id3-style tags on Wav?

[Tom Honeyman]

Hi Alex,

If the goal is to have ID3-like tags added to your WAV file just to  
aid organising and searching your files on your own computer, you  
could try using the metadata editor in the latest version of Audacity.  
On my mac, metadata entered this way is then exposed when I do a  
general search on the computer (using "Spotlight"). From there I can  
do all sorts of fancy things with custom searches and smart folders.

Apparently some but not all audio players and editors support the  
format of metadata used in Audacity, called RIFF LIST/INFO chunks. I  
don't think that iTunes supports it for instance. I'm not sure, but I  
don't think WinAmp does either! Many audio organising apps actually  
don't store metadata within the WAV file (iTunes doesn't for instance).

The WAV format actually allows you to add as many (meta-)data chunks  
within a file as you like. BWF and RIFF LIST/INFO are really the only  
two formats which have recognition as standards (BWF much more so). So  
support for both is a little patchy (BWF is trickier to implement from  
memory because, for instance, it includes a checksum, so that you know  
when a file's metadata has been edited).

My advice would be to find the audio player/organiser you like, or  
experiment with your particular operating system's ability to find  
metadata in either type of WAV file, and then run with either a BWF  
metadata editor (as already suggested) or Audacity - whichever fits  
your needs (and recognises either of the metadata formats).

Anyone want to suggest a metadata friendly audio player/organiser  
(e.g. iTunes)?

Cheers,

Tom


On 25/11/2010, at 12:55 PM, Alex Francois wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I would like to know if it is technically possible to incorporate  
> some metadata (at least the most basic info: Performer name, Title,  
> Date, Village, Language…) within WAV files.
> This would make it possible, for example, to do easy searches on  
> metadata, on readers like iTunes or Winamp (or other).
>
> I only know about this possibility for MP3 files  (using id3 tags),  
> but ideally I would do it with my WAV files.  Is there a software  
> that does this?
> Alternatively, if this can only be done on MP3, what software would  
> you recommand for this?
>
> Thanks,
> Alex.
>
> Dr Alex FRANÇOIS
>
> LACITO - CNRS, France
>
>   Linguistics
>  School of Culture, History and Language
>  Australian National University
>  ACT 0200, Australia
>
> http://alex.francois.free.fr
>
>

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