Mixed In Key says it is operating a “release and iterate” policy here, much as it did with its recent Mashup software, so expect rapid feature additions which I suspect won’t be at extra cost (for at least a while) as the software matures. I’d also like to have seen a “type” column to show you the type of music files you’re looking at. But it’s also missing simple things like a “help” section, which surely is coming – Mixed In Key has the chance to write some nice copy to demystify tagging here, as it did for harmonic mixing, for instance. MetaBliss is definitely a v1 the biggest missing function is the ability to write to or read from the actual filenames, something I regard as essential in a tag editor. It also has Mixed In Key 5.6’s proprietary “Energy” column, an “Additional Comments” column that gathers up some of the extraneous data that can appear in music files, and “Has Traktor” and “Has Serato” columns to show if a tune has or has not yet been imported into either of those programs. MetaBliss is exceptionally simple – you drag or load tunes in (it works from iTunes playlists just fine), and can immediately strip extra spacing, delete redundant v1 tags, do global or column-specific search and replace, and finally save your changes back to the files when you’re happy. One nice feature is the ability to drag a value from one cell through a load of cells, as you can do with spreadsheets. And good though iTunes is, the fact that it has no real “batch” options means it’s not good enough for the kind of “shock and awe” tag editing that DJs often want to do. It can prevent head-scratching anomalies. It keeps things nice and standard in your DJ software. So why bother? Well, having tidy metadata is good. From the makers of Mixed in Key, MetaBliss is a batch processing tag editor currently only for the Mac (a PC version is promised) that brings at least some of the features of much-loved PC staples like Mp3Tag to OSX. It is not a replacement for MediaMonkey, but it is a great leap forward in terms of features and functions over the other ID3 tag managers I see on Mac.MetaBliss, new from Mixed In Key, is aiming to fill the gap for a decent ID3 tag editor for OSX.Īny DJ who’s ever switched from PC to Mac, and who has a decent-sized digital music collection, always ends up asking the same question at some point: “Is there not a decent ID3 tag editor for Mac?” Until now, no. Meta is good enough that I am surprised not to see more reviews and posts about it. I have a reasonably large music collection, and iTunes has significantly slower performance when loading or when doing large batch edits than I prefer. Yes, I do understand that you do not have to let iTunes manage the files, but a lot of the tight integration of iTunes breaks down at that point. ITunes has a fundamental assumption that it will manage the "physical" files, and you will manage the library as one giant blob. Take away the ability to manage (and see) the folder structure and I am at a significant disadvantage when picking my next song. Keeping my music for each dance in a folder is ESSENTIAL, for me. I DJ for professional dance competitions (think "Dancing with the Stars" only different dances). I STRONGLY prefer to have a folder & file arrangement that I manage. If it works for you, by all means keep going that way. It is not "scriptable" in a meaningful way that I have found.but I am still a new user, so that may be in there somewhere. It is not perfect, but it is the best I have found in a month of looking around.at least for my needs. The batch editing options are good, it will alter filenames and directories based on the tags, tags can be "composed" of text and other tags, and it offers good support for find & replace in tags. I have settled on "Meta" as a collection & ID3 tag manager for the Mac. I would prefer to avoid running Windows applications under Wine - that is not supported in Catalina, and I will likely upgrade in the next year or so as the driver issues are resolved. I still do not view iTunes or Music as offering the tools and capabilities that are needed to manage a DJ collection over time. I am not (yet) upgrading the Mac to Catalina (there are some known driver issues with HW that I have), so I am not able to evaluate the "iTunes" replacement "Music." But, early reports are positive about cleaning up the bloat from iTunes. On Mac, I have been experimenting with several different tools that are free, or offer a free trial. That much of my workflow will remain the same. I use MixedInKey during initial track prep. I keep my music organized in a folder & file structure that I prefer to manage. I have recently switched from PC to Mac for my music laptop.
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