Adding metadata to music files in a manner consistent with an accepted standard is essential for file-based music distribution. Metadata provides key information about each recording, making it possible to easily and quickly search a library for desired content.

Metadata is “data about data.” For music files, metadata is important information about the recording. Examples of metadata include the name of the artist, the title of the song or composition, the name of the album or collection of recordings, the names and roles of the performers and a host of other important data about th music. Another name for each occurrence of metadata is called a “tag.” Because we are dealing with FLAC files, we will usually refer to the metadata in a FLAC files as a set or collection of “FLAC tags.”

We believe that more metadata should be included in music files than is normally done at this time. The importance of including a sufficent number of important FLAC tags in a recorded file cannot be overstated, for without them it is impossible to reliably search a collection of music files to locate desired content or to learn about the important features describing the recording. Furthermore, it is essential that these tags be contained within the file, much like the cover and  title of a book, the table of contents, the chapter headings and the index in the back are necessary to identify the book. These are essential elements for authors, publishers,  librarians and readers alike.

 FLAC Tags

ID3V2.x

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