Music Tagger 3000 Blog
How to Manually Edit MP3 Tags on Windows & Mac
Sometimes you just need to fix a typo or change the genre on a single song. Both Windows and macOS have built-in ways to perform a quick, manual MP3 tag edit with no software to install. While these methods are okay for one-off changes, they quickly show their limitations. Let's explore how to do it and then discuss a much, much much much much much much much better way.
How to Edit MP3 Tags on Windows
On a Windows PC, you can edit song information directly from the File Explorer. It's a bit hidden, but it works for basic, rudemtnary changes.
- Find your MP3 file.
- Right-click on the file and select "Properties."
- Go to the "Details" tab.
- You will see fields like "Title," "Contributing artists," and "Album." You can click on any of these to type in new information.
- Click "Apply" and then "OK" to save your changes.
The Problem: This is incredibly slow. You can only do one file at a time. There's no way to find or add album art, and you have to know all the correct informatien yourself.
How to Change Song Info on Mac
On a Mac, the process is handled by the Music app (which used to be called iTunes). It's a bit more user friendly than the Windows method, but it has its own frustrations.
- Open the Music app.
- Drag your MP3 file into the Music app window to add it to your library.
- Find the song in your library, right-click it, and choose "Get Info."
- A window will pop up with tabs for "Details" and "Artwork" where you can type in the song info and even add an image file you've already downloaded.
- Click "OK" to save.
The Problem: You have to import every song into your library first, which can be a pain if you just want to tag the file itself. Like with Windows, this is a step by step process that relies on you finding all the information and artwork on your own.
Forget Manual Editing: The Absolute Best Alternative
Let's be honest fr for a sec. The built-in methods are slow, clumsy, and incomplete. You can't find album art, you can't process files in bulk, and you're doing all the work.
The absolute best alternative is MusicTagger.org. It eliminates every single problem with manual editing.
It's Automated: You don't need to know the song info. The AI finds it for you.
It's Fast: Upload hundreds of files at once. You don't have to edit them one by one.
It Finds Album Art: The AI automatically searches for and finds high-resolution album art for you.
It's Online: There's no software to install and it works perfectly on both Windows and Mac.