroAacTag.exe". For full instructions on how to setup Nero AAC for use with EAC, there are several threads on HA on the subject. Just do a simple search.
  • Okay, so now you have an AAC file. For fun, import the file into SonicStage. No tags, right? Remove the file from the library (do not check the "remove song from my computer" box.)
  • Import the file into iTunes. The file should copy into your iTunes Music library folder.
  • Drag the song into SonicStage. Yes, you can do this straight from iTunes to SonicStage. If you wish to do it manually, you can right-click the song, click "Show in Windows Explorer", and then import the file. But once again, this is the long way. Dragging straight from iTunes should work.
  • Presto. Tagging information is all there, right?
  • Time to recreate the bug. Remove the song from both SonicStage and iTunes. When iTunes asks you if it should keep the song file, select "Move to Recycle Bin". (Remember, iTunes copied the file when it imported. You should still have the original. Have iTunes delete its version.)
  • In iTunes, press "CTRL + , (Comma)" or navigate to menu "Edit -> Preferences." Under "Advanced -> General" change the "iTunes Music folder location" to some other folder on your machine. It is preferable to just create a temporary folder for this.
  • Now redo steps 6 through 7.
  • WTF!? NO TAGS.
Thank you everyone, and good luck.