It doesn’t matter if your MP3 is a sermon, a podcast or a song you’ve recorded, it should be tagged with metadata for the following reasons. If you have a podcast, post your sermons online, or freely share your musical productions online, you should tag your MP3 files with metadata. But first, What is metadata?

What is metadata?

Metadata is simply data about data. If an MP3 podcast of an interview you conduct is data, then data about your data would be the date of the recording, the web site hosting the podcast, the interviewer, and the notes concerning the interview’s discussion questions. This is the podcast metadata. The data about the podcast.

This is precisely the kind of information MP3 metadata (called ID3 tags) stores. These tags can easily be added to any MP3 so that the file carries along with it the information you have tagged on it. Another more technical way of saying this is that you add ID3 tags to your MP3. ID3 tags are MP3 metadata.

Why Tag Your MP3s with Metadata

#1 – Because it’s your MP3 and you don’t want people to forget it.

Oftentimes MP3s are disseminated without any sort of metadata, meaning that after the file has been downloaded, it’s difficult to impossible to figure out where the file came from. Personally, if this happens, I just delete the file.

Consider this example: you are reading a blog that posts an MP3 recording of a Socratic Club debate at Southeastern wherein John Piper debates Greg Boyd on the openness of God. The file you download is called 2009-01-29-sebts.mp3. Apart from knowing the date of the recording from the filename, you know no other information concerning this recording (excepting of course what you’ve read on the blog previously). Imagine further that months go by and you come across this file in your download folder, only vaguely remembering anything about it and having  not listened to it yet. It’s near impossible to figure out what this MP3 is if it lacks metadata. Therefore tag your MP3s.

#2 – Because it will send listeners back to your site.

Information tagged onto your MP3 goes with that file wherever it goes. MP3 metadata provides a slot to insert your web site URL. Should a curious listener then open up your file information, the URL will be there staring back at them. Moreover, simply tagging the name of your podcast in the metadata (e.g., “KataDrew’s Amazing Blazing Podcast”) gives just enough information enough for the average user to Google your organization’s name and get back to your site. Without it, the file is likely deleted or your presence is lost. Therefore tag your MP3s.

#3 – Because many MP3 players require it.

My Sansa sorts files on it by the metadata. MP3s without metadata are all lumped together in the folder labeled “Unknown” and usually then only show the filename which is most often doesn’t provide the information an interested listener is looking for. Properly tagged MP3s, on the other hand, display under their respective name as expected. Therefore tag your MP3s.

#4 – Because Last.fm will give you statistics if you do it properly.

Do you know about Last.fm? It collects information on what its users have listened to. For an example, see my last.fm account @ last.fm/user/admaust. Last.fm users can install a small program that runs in the background of one’s computer which sends played song information to its database periodically only if the MP3s are appropriately tagged. This makes sense for how otherwise would last.fm know to which artist and to which of that artists’ songs to accredit that play?

Because of last.fm’s social networking features, its aggregation is free publicity and also takes the pulse of your file with no extra work on your part except the extra seconds it takes to tag your MP3. Therefore tag your MP3s.

#5 – Because a telling filename (however so) isn’t enough.

No matter how helpful you think you’ve made your filename, you can always make the filename less invasive by including the desired information in metadata. Instead of a filename including a podcast’s name, date, subject, episode number and URL (e.g., KataDrewsAmazingBlazingPodcast-2009-01-20-ChristianityInTheNewWorld-Episode202-KataDrew.com.mp3), the filename could simply include  one or two of these and rely on metadata to carry the rest of the desired information.

#6 – Because software uses it to categorize.

Winamp, for example, catalogs downloaded MP3s according to metadata (artist, track name, album name, date, genre, etc.). Without this information the program becomes a lot like many portable MP3 players in being forced to list files lacking metadata all together in an “Unknown” category, proving useless for searches and quick finding. Tagged MP3s are found and listened to with ease. Windows Vista even now reads MP3 metadata.

#7 – Because more than all this, you can tag it as you please with whatever you please.

Seventh and finally, MP3 metadata features all sorts of slots for any sort of information you may want to include. There’s even a “Comments” field where miscellaneous information you wish to add may be included. Tag your MP3s because you can add whatever you like.

How Do I Add or Change Metadata on My MP3s?

I most often use Winamp to add metadata as its my main media player and its interface for adding tags is very straightforward. For example, while the MP3 you wish to tag is playing, right-click in the program and select View file info (or alt+3). A dialogue box then appears wherein you can enter desired information effortlessly. This works extremely well for single files.

To tag multiple files, try a freeware program like Mp3tag (http://www.mp3tag.de/en). Note: you should never pay for any software that enables tagging or adding metadata. Freeware solutions are readily available. Don’t buy one for this easy task.

If you are exporting your podcast from the freeware recorder Audacity, take the opportunity Audacity gives you during the process to tag your MP3. It’ll take ten seconds maximum.

With no additional software, tags can be added in Vista as mentioned above. Browse to the folder containing the MP3 you wish to tag. Select the file. You should then see the metadata displayed in the bottom portion of the window. Files without tags will look like screenshot below. Adding tags is as easy as clicking on the text Specify and entering the information.