How to get MM to cooperate with external tagging apps

[Jugdish]

I use MusicBrainz + Mp3Tag to do all my id3 tag management, so I'd really prefer that MediaMonkey treat id3 tags purely as read-only, and never attempt to make any changes to them. So I have "Update tags when editing properties" disabled, and that seems to keep MM from doing any writing to mp3 files.

However, the problem I'm having is in getting the MM library to properly sync with the tags that I've edited in an external tagging app.

Example:
1. I add an mp3 into the MM library. It has a bunch of id3 tags like artist, track, comment, etc.
2. I later decide to remove the comment tag using Mp3Tag.
3. In MM, I go to File > Add/Rescan Tracks from the Library... to sync the library with the altered tag.
4. I view the Properties of the file in MM and its comment tag shows as still being there. A double-check in Mp3Tag shows that it's not in the id3 tag though, so it must be that the library isn't synching with the tag properly.

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here, but how can I get MM to properly sync library tags <-- file tags (as opposed to synching file tags <-- library tags, as done through 'Synchronize Tags')?

...and please don't tell me I should just use MM for all my id3 tagging tasks -- I stand firm with my MusicBrainz + Mp3Tag system

[Teknojnky]

1) make sure your other apps modify the time stamp

2) make sure tools > options > library > update track info fromm tags when rescanning files + only for file with changed timestamp or size is Checked.


Possible issues,

- If MM has an artist or album already in the database, it will not take case changes from outside apps, you will have to update those manually.

ie: Say MM has The beatles, picard changes this to The Beatles, MM still reads The beatles. You have to manually change the case in MM, then it will update the database (and tags if you have update tags enabled) of all tracks of that artist. Same thing for albums.

- buy 'gold' license and use folder monitoring (if your not already) and MM should detect most changes automatically (as long as the file date or size gets modified).

Btw, I use musicbrainz picard/taggers and the above works great for me (aside from the case issue) using gold, monitored folders.

edit:
I don't think MM will remove comments from the database by rescanning. It MIGHT by using monitored folders, but since I don't use other apps to clear comments I could not tell you. If the comments in MM bother you that much, simple select all your files, open their properties and check the comment box while leaving the comments window clear. Since you have update tags disabled, then it shouldn't affect any files and only update the database.

Of course if you rescan the files and comments are there, it will re-add them.

[Lowlander]

You can check out this help topic for more on updating tags for tracks already in the library.