Have you tried rebuilding the databaseV2 file(s) yet? --> serato.com

Yes. I've tried to rebuild database and it works the same way.

If you revert to SSL do you have the same issue?

No. In SSL it's okay. If I type genre it is saved in ID3v2.

Hm.. ok.. I will alert the Serato mods and see if they have ran into this.

Hi djecek,

Can you upload one of the tracks you are having this problem with specifically?

Matt P

Try this one. Regards

Hi djecek,

I've just tested with the file you supplied.

Loaded the song in, renamed the genre to POP in SDJ 1.6
Quit SDJ 1.6
Loaded song, Genre remains as POP
Quit again
Re analysed file in offline player
Loaded song, Genre remains as POP.

I'll keep an eye on this file, but so far i'm not able to reproduce the bug.

Where are these files located on your computer?

Matt P

Ok.
So you have genre on this SDJ instance.
Now try to load this track to different SDJ instance on different computer.
Is genre present?

My tracks are stored normally on my hard drive, but often a copy it to USB stick and take it on show.

Regards

Is something is going in my case?

Hi djecek,

I've tried moving the files and i'm still able to read the genre tag. When you are writing to the file is it located on your internal drive?

Apologies for the delay

Matt P

Pay attention to genre ONLY!!!
Year, Title, Artist works fine.
My all MP3's are on my magnetic hard drive.
I'm attaching new MP3, try this one also. I tried 5 minutes ago and it went wrong.

Hey serato team!?
What is happening with this issue?
I've installed 1.6.1 and it is still f**ked up!

Hi djecek,

I've used the file attached and can confirm I can get the same results.

I re encoded the file in itunes and it now saves the genre tag. I've uploaded the new file for you to test with

Regards

Matt P

Okay.
I think i got the answer.
Serato DJ doesn't handle v2.4 Tags properly.
SDJ reads data from v2.4 but art cover is a issue and doesn't write v2.4 tags at all.
Problem is that even if you step down to v2.3, SDJ doen't write ID3 tag longer.

I'll investigate that problem later.

Serato Team - any clue?

Maybe issue is with coding UTF v. ISO (I attached png file with Mp3tag option window where you can choose coding and tag version)

Also I'd like to sters up that in SL 2.5.0 all works properly (there is no issue with coding ID3 version and so on).

Please fix that because it looks embarrassingly.

Cheers

I had the same problem. In my case it was caused by having IDv1 and IDv2.x tags in the files at the same time. Removing all IDv1 tags solved the issue. SSL didn't have this problem. You can easily batch convert / remove different tag versions with MP3tag (free).

I use Mp3tag hence i know this issue. In Mp3tag you can select v2.4 with UTF coding and then SDJ is no longer able to write ID3 tags.
Try this on your own, and share results. (first backup your files) or you later unlock it using SSL.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon, aleksey.

I did not convert to v2.4 but to v2.3 as I read before that it is the more "stable" tag version. With v2.3 I had no problems at all. Will try with v2.4...

Yes.. it has always been recommended to use id3 tag version 2.3.
If you are having an issue with other tag version please convert all files to version 2.3.

Thanks, it is nice to hear that you recomend 2.3 after i destroyed my files with 2.4 tracks.
First why older SSL works fine with 2.4 while SDJ doesn't?
Secondly i use recordbox 2.2.4 to investigate key of track, because SDJ doesn't have this feature.
And that brings me to question
SERATO TEAM WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

There has been issues with tag versions other than 2.3 ever since I started working here over eight years ago. One version may have more of an issue with others but we have always recommended tag version 2.3.


This just isn't a feature as of yet. My guess is it will be added at some point.
I use Mixed in Key to add this info.

To clarify rekordbox saves track key and other metadata in ID3v2.4, but maybe in ISO coding and therefore mp3 works with SDJ after rekordbox analyse.

Yes i know MixedInKey but it is paid. Rekordbox is for free.

Hi djecek,

This is a logged bug, and we will hopefully have this fixed in a release soon.

The workaround is to: remove any ID3 tags except v.2.3 and rebuild the library

Currently that is the best solution until we get this fixed

Matt P

Thanks Matt.
Finally, phew!

Regards

I'm having this problem in SDJ 1.7, though I'm not using Rane hardware. I had the same problem in 1.63. This isn't a hardware specific issue, but it sounds like it's a SDJ one. I'm responding here because it's where I've found several people who are having the same issue.

Any update on a fix for this Serato?

Also, I haven't found anything in the SDJ manual about using particular versions of id3 tags. Where is this? I thought as long as permissions were set correctly there shouldn't be a problem. I'm not using a 3rd party tag editing program so I'm not sure how I'd even access these fields.

