MusicBrainz

Access: Menu > Edit > MusicBrainz, <Alt+B>, button on SpeedButton Toolbar, or double-click on Top Toolbar B edit-box elements

MusicBrainz is a pubic-access, online database service from which tag data can be retrieved for audio files. This feature operates by first generating an audio "fingerprint" for a file, then submitting it for identification in the database. Because a file's audio is the only thing required for identification, MusicBrainz can be used to identify files that have no tag data, or even files that have no meaningful filenames.

To begin, use one of the access methods listed above to expose the MusicBrainz Lookup Panel:

Highlight one or more rows in the Editor, then click the Lookup button . Lookups are performed on each file in two phases:

Phase One: This is the most time consuming phase. Decodes a file into raw wave data and submits a few seconds of audio to the MusicDNS server for determination of the file's acoustic fingerprint (the PUID, or Portable Unique Identifier). When this process is active, the logo for MusicIP (the parent organization of MusicDNS) appears on the Lookup Panel:

Phase Two: Once the PUID has been determined it is submitted to the MusicBrainz server for retrieval of tag data from the MusicBrainz database. While this connection is active, the MusicBrainz logo appears on the Lookup Panel:

When a query returns one or more results, new lines are inserted into the Editor beneath the filename being queried. Each new line contains the tag data returned along with a checkbox for enabling or disabling writing of the data into corresponding tags. The limit for the number of results returned for a single file is set in Preferences on the MusicBrainz tab.

Both MusicIP (Phase One) and MusicBrainz (Phase Two) are capable of returning tag data, but the data received from MusicBrainz are typically more complete. Results returned from MusicBrainz are always shown, if received, but if no results are returned then data from MusicIP is shown instead, where applicable. For each result returned, a "source marker" is placed in the inserted row's filename cell to indicate where the tag data came from:

>MIP - Tag data was received from MusicIP (Phase One).

>MB - Tag data was received from MusicBrainz (Phase Two). Exceptions: any genre's shown will have come from MusicIP, while any song lyrics returned result from a separate search elsewhere online.

Only check-marked rows are written to tags when the Write Tags button is pressed, and only one inserted row per file can be check-marked for writing. Checked rows display text in bold font. A context menu is available via right-click on the Editor to assist in checking and unchecking selected rows. You can control which tag fields are written, if desired, by hiding or exposing specific columns (see Column Order & Visibility Panel) before writing the data. Only visible columns have data written to tags (exception: the PUID returned in Phase 1 is always written to a User Text frame, if this option is enabled in Preferences). Note that the Editor is placed in read-only mode while MusicBrainz data is present in the Editor. Click the Clear button to remove the data and return the Editor to edit-mode.

Possible tag and other data returned by queries are: Title, Artist, Album, Year, Genre, Track, Tracks, Set, Sets, Artist ID, Title ID, Album ID, Album Type, Lyrics, and Amazon ASINs (ASINs and various MusicBrainz IDs may be optionally written into tags for use later - see the MusicBrainz section in Preferences). When an ASIN is returned, an attempt will be made to find, download and install an associated album cover, if this option is enabled in Preferences. Although the genre field is not supported by MusicBrainz, a genre will occasionally be returned with the MusicDNS query, and is shown when found. As with the genre, song lyrics are not archived on the MusicBrainz database, but the lookup process will check elsewhere online to find them, if enabled in Preferences.

To pause or cancel a multi-file lookup in progress, click anywhere on the surface of the editor, or click the Cancel button on the MusicBrainz Panel (mouse clicks are buffered while online and can only be acted upon between file lookups, so some patience may be required).

The MusicBrainz service is a dynamic, ongoing community project that can always use interested participants. If you have one or more albums on CD that appear to be absent from the MusicBrainz database, please consider submitting them using their free Picard Tagger.