List Editors

ID3v1 Genres List Editor

Access: Menu > Edit > ID3v1 Genres Editor, <F7>, toolbar button

148 default genres have been established by the technical specification for ID3v1 tags. Use the ID3v1 Genre List Editor to remove seldom-used or unwanted genres from the drop-down list presented when a genre cell is selected in the ID3v1 Editor.

Click the left-arrow button to remove selected genres from the Genre List on the right and place them into the Unused Genres list on the left. Genres in the Unused Genres are not presented in the ID3v1 Editor's drop-down genre list. Likewise, click the right-arrow button to move selected genres in the Unused Genres list back into the Genre List to allow access from the drop-down list. The double right-arrow button moves all genres in the Unused Genres list back into the Genres List.

Things to keep in mind about ID3v1 genre behavior in Tag Clinic:

* Tag Clinic displays whatever genre it finds in an ID3v1 genre field, regardless of whether the genre is in its list of active genres or not. However, genres that have been removed from the active Genre List and moved into the Unused Genres List cannot be copied or pasted into cells in the ID3v1 Editor. The Single-Tag Editor can be used at any time, however, to write any ID3v1 genre into either one or multiple files, regardless of whether the genre being written is in the active Genre List or not.

* ID3v1 genres not in the active Genre List cannot be removed from a tag by choosing the "None" selection at the top of the drop down genre list presented in ID3v1 genre cells. However, they can be removed by selecting them and pressing the Delete key. Or, they can first be changed to a listed genre type before being removed in this way.

ID3v2 Genres List Editor

Access: Menu > Edit > ID3v2 Genres Editor, <F8>, Toolbar button

The ID3v2 Genre Editor makes it possible to add your own custom-made genres to the drop-down list of genres that appears in each genre cell in Main Editor page 2 when a genre cell is selected (if option Drop-List is selected in Preferences). The Genre List can hold a maximum of 256 entries.

By default, the list is first loaded with standard set of 148 genre types (plus "None" which, when selected in the Editor, can be used to remove a genre in a tag). This list is inherited from the older ID3v1 Technical Specification. To add a new genre, enter a genre name into the text box beneath "Enter genre" and click the Add button. To remove one, enter the genre name to delete (or click its name in the Genre List), then click the Delete button. Select multiple genres for removal by first clicking the mouse one genre in the list, then dragging the mouse down across subsequent genres to be removed, and/or by holding the Control Key depressed while left-clicking additional genres. Or, select multiple consecutive genres by clicking the first one, then while holding the Shift Key depressed, clicking the last.

Options -

• Highlight Custom Genres: Highlights all genres in the list that are not found in the standard list of ID3v1 genre types.
• Highlight Default Genres: Highlights all genres in the Genre List that are not found in the standard list of 148 ID3v1 genre types.
• Save Copy 1/Save Copy 2: Saves the current Genre List as a recallable copy in a separate archive. Copies can be reloaded at any time by hitting the respective Recall button described below
• Reset: Clears the entire list and reloads it with the standard, default list of 148 ID3v1 genres.
• Recall Copy 1/Recall Copy 2: Deletes the current list and replaces it with a list that has been archived with the Save buttons described above.

Note that non-default genres can be added only to the ID3v2 list; they cannot be added to the ID3v1 list. The older ID3v1 tag, unlike the ID3v2, does not actually store the genre itself as a "text value," but instead stores a predefined reference number that has been associated with a particular genre by the technical specification for this tag type. These associations cannot be altered without losing compatibility with other programs that read them. Only the default list of 148 predefined genre types is routinely recognized by most ID3v1 tag readers. New genres can be added to the ID3v2 list, however, because this tag can store and use both predefined ID3v1 genre reference numbers as well as actual text values that have not been previously defined by a particular technical specification.

Things to keep in mind about ID3v2 genre behavior in Tag Clinic:

When an attempt is made to copy a user-defined, non-default genre from ID3v2 into ID3v1, either intentionally or because the tags have been set to synchronize, the corresponding ID3v1 genre field is simply erased, regardless of whether it already contains a valid ID3v1 genre or not.

Genres entered into the Main Editor that are listed in the ID3v1 standard genre list are automatically capitalized as found in the standard list, regardless of how they are entered into the ID3v2 editor.

The VQF Technical Specification does not include a pre-defined genre tag field. However, the Spec for this tag does allow for the creation of custom, user-defined tag fields, and a genre field is implemented in this way for VQFs by this program. Bear in mind that the great majority of VQF tag readers do not look for nor read a VQF genre field, so that any genres installed in VQF tags by Tag Clinic are not likely to be readable anywhere else but within Tag Clinic itself.

Artist, Composer, Conductor, Orchestra/Band/Album Artist , and Encoder Settings List Editors

Access: Menu > Edit > Composer Editor, <Ctrl+Alt+U>, Toolbar button

These editors allow customization of drop-down lists appearing in corresponding columns in the Main Editor. The Composer Editor is shown as an example below. When a cell in one of these columns is selected, a drop-down list of possible entries appears in the cell, from which a desired entry can be chosen. Each column's list has an individual checkbox in Preferences which enables access to the list in the editor when a respective column cell is entered. Most of the controls appearing on these editors, along with their functions, are similar to those described above for the Genre Editor.

Highlighting an entry places it in the edit box. You can edit the item then click the Update button to replace the original, or create a new item and click the Add button to have it added to the list. Each editor comes with a default list of entries that can be loaded with the Reset button. You can overwrite the default list with the list currently in view by using the Save As Default List button. The current list is automatically saved as the active list when the OK button is clicked. You can create an alternate list for recall later with the Save Copy button.

Copy and default lists for these editors are simple text files with one entry per line. They can be edited manually with a text editor if desired.