I've only noticed this issue with the Genre field. I was getting ready to set up coding using the Grouping field and am wondering if there are similar issues using that one.

Download freeware tools like mp3tag for win or kid3 for mac to remove tag versions other than 2.3. Works well and solves the problem until serato fixes it.

aleksey has right.
Try also Rekordbox. It will analyse track key for you.
I'm still wondering why it takes so long for serato to fix it.

Serato mentioned somewhere in the forum that it is a relatively complicated issue. Existed in SSL as well as far as i remember (even in 2.5).

I've checked this with SSL and it worked fine.
For me SSL was far more stable.

thx guys. I'll check out those programs. I din't know we were supposed to pay that much attention to what version an editor uses to write them…it seems like a detail that's beyond what we should have to think about. I did download SSL and have tested changing tags in that one. So far, they seem to stick when moving back & forth to check them in SDJ.

I've noticed a couple of things I'll put here in case it helps somebody else…

- When editing genre in SSL, it seems to 'stick' when pulling them up in SDJ later (100% so far), but when I look at a folder of the songs in finder (OSX), the genre field is still usually empty, well, it appears as two dashes: -- Sometimes when going into Get Info, the genre field will be filled out even though in list view all you see is -- . …all the while, since editing the genre field in SSL, it continues to appear correctly in Serato. I read somewhere that Serato attempts to write directly to the tag but may put some info in the database. I wonder if that's what's happening here. I don't know.

- Sometimes, I've noticed that no matter how I write it out, it'll stick about 90% of the time, i.e. I'd prefer that many show as CLUB, but they will change back to Club from time-to-time on some tracks. (?)

- In a different post, somebody with similar issues mentioned he thought it occurred when id3v1 tags were present instead of or along with id3v2. I moved 1 file back to a PC, deleted v1 and only used v2 and it stuck. (I did this in winamp, though it'd be cumbersome to do many like that so that's where the tag editors come in I guess). I don't know what version of 'v2' it's using, presumably 2,3 as it seems to be the preferred, but I can't tell…and that's the thing if you're using a basic editor such as iTunes, Winamp or even just right clicking on the file in Vista…either it doesn't show you which version/standard it's using, if more than 1 are present or allow you to select a different one. …so you just assume that whatever you're doing is fine.

If these things matter, I just wish they'd post warnings in the manual or somewhere so we could be proactive instead of learning the hard way. Thx again for the responses. These forums are really helpful!

Thanks for the help aleksey and djecek.

Tabitha - I'll chase this up with the products team to see where this is at in terms of a fix. I'll also run it past our content manager to see about getting an FAQ written up. We wouldn't put it in the manual itself because it doesn't affect everyone.

Cheers

Thanks Aaron!

Hi,

I followed the hints from that thread, used MP3tag tool to remove all id3v1 tags, converted all files having id3v2.4 tags to id3v2.3 imported all my mp3 to serato dj 1.7.2 and started editing genre tags. After several hundreds, I realised that some genre are written to id3-tag, some not (verified using MP3tag tool, windows explorer and winamp). Removing id3v1 and using only id3v2.3 did not complety solve the problem for me. Looks like there is another issue. Any ideas?

I'm using serato since the first version of SSL, but to be honest: This issue is really annoying :-(

Regards

Same problem. I still open Scratch Live to edit the Genre Tags...

I really recommend you to start using MP3Tag and RekordBox.

First miled mp3s by rekordbox (you get track Keys) and then import them into SDJ.
If something is still wrong open it in MP3Tag, and save tags in ID3v2.3 ISO-8859-1 it is crucial

Hope it helps.

Cheers!

Thanks for the hint, converted all mp3 files that make problems to usage of ID3v2.3 ISO-8859-1 with MP3Tag and tried again.... still the same problem: genre is not saved to id3-tag. One interessting remark: rescanning id3-tags keeps the genre in serato-dj, although they are not saved within the id3-tag of the file. Building up new database v2 restores genre status saved in id3-tag of file (loss of modification).

I verfied what Nacho Ruiz said: it's working for me as well using latest SSL (2.5), but not with Serato DJ.
For me it's a major bug in serato-dj that needs to be fixed. Basically it's not even an option to manually delete id3v2.4 tags from files before using them in serato-dj. A lot of major vendors sell mp3-files with id3v2.4 tags meanwhile.

I forgot to mention that all genres MUST be edit in RekordBox or MP3tag with ID3v2.3 ISO-8859-1. This third party software must rebuild ID3 tag to proper function in SDJ. My observation shows that this only relates to genres however I'm not 1000% sure.
SDJ has a bug with that since 1.5.0. Sorry that's the beauty of SDJ. They know about it, and we must wait for repair.

Cheers!

PS:. SERATO TEAM SHAME ON YOU!

