SongKong Jaikoz

SongKong and Jaikoz Music Tagger Community Forum

iso-8859-1 or utf-16 as Default Text Encoding for ID3v23 Tags?

#1

Hello, I was just wondering which option I should be choosing for default text encoding under the “Save/ID3Tag V2” tab in Jaikoz Preferences.

I chose to always write ID3v23 tags after reading several articles suggesting v23 is the all-around most compatible, but am unsure between iso-8859-1 or utf-16 encoding option?

I am a MacBook user running Tiger 10.4.11. I use SimplifyMedia to access my music library from my iPhone and a SimplifyMedia tech said Simplify reads tags embedded in the UTF-8 character set. Since that’s not an option, can someone help me pick the most logical encoding option for my needs?

Thanks!

  • Erin :?:
#2

ID3 v23 doesn’t support UTF-8, it isn’t supported until v24. So if SimplifyMedia really is using UTF8, you are making the files incompatible with many applications including Jaikoz. Jaikoz will read the files but will read the UTF8 text as ISO8859-1 which will be fine for basic latin but cause problems more complex characters.

So if I was you I would write your files as v24 then you can use UTF-8 okay.

If you stick with V23 option then Jaikoz always uses the UTF-16 when it is required to encode a multibyte character (you cannot change this) but uses IS08859-1 when encoding single byte characters, this is better than using UTF16 all the time because you get better compatibilty with applications that don’t understand UT16.

#3

Thanks for your explanation, but I’m confused as to how I’m making the files “incompatible with many applications including Jaikoz”?

I chose to always write ID3v23 tags in Jakioz Preferences but didn’t know what to choose between iso-8859-1 or utf-16 encoding option. I never chose UTF-8 anywhere as it wasn’t an option for ID3v23 tags. Anyhow, I think I get what you’re saying. I just keep hearing about ID3v24 not being supported by iTunes, which is why I had been choosing ID3v23. If this is definitely not true I will write them in ID3v24 as you suggested.

I don’t only use SimplifyMedia, I also use iTunes v 8.2.1 so ultimately I’m looking for the format most compatible with both of these programs…

#4

[quote=erinblythe]Thanks for your explanation, but I’m confused as to how I’m making the files “incompatible with many applications including Jaikoz”?
[/quote]
IF you are using SimplifyMedia AND it is writing files as IDv23 with UTF8 , you are making files incomptaible because this is illega ID3v23 doesnt support UTF8.

[quote=erinblythe]I just keep hearing about ID3v24 not being supported by iTunes, which is why I had been choosing ID3v23. If this is definitely not true I will write them in ID3v24 as you suggested.
[/quote]
Try it, but i think iTunes is is ok with v24 now.

#5

Oh! SimplifyMedia isn’t a tagger, it just reads the files so I can play them remotely. Thanks!