Addressing points -- [[ Albums have artists too ]] Albums often have a person that mixes songs together. In ID3v2 series we use a tag "TPE2". Early ID3v2

Addressing points -- [[ Albums have artists too ]] Albums often have a person that mixes songs together. In ID3v2 series we use a tag "TPE2". Early ID3v2 adopters used "TXXX ALBUM ARTIST" and "TXXX ALBUMARTIST" as originally TPE2 was reserved for Band definition. iTunes and WMP both standardized on TPE2 for album artist. Armin Van Buuren - State of Trance v561- #2 - Artsy - Open Space TPE1 (song author) - Arsty TPE2 (album author) - Armin Van Buuren TALB (album title) - State of Trance v561 TRCK (track number) - 2 TPE2 typically comes in use with TCMP designating that a song is a compilation. (Before TCMP became standard, people also used "TXXX COMPILATION"). -- [[ You need multiple versions of songs ! ]] Most programs automating software will ask which version of album it is. For example, Pendulum band released album "Hold Your Color" in 2005. http://www.discogs.com/Pendulum-Hold-Your-Colour/release/494991 http://www.discogs.com/Pendulum-Hold-Your-Colour/release/494... However, in 2007 the rereleased the album, http://www.discogs.com/Pendulum-Hold-Your-Colour/release/1345228 http://www.discogs.com/Pendulum-Hold-Your-Colour/release/134... The last two songs differ. You need to pick right year to ensure you tag them properly. Alternatively, the year could foretell how remastered the song is. Is this original compression, or the new louder version? See Loudness war article. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war -- [[ date/year is screwed up -- agreed ]] We have to differentiate three types of dates: When song was recorded -- aka: This song was released in 1994 When album compilation was released -- aka: the best of 90s was released in 2005 What decade the song is trying to recapture -- aka: the song feels like music from the 60s -- [[ Genres / taggins is a solution -- although at time blunt ]] Genres were terrible in old ID3v1, where we were locked to 127 genres. In ID3v2 we can enter whatever we want into genre, and store multiple of them. Good taggers read data off Last.fm / discogs / music brainz enter complete information about songs. This includes tags detailing genre, instruments, style, moods, decades. Certain players, like XBMC can use style and moods. Some systems like discogs even support hierarchal tags (see their style vs genre).