Advanced MP3 Tag Remover

We covered ID3 Tag Remover yesterday which can be used to remove ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags from mp3 files. The advanced mp3 tag remover TidyMP3 goes a step further by removing all data except valid mp3 audiodata-frames. This means that it will clear ID3v1, ID3v2, images, lyrics and everything else from audio files. The tiny 23 Kilobyte command line tool removed those information not only at the beginning or end of a audio file but also the middle which is typically the case if a mp3 audio file contains multiple songs.

You need to open a command line or write a batch file to use TidyMP3. Entering tidymp3 without parameters will display a help file with instructions on how to use the software. The basic command looks like this: tidymp3 [path] [options]. To clean all mp3 in c:\mp3 you would simply issue the command tidymp3 c:\mp3. Important switches are /b for creating a backup and /s for including subfolders.

Here is the complete list of command line parameters:

/V Verbose mode: shows detailed information
/B Save backup of the original to filename.bak
/T Save all trash (tags & stuff) to filename.trash
/F Disable frame-reconstructor (see below)
/C Compatibility mode (use tempfile, see below)
/S Recurse subfolders
/P Preserve ID3v1 tags only, removes all other non-mp3 data
/D Preserve file creation/modification time

As you can see it is possible to preserve tags and file creation & modification dates. TidyMP3 will also automatically run a frame reconstructor on the mp3 files to fix problems caused by some ID3v1 tagging tools who overwrite data of the file instead of appending the tags to it.

The tool has not been updated for some time and it has some limitations which have to be addressed. The most important is to use it only on mp3 files with 44100 Hz or higher.

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