If you have ever tried correcting the MP3 tags for many tracks in your music library, you probably have grown tired of the manual process very quickly, just like me.
There is, however, a better way: use the automatic tools available.
Uninstall the stock Ubuntu version of Picard, which is very old, if it is alreay installed:
sudo apt-get remove picard
Add the MusicBrainz repositories and install the up to date version of Picard from there:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:musicbrainz-developers/stable sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install picard
Get a MusicBrainz login/password by registering at the MusicBrainz web site.
Download the fingerprint calculator, and install it:
wget https://bitbucket.org/acoustid/chromaprint/downloads/chromaprint-fpcalc-0.6-linux-i686.tar.gz tar xvzf chromaprint-fpcalc-0.6-linux-i686.tar.gz sudo mv -i chromaprint-fpcalc-0.6-linux-i686/fpcalc /usr/local/bin/ rm -rf chromaprint-fpcalc-0.6-linux-i686 chromaprint-fpcalc-0.6-linux-i686.tar.gz
Visit the Acoustid web site and using your MusicBrainz credentials create an Acoustid API key.
Now you are almost ready to tag MP3 files automatically:
- Start Picard and select Options > Options > Fingerprinting and specify /usr/local/bin/fpcalc as the fingerprint calculator and fill in the API key you obtained in the step above
- If you want to, select Options > Options > General and fill in your MusicBrainz login details
- Enable covert art downloads and saves in Options > Options > Cover Art
- Install and enable local cover art plugin (see link below)
- Add folder to be processed by clicking Add Folder
- Click Cluster to group tracks from the same album
- Select files to be processed
- Click Lookup to add missing tags based on existing tags and file names
- Click Scan to identify and tag tracks based on their Acustid fingerprint
- Edit remaining tracks manually and move them to the right folder
- Save your work
A collection of links to information on how to tag MP3 files:
Thanks that’s helps me a lot 🙂