Tag-A-Gotchi 1.51 (January 1999)
Joonas Hirvonen / Toytools (toytools@hotmail.com)

===[ FOREWORD ]===============================================================================

This program is a tool for setting ID3 tags to MP3 files. ID3 tag is a short (128 bytes) long
field where you can save some info of the song (title, artist, album, year, genre and a comment).

Most MP3 players can edit the tag fields but when you encode hundreds of songs and then set
the tags to them song by song... aargh. 

This is were Tag-A-Gotchi proudly steps on the catwalk. It's a tool for mass setting tags and
more!

===[ NAMING THE FILES ]=======================================================================

To function, the MP3 files have to be named like one of the following alternatives:

 1. "XX. Songtitle.mp3"

    Where "XX" is the number of the song. "03. Eye Of The Beholder.mp3", for example.
    Notice the space between "XX." and the songtitle!
    I use this naming method when I encode a whole album of one single artist and
    put the files in one folder, e.g. "Metallica - And Justice For All".

 2. "XX. Artist - Songtitle.mp3"

    Same as above with the artist. "03. Metallica - Eye Of The Beholder", for example.
    This naming method fits e.g. for compilation albums with many different artists
    and you still want to maintain the song order.
    When this naming method is used, you don't have to fill the artist field (see below).

 3. "Artist - Songtitle.mp3"

    Same as above without the song number. "Metallica - Eye Of The Beholder", for example.
    When this naming method is used, you don't have to fill the artist field (see below).

===[ SETTING THE TAGS ]=======================================================================

Ok, now to the program itself. On the left there's drive and folder selection boxes.
Choose the drive and folder where the files exist, then select the files from the
filebox ("clear selection" button unselects all, "select all" selects all, multiselecting
with ctrl/shift methods work, too). Hotkeys are Ctrl+C and Ctrl+A.

Only 30 characters is reserved to the song's title. So, if you have files with long titles
you may want to check the "Ask for new title..." option. When a song's title exceeds 30
characters, you will be asked for a new one and you can continue or split the title to the
comment tag.

Next, choose the filename format.

Fill in the appropriate tag fields. If you use naming method 2 or 3, no artist have to
be entered.

Then just click "Tag'Em!" and you're done. You can double click any of the files to check
the result.

===[ OTHER FUNCTIONS ]========================================================================

TRIM FILENAME(S)      Pressing this button trims the selected filenames.
                      E.g. "madonna_-_the_power_of_goodbye.mp3" would result
                      "Madonna - The Power Of Goodbye.mp3".

                      If the chosen filename format is either of the first two, this function
                      trims "xx Song.mp3" and "xx - Song.mp3" filenames to "xx. Song.mp3".

RENAME FILE(S)        With this you can rename the selected files. Hotkey F2.

EDIT FILE(S)          Edit the tags of the selected files. Same as doubleclicking the files. 

PLAY FILE             Plays the file. Pressing the button again stops the playing.
                      Note: you must have that new MediaPlayer installed which understands MP3s.

RENAME FROM TAGS      Renames the selected files according to their tags.
                      If you have a file "01. Black Diamond.mp3" and the artist in the file's
                      tag is "Stratovarius" and the song title is "Black Diamond", this would
                      result as "Stratovarius - Black Diamond.mp3".

CREATE PLAYLIST(S)    Creates WinAmp (.m3u) playlists. If you have a folder called
                      "Stratovarius - Destiny", doubleclick on this folder (so that you see
                      the songs in the filelist), press this button and you'll be asked for
                      a playlist filename.
 
                      You can also make playlists recursively. For example, if you have a folder
                      "MP3" and subfolders in it, doubleclick on the "MP3" folder so that you
                      see the subfolders in the folderlist, press this button and you'll be
                      asked for a folder where to save the playlists. Also a "_All.m3u" list
                      will be created automatically.

                      If you are planning to burn a CD-ROM of the files, you should mark the
                      "No driveletter in playlist" option, so that you can doubleclick the
                      playlists from the CD.

===[ OPTIONS ]================================================================================

ASK FOR NEW TITLE...  If the song's filename exceeds 30 characters, you will be asked for a new
                      song title. You could continue the name to the comment field or whatever.

GET ARTIST AND...     This can be useful if you usually files from one album into a
                      "Artist - Album" named folder. This option then gets the artist and album
                      names directly to the tagfields.

NO DRIVELETTER...     When making playlists, the driveletter is ignored. Useful when burning CDs.

===[ GOOD TO KNOW ]===========================================================================

If you encode your files into one certain folder, then set Tag-A-Gotchi's (shorcut's) working
folder to that folder (the working folder field can be found from the shortcut's properties).

Send any feedback to toytools@hotmail.com.
