[ This article was first published in the March, 2010, issue of
Larry’s Final Cut Pro Newsletter. Click here to subscribe. ]
William Aleman writes:
Artists and producers are starting to ask for the display of their information (artist’s name, project details as extended description, “i” short for information, credits among others fields) in iTunes and Apple’s devices. The problem is that the information locally entered in iTunes’ tab is not embedded in the files, it’s user’s iTunes library display only. Moving the files to a different server or location will cause the lose of all metadata – information about the information- as described by some specialists in this field.
I haven’t found yet a way to add metadata from FCP 6.0 or Apple Compressor for iTunes and Apple’s devices while exporting the files, except chapter markers. In addition, all locally created music videos automatically get placed by iTunes under Movies category. That was until I found the solution through some dedicated software, which does just that: to embed this type of metadata in the files wherever they go.
I found three applications dedicated to embed metadata in video and audio file with the purpose of being displayed in applications that support the display of this type of data, including chapter markers, as iTunes, QuickTime, among others do.
This applications are MetaX, Lostify, (shareware) and SimpleMovieX (buy). After several tries of all three, the best that worked for me is MetaX.
A good feature of MetaX is that you can update the metadata in the files already in iTunes (music video, movie or audio) without re-importing them. In addition, we can change and embed a poster frame. To update the metadata, we just have to hold down ‘Control’ key in any iTunes’ tab, at the bottom of the list of the open window where we will find a text line that says “Edit Tag in MetaX” That will load the file from iTunes into the MetaX and will update it without leaving iTunes. I haven’t tried that feature in the other two applications. By the way, any QuickTime movie can be metadata embedded with this application, not just the H.264 Codec.
Shareware
- MetaX
- Lostify
Trial & Buy
Larry replies: Thanks, William, for sharing this information.
