Wow, my MP3 collection dating back to 1998 is in a pretty sorry condition. Tags are wrong or missing, song names are missing from the music track, bit rates are wacky.

All of my files come from different locations or methods of ripping, so they are all different. One day, I will have some time on my hands (one day I hope!). With that time, I would fix up and normalize my MP3 collection ““ why, what would you do with that free time?

So I downloaded an application from Sourceforge called MP3 Diags ““ a one-stop shop to analyzing and fixing up your MP3 music tracks. Check out the application here. It is a 6.4MB installer which sets up pretty quickly.

Once you get the application installed you will see this screen:

Navigate to where your music is stored. You can have the application create backups of the files it is modifying in a different directory with the backup option. You can point the program to a different settings file as well from this screen.

I selected my folder and hit the OK button. I am a “fly by the seat of my pants” kind of guy so I didn’t opt for a backup. I would recommend that you do opt for a backup ““ just to be safe.

You will see MP3 Diags running through your files one at a time like so:

When it is complete, you will see all your music tracks listed and the problems each track contains:

On the right hand side, is a series of check marks denoting issues like so:

Checking out the issue, it turns out it is that the MP3 does not have a APIC frame to hold it’s image. Lots of my MP3s suffer from this issue and others. By highlighting a music track, you can see all of the associated issues.

Now even though the application lets you fix the problems, it is by no way automatic. You have to use the buttons at the top of the screen to fix your problems.

Each of those buttons has a function which I will go through here but beforehand, remember the application is in beta so you should run a backup. Also if you simply left-click, all the visible files get processed. However, it is possible to process only the selected files. To do that, either keep SHIFT pressed down while clicking or use the right button, as described in its user guide.

The first button has lots of functionality as you can see below. Choose one and run with it:

The buttons labeled 1 through 4 each have custom tasks associated with them that you can see by mouse hovering them. I did this for the first option below:

Then I ran it:

I hit ‘Yes’ and it did it’s thing. It worked awesome, not as quick as I might have liked but this baby really does work. And it can fix any issues with your music files.

Next up, Normalization:
Normalization needs to be run in album mode on a single album. Or you will see this error:

Next up, tags ““ and the MP3 Diags tag editor. Hit the Tag button and off you go:

This is a console for editing and downloading tags. It has multiple sites to grab your tags from.

All in all, this a really comprehensive MP3 fixer for any music lover who really wants full control over their files. What do you use for fixing up your music files or their tags? Let us know in the comments!