Kid3-qt ID3 Editor
The Kid3 audio metadata editor was pre-installed when I first tried Ubuntu Studio years ago. This FOSS allows Linux, Windows, and macOS users to easily edit a lot of metadata that isn't available in your average music or video player.
Kid3 Features
Notable features include the ability to:
- Bulk edit metadata
- Edit ID3v1.1, ID3v2.3 and ID3v2.4 tags in MP3 files
- Generate tags from filenames with naming conventions
- Import metadata from MusicBrainz, Discogs, gnudb.org and other sources
- Add International Standard Recording Code (ISRC)
- Export tags to CSV, XML, and other formats
- Automate tasks
The date format follows ISO 8601.
Kid3 Usage
I once used it to add metadata after I rended multimedia files. I've since learned how to add all neccessary metadata within my DAW and video editor before rendering. I can always add fix metadata with Audacity or a media player. On top of that, I can edit and check metadata with FFMPEG:
ffprobe -show_format filename
As of January 2021, my short Kid3 walkthrough is my second most popular YouTube video behind the Evince PDF Reader walkthrough. Since I've negated my needs for Kid3 with other software essential to my workflow, 3,000+ views on the years old video tells me I'm likely not the target audience for this tool. My guess on users who get the most out of Kid3:
- Indie musicians that burn their own mastered CDs (this is where the ISRC feature comes in handy)
- DJs and VJs
- Audiophiles with large music collections
- Bootleg mixtape creators (if people still do this)
I'm unsure because I don't care to look further into it. And there are no comments to compliment the five downvotes as of now. So, check it out and make your own choice.
Tags: music, music-production, open-source
