I am tagging my local library and up until now, I have been tagging at track level using ID3 tags (mood, rating etc.) to ensure I can’t lose the tags. I would prefer to just tag directly in Roon (as I do my Tidal library in Roon) but I fear that if I change storage one day (different hard drive or NAS) or change track folders on my hard drive etc. that I may lose my hard work (the Roon tags). I tested this as best I can, moving test tracks and folders around, and Roon retains the tags in every scenario I tested - which is great.
So my question: In what ways is it possible for me to “lose” tags I have added to my local library in Roon (i.e. Roon tags, not ID3 tags)? Is it safe to tag my local library in Roon even if I know that tracks will inevitably move around in the future (different folders, different hard drives with different drive letters etc.)?
James_I
(The truth is out there but not necessarily here)
2
Through normal usage, no, I think Roon tracks the objects to new storage locations and thus the Roon Tags would be preserved. However, if you didn’t follow proper protocols for moving storage locations, or if your database was ever corrupted or lost, then yes, I think you could easily lose all your tags.
My suggestion: use the ROONTAG feature that was recently added. You can define a ROONTAG through a properly formatted ID3 Tag. Then if you ever have to re-import, that Tag should show up again.
Thanks, are you referring to this post? I’m using it currently and it works well. My tagging “workflow” is a little easier directly through Roon, and it’s also easier to change tags on-the-fly down the line - which is why I am asking about how I could possibly lose tags. Your reply pretty much answers what I was asking, thank you. I’m tempted to take the calculated risk and rather just tag in Roon directly. Will give it more thought.
James_I
(The truth is out there but not necessarily here)
4
For me, the question is about more than the possibility of a corrupted database or wrong move with storage locations. Fundamentally, I believe that the curation we do within Roon (user generated, not the licensed bios and reviews and genres) should be portable, and Roon should be able to export all of it via ID3 tags in the files. You never know what happens to Roon or to you. So since Roon doesn’t really export those attributes, at least it imports them, and so I’d do the work on the files as much as possible.
Yes, but that is difficult because Roon’s schema is richer than the standard tagging schemes, so (a) it wouldn’t fit and (b) if Roon used some extension mechanism to put them there no other program could use them.
James_I
(The truth is out there but not necessarily here)
6
Well, agree but not entirely. Roon’s schema specifically for tags is actually less rich because the Tags do not have values like ID3 tags do. For example, you could create a custom ID3 Tag called “Star rating” and then have a value from 1-10 in the field. With Roon, you would have to use 10 tags - 1 star, 2 stars, 3 stars, etc.
Even if Roon could simply export the Tag as “3 stars” and then the value would be “1” (boolean for yes, 3 star tag exists) then a program like Foobar or any other reasonable tag manager could be used to quickly batch convert that tag into your desired star rating.
This type of scheme would work for almost any export. For example, if you choose a given version of an album as your preferred version to play, it could be “Preferred Version” with a value of 1. The non-preferred versions could have a value of 0 or simply not be given an ID3 tag entry, but either way, sophisticated tag editors could easily batch convert whatever Roon could output.
I think that would be a vast improvement over what Roon exports now. And it would be usable enough. Just because it isn’t perfect, Roon should still try to interoperate with the others. The fact that Roon is a silo of our curation efforts is to me a cynical approach to software design.
Thanks @James_I, I decided to continue using ID3 as my source tags and sending them to Roon via ROONTRACKTAG. It’s the safer bet, albeit, Roon has never let me down to date. It’s just a brilliant piece of software.