I forgot to mention that all genres MUST be edit in RekordBox or MP3tag with ID3v2.3 ISO-8859-1. This third party software must rebuild ID3 tag to proper function in SDJ. My observation shows that this only relates to genres however I'm not 1000% sure.
SDJ has a bug with that since 1.5.0. Sorry that's the beauty of SDJ. They know about it, and we must wait for repair.

Cheers!

PS:. SERATO TEAM SHAME ON YOU!

Hey guys

This is definitely an annoying bug, but I have some good news! We have created a fix for a coming release. Unfortunately I can't give you an exact date, but it won't be too far away. Until then, the workarounds in this thread are still the best bet.

Thanks for your patience with this.

Aaron

Thanks Aaron!

I've found that if the Track Beatgrid has been analyzed before, the Genre Tag is saved at the file. But if the track has not been analyzed in Serato DJ, the Genre Tag is not saved.

On the other hand, if I change the Genre Tag with Scratch Live, the Serato DJ beatgrid dissapears.

Cheers!

Thanks Aaron for the good news, looking forward for the next update. Thumbs up!

Nice to hear that Aaron. I hope it will be fixed in next SDJ update.

[removed post - spam]

Cheers guys.

Just to be a little careful here, the fix may not necessarily be in the very next release of Serato DJ, but it will be in a release that's coming soon.

Apologies for the mixed message on this, but I think it's better to let you know this now rather than have you all disappointed if it's not in the very next release.

Thanks for your patience guys, won't be too long now.

Aaron

Hi Aaron. Any word yet?

I too, would like to bump this thread. FINALLY I found a post with answers about this issue. Rather have the darn genre field empty rather than "other"

Sorry I can't be specific guys, but not much longer now :)

Aaron

Don't mean to be a pest but it is really tough. I have to get to the gig early so that I can analyze all my files so that I can get bpm for them. If serato closes I have to do it all over again.

That doesn't sound right VJ Elite.

This could be happening for a few reasons so best to open a help request at support.serato.com so one of the team can troubleshoot with you.

Cheers,
Aaron

Hey everyone on this thread for the 'Genre tag' issue.

Can you please all try the Serato DJ 1.7.4 beta to confirm this has been resolved: serato.com

Thanks!
Aaron

Thanks

Hi Aaron E,

I did some basic testing with version Serato DJ 1.7.4. Beta 4 (9944). It worked for me so far:
- changed exisiting genre with id3v2.3 and id3v2.4, verified that it was written to file - ok
- added genre (was empty) with id3v2.3 and id3v2.4, verified that it was written to file - ok
- empty genre not automatically set to "other" when playing the song - ok

Looking forward for the final release!

Regards,

Jan

Awesome, thanks for the feedback Jan!

Aaron

Hi all.
I'm shocked, Aaron.
After more then 1 year it's seems to be repaired ;)
Now we are waiting for key analyze.
Regards

Hooray!

Thanks for the feedback djecek, I'll see what I can do about key analysis ;-)

Aaron

Hi all.

I've been fighting this issue for a while now, and it was especially annoying as I edit many genre fields on the fly, during my gig. But, then very often it does not save, and I lose a lot of my edits. Always have to save the set playlist, and afterwards open SSL and edit the genre tags again.

It seems that (for now) it does not delete my genre tags in version 1.7.5., but if the genre field is left empty, it still changes it into 'Other' automatically.

In my case, the bug is still not fixed properly.

Regards
D3Raze

Yes, this is in fact true D3Raze - thanks for bringing it to everyone's attention.

To summarize;

1. Genre tags that are edited will now always save correctly (if there is a successful save on close)

2. If the genre tag field is left empty, it will always change to 'other'.

To help us assess how important issue 2 is, can everyone on this thread let me know whether you really care, don't care, or are 'meh' about your empty genre tag fields changing to 'other'?

Thanks!
Aaron

Yes. If my fields are empty they are so because I want to. To force them to "other" makes no sense whatsoever.

+1

+1

Cheers guys, keep them coming.

Can I push a little more though in that I agree it doesn't make sense, but I'd like to know how much of a problem it is for you. Is there a negative effect on your workflow somewhere along the line or is it just silly and therefore annoying?

By the way, we do have this scheduled for investigation so it's definitely in process to get fixed once and for all :)

As far as I understood, it only reverts to "other" for some type of files (wasn't this related to having ID3 v1 and ID3 v2 in the same file?). So in that case if a track with both tag versions does not have a genre set it will show "other". Files with only ID3 v2 will show an empty genre. If I'm using a library with both types of files, I will have to search for two different indicators of empty gernes ("other" and empty) in order to complete untagged genres. This is unneccessary complicated but can be overcome (e.g. by exclusively using ID3 v2).

+1