How to Edit MP3 Tags

MP3 tags, also referred to as "ID3 tags," are essentially labels stored along with MP3 files that hold information about a particular track--for instance, the song title, artist name, album title, year of release and genre. Most current audio software can download this information automatically based on the file's attributes. However, it is important to be able to manually edit MP3 tags. The software can confuse the track with another song, you may want to edit the genre or other information to suit your own needs, or your file may be an obscure recording to which you must manually add tags.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

How to Edit MP3 Tags, iTunes (Mac OS X and Windows Users)

1. For Mac OS X users, or Windows users who have iPods or otherwise run iTunes, Apple's signature audio software program makes it very easy to edit MP3 tags. If you are running Windows and would prefer to use Windows Media Player, skip to Section 2.
   Click on iTunes and open it.

2. If the songs whose tags you want to edit are already in your library, skip to Step 3. If not, use your operating system's file browser to locate them, then simply drag and drop them into iTunes, which will automatically add the files to the library.

3. Scroll through your iTunes library and locate the file(s) you want to edit. Click the column headers to sort the library by Name, Artist, Album or Genre respectively.
   To edit a file's tags, right-click it. In the menu that pops up, click "Get Info."

4. A dialogue box will pop up. The ID3 info is located under the "Info" tab. Click it.
   Editable fields for Name (song title), Artist, Album, Year, Track Number, Disc Number, Composer, Genre and others are all available. Edit the tags as you see fit.

5. Click "OK." Your new tags will now be associated with the song, and will be immediately viewable in iTunes and any other audio software you use.

How to Edit MP3 Tags, Windows Media Player (Windows Users)

1. Run Windows Media Player. If the songs whose tags you want to edit are already in your library, skip to Step 2. If not, click "File" > "Add to Library." Select the folder where your songs are located, then click "OK." Your songs will be added to the Windows Media Player library.

2. Browse to the song you want to edit. Right-click it, then click "Advanced Tag Editor" in the menu that pops up. The tag editor will open. Title, Artist, Album, Genre and a variety of other tags are all editable. Change them as you see fit.

3. Click "OK." Your new tags will now be associated with the song, and will be viewable in Windows Media Player and any other audio software you use.

How to Edit MP3 Tags, Rhythmbox Music Player (Linux Users)

1. Rhythmbox Music Player is a popular open source music player for Linux. For other Linux music players, like Amarok, the process is very similar to that of Rhythmbox. Open Rhythmbox Music Player. If the songs whose tags you want to edit are already in the program's library, skip to Step 3. Otherwise, click "File" > "Import File" if you want to import one or a group of selected songs; click "File" > "Import Folder" if you have a whole folder to import.

2. Browse to and select the file(s) or folder you want to add to the library, then click "Open." Your songs will be added to the Rhythmbox Music Player library.

3. Scroll through the library and locate the file(s) you want to edit. Click the column headers to sort the library by Title, Genre, Artist or Album, respectively.
   To edit a file's tags, right-click it. In the menu that pops up, click "Properties."

4. A dialogue box will pop up that lets you edit the Title, Artist, Album, Genre, Track number, Disc number and Year. Edit the tags as you see fit.

5. Click "Close." Your new tags will now be associated with the song, and will be immediately viewable in iTunes and any other audio software you use.

Tips & Warnings

• If you want to edit multiple tags in one fell swoop--for instance, to change a misspelled album title, or alter the genre of a particular album--most software will let you do so. Simply click on the first song you want to change, hold down your computer's Shift key, then click on the last song you want to change. This will highlight your songs. Right-clicking on a single song, as laid out above, should let you edit the ID3 tags of all of the songs at once.