Version 1.0 Beta 7  
Released 30 November 2003
Copyright © 2003 Ravi Bhavnani
All Rights Reserved

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 What's MP3 Pal?
 
MP3 Pal is an easy-to-use utility that lets you:
  • Assign ID3 tags to MP3 files
  • Rename MP3 files for easy identification
  • Create a text or HTML label of MP3 files

MP3 Pal main window

Future versions of MP3 Pal will also let you do these cool things:

  • Easily organize and search your MP3 collection
  • Manage play lists and listen to MP3s
  • Rip MP3s from CDs (with full CDDB support)
  • Convert MP3 files to WAV files for creating audio CDs

MP3 Pal runs under Windows 9x, NT, 2000 and XP.

 What does it cost?
 
MP3 Pal 1.0 is free.

 Installation
 
To install MP3 Pal, do the following:
  1. Download MP3Pal.zip (61 Kb) and extract its contents to a new folder, eg: C:\MP3Pal.
  2. Create a short-cut to C:\MP3Pal\MP3Pal.exe.

To uninstall MP3 Pal, delete the folder C:\MP3Pal and any shortcuts you created.  MP3 Pal doesn't modify the Windows registry and doesn't create or modify any files in the Windows or Windows system folders.

 How to use MP3 Pal
 
MP3 Pal is easy to use!  This section describes how to:
  1. Start and stop MP3 Pal
  2. Add and remove files from the workspace
  3. Write tags to MP3 files
  4. Erase tags from MP3 files
  5. Properly rename MP3 files
  6. Create a label of MP3 files

Starting and stopping MP3 Pal

To start MP3 Pal, run C:\MP3 Pal\MP3 Pal.exe.  To stop MP3 Pal, select Exit from the File menu.  If you close the MP3 Pal window by clicking the "X" at the upper right corner (or selecting Close from the window's system menu), MP3 Pal will run as an icon in the system tray.  To display the MP3 Pal window, just click the icon.

Adding and removing files from the workspace

MP3 Pal operates on files in its workspace.  To add MP3 files to the workspace, drag them from Windows Explorer, or click Add.  To remove files from the workspace, select them and click Remove or Remove All.  Removing files simply clears them from the workspace - the files are not deleted.  You can also drag folders into the workspace.

Writing tags to MP3 files

MP3 files can optionally contain ID3 tags that store song information and comments.  MP3 Pal currently supports version 1.0 of the ID3 tag format.

To write ID3 tags to MP3 files, do the following:

  1. Click the Write Tags button after populating the workspace.  MP3 Pal displays the "Write Tags" window.

  2. Enter the tag information as desired.  If you want to retain an existing tag, uncheck the appropriate check box.

  3. If you want MP3 Pal to automatically glean tag information from a properly named file, check the box "Determine title, track artist and album from filename using this pattern" and select a pattern that matches how files in the workspace are named.

  4. If you want to tag selected files only, check the box "Process selected files only".

  5. If you want the tagged files removed from the workspace, check the box "Remove files from workspace after writing tags".

  6. Click OK to tag the files.

Erasing tags from MP3 files

To erase tags from MP3 files, do the following:

  1. Click the Erase Tags button after populating the workspace.  MP3 Pal displays the "Erase Tags" window.

  2. If you want to erase tags from the selected files only, check the box "Process selected files only".

  3. If you want the files removed from the workspace after erasing their tags, check the box "Remove files from workspace after erasing tags".

  4. Click OK to erase the files' tags.

    Note:
    This feature erases all ID3 tags from the selected file(s).  If you want to erase specific tags only (eg: just the artist and track numbers), overwrite those tags with blank information.  See "    Writing tags to MP3 files".

Renaming MP3 files

MP3 Pal can automatically rename your MP3 files for easy identification.   It does this by using the song information in the file's ID3 tag.  To rename MP3 files, do the following:

  1. Click the Rename Files button after populating the workspace.  MP3 Pal displays the "Rename Files" window.

  2. Select a filename format from the list.

  3. If you want spaces to be removed from the album, artist and title components of the filename, check the box "Strip spaces from album, artist and title".

  4. If you want the first letter of each word in the song title to be uppercase, check the box "Fix title case".

  5. If you want to rename selected files only, check the box "Process selected files only".

  6. If you want the renamed files removed from the workspace (recommended), check the box "Remove files from workspace after renaming".

  7. Click OK to rename the files.

Creating a label

MP3 Pal lets you easily create a text or HTML label that lists a collection of MP3 songs.  You can use this list in a word processor to create a CD jacket or a web page.  Here are examples of labels created using Microsoft Word and Notepad:

CD jacket created using Microsoft Word Web page created using Notepad

To create a label, do the following:

  1. Click the Create Label button after populating the workspace.  MP3 Pal displays the "Create Label" window.

  2. Select how you want label entries to be numbered.  Choose "By song track numbers" if you want to use the track information in the files' ID3 tags, or choose "Sequentially" if you want entries numbered sequentially.

  3. Select other label options as desired.

  4. If you want to the label to include selected files only, check the box "Process selected files only".

  5. If you want the selected files removed from the workspace after creating the label, check the box "Remove files from workspace after creating label".

  6. Click OK to create the label.  The label will be copied to the Windows clipboard, from where it can be pasted into your document by choosing Paste from the word processor's Edit menu.
 Coming soon
 
MP3 Pal is under development.  Here's what's coming next (no guarantees of when!):
  • Drag and drop folders into workspace (Done!)
  • HTML labelling options (Done!)
  • MP3 organizer
  • ID3 V2 support
  • Play list manager and MP3 player
  • MP3 ripper (with full CDDB support)
  • MP3-to-WAV converter
 Known problems
 
None (yet).

 Release notes

 1.0 Beta 7, released 30 November 2003
Enhancements
  • Added "Fix title case" option to Rename Files dialog.

 1.0 Beta 6, released 27 April 2003
Enhancements
  • Added "Artist_Title" and "Artist_TrackTitle" formats.

  • Allowed names of renamed files to be compressed (i.e. devoid of spaces).  Also implemented intelligent space insertion in album, artist and title tags when processing files whose names do not contain spaces.

  • Added "Remove All" button to clear all files from workspace.

 1.0 Beta 5, released 23 November 2002
Bug Fixes
  1. Double-clicking a file in the workspace displayed an empty "Write Tags" window.  The window is now populated with ID3 tags (if any) from the selected file.
    (Russ Freeman)

  2. The warning message displayed when a file could not be renamed referenced "Abort", "Retry" and "Cancel" buttons, while the message box displayed "Yes", "No" and "Cancel" buttons.  The message box now displays the correct buttons.
    (Russ Freeman, Andreas Saurwein)

 1.0 Beta 4, released 25 July 2002
  • Added option to use title from "Track - Title.mp3" filename (instead of ID3 tag) when creating labels.  This circumvents the ID3 limit on title length.

 1.0 Beta 1, released 19 February 2001
  • Initial release

 How to submit a bug report
 
To submit a bug report, suggestion or feature request, please send mail to ravib@ravib.com.  Although I may not be able to send you a personal reply, please be assured that I read each and every message.  A list of known bugs, along with the names of their discoverers will be posted at this page.

Most of the drivel at this site is copyright © Ravi Bhavnani.
Questions or comments?  Send mail to ravib@ravib.com