1 character = 1byte?

[hipopony66]

Does 1 character = 1 byte? I'm confusing myself here. I'm working with an ID3 v1 tag. The ID3 info is stored in the last 128 bytes. An example of what I'm doing is below. Basically what I'm asking is if 30 bytes are assigned to the songname does that mean the songname can only be 30 characters? I need to know this so I can set the Maxlength of my textboxes. Anyone know a more efficient way to divide this up? You pretty much have to have 3 bytes for the "TAG", 4bytes for the Year, and 2 bytes for the track. So maybe I just answer my own question! Anyway, would it be best to take bytes away from the comment and add them to the artist & title? Maybe reduce the comments to 10 bytes. Anyone know if there is a standard for this? Thanks

Dim id3Tag As String * 3
Dim Songname As String * 30
Dim Artist As String * 30
Dim Album As String * 30
Dim Year As String * 4
Dim Comment As String * 28
Dim Track As String * 2
Dim Genre As String * 1

[TiPeRa]

ID3 v1 tag is the standard but for your own purposes I suppose you could extend the song name in to the comments although it would not be recognised by other programs.

[Mc Brain]

No way!!

I mean, the ID3v1 is set up that way. You cannot create your own ID3v1. I mean, you can... but only your program would be able to read it. Winamp, for example with continue "dividing" that way and all the fields would be screwed up. If you want "unlimited" lenght (it has limit though, but I would congratulate you if you're able to write that long) you may find out about ID3v2.

[hipopony66]

The standard is:

Dim id3Tag As String * 3
Dim Songname As String * 30
Dim Artist As String * 30
Dim Album As String * 30
Dim Year As String * 4
Dim Comment As String * 30
Dim Genre As String * 1

However, in Winamp the version1 tag includes Track #

Did they take away 2 bites from comment to make track #?

[Mc Brain]

To be honest... I don't know how they save the track. Because saving it's ASCII in the position where should be saved, doesn't seems to work. But if you want Winamp to understand your TAGS, you should stick to the standard. Winamp, gets the last 128 (speaking about the ID3v1)... if the first three characters are 'TAG', it reads the contents. If not... it shows as if the MP3 has no ID3v1 tag.

[Mc Brain]

Originally posted by hipopony66
The standard is:

Dim id3Tag As String * 3
Dim Songname As String * 30
Dim Artist As String * 30
Dim Album As String * 30
Dim Year As String * 4
Dim Comment As String * 30
Dim Genre As String * 1

However, in Winamp the version1 tag includes Track #

Did they take away 2 bites from comment to make track #?

Actually, this is the way I have it:

Public Type ID3v1Tag
  Id As String * 3
  title As String * 30
  Artist As String * 30
  Album As String * 30
  Year As String * 4
  Comment As String * 29
  Genre As Integer
  Track As Byte
End Type

[hipopony66]

Does Winamp read the tag correctly even though comment is only 29?

[nishantp]

BTW to set the max length of text boxes, set their MaxLength properties.

[Mc Brain]

Originally posted by hipopony66
Does Winamp read the tag correctly even though comment is only 29?

Yes it does. That's the type variable I've got created, and both (Winamp and my program) can read and write ID3v1 and ID3v2 and they understand each other.

[Mc Brain]

Well.... quite almost. Actually, if I write (with my program) in the track field of the ID3v1, Winamp shows a strange character in the comment field and the track remains empty. ID3v2 works with no problems at all.... I can actually add the lyrics to them, and MusicMatch can read them.

[Mc Brain]

Ok... that bug is already in the past. I've fixed it, so this program can edit both ID3 tags with no problems, and Winamp can understand them.

So, yes.... I can guarantee that the comments are 29 characters long.

[Mc Brain]

Actually, to be honest... The comment should be 28 character long (regarding to the information) and a Chr$(0) to separate the comment with the track (those would be the 29 characters)

Or, in other words... you were pretty close hipopony66. They're saving the comments in 28 characters, and takes 2 for the track... but one of them is the chr(0) to separate both fields.

Check this site, if anyone wants more information: http://www.id3.org/id3v1.html