Creating the lines:

The lines have their own layer

1. draw in a "helper", normally invisible, layer (so make it temporarily visible)
2. copy the layer
3. paste as new
4. scale layer up 400%
5. fit image to layer
6. create 1 white layer and one transparent layer; move down the white layer
7. select enlarged layer, set opacity to 15%
8. select new layer, and draw lines over the ones in the enlarged layer; params: color 0,0,128; tool: "paint fuzzy brush strokes", brush: "circle fuzzy 17 (17x17)" (last but one);
9. copy+paste to duplicate layer
10. scale layer to 25%
11. copy layer, paste in the original picture, move down; make invisible the helper layer (but don't erase it; it might be useful later)

To add new lines: first create new layers, at the end merge them with the helper and the "actual" layer

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Specify which folders contain your MP3 files

2. Press this button to choose the name of the file where your settings will be stored
A default name is chosen for a file that stores program settings. Press this button if you want to change that name.
A default name is usually chosen for a file that stores program settings. Press this button if you want to change that name or if there is no default.

Press OK

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The first scan can take a while (40 minutes for 9000 files on an old Athlon64 3500+, but may be similar for newer systems, as the bottleneck is the hard-drive)

If you have a single-core CPU and you need it temporarily for something else, you can use pause / resume

It is OK to press Abort. The files already processed can be used. Next time when scanning / reloading, the process will resume from where it was aborted

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File list

Choose between viewing files from all folders or a single folder, or view a single file at a time

Filter by specific note(s) and/or folder(s)

Scan again. You can add/remove folders


Note table

The little circles in some cells indicate that a note applies to a file


Click on a circle to highlight the corresponding note(s) in the detailed note list

Note labels

Drag the handlers to adjust the space allocated to each screen area


Detailed note list - notes associated with the current file

Stream list - streams that make up the current file

Select a stream and press DEL to erase it

Select a file and press DEL to erase it

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Apply a single transformation.
Press SHIFT to process only selected files.

Apply a list of transformations.
Press SHIFT to process only selected files.
(the lists can be configured in the configuration dialog)

Tooltips show the content of the lists

Open tag editor

Open normalizer

Open file renamer
Press CTRL to use all visible files rather than the current album.

Open configuration dialog

Hover to see what a note means. Right-click to get a list with possible fixes.


Right-click on a file name to open the folder it is located in or to launch an external tool for all selected files.

Press CTRL when clicking on the menu to have the external tool launch for all the visible files, regardless of their selection status.

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To view all the notes associated with your files, click on the "All notes" button.

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Press the "Tag details" button to view the tags containing track information for the current file. Note that the text boxes are read-only. Track information is changed using the tag editor.

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In order for a file to be included by the filter, it has to have at least a note from those in the "Include notes"

To move some files between the "Include" and the "Available" lists, they need to be first selected with the mouse, then one of these 2 buttons should be pressed

If the "Include" list is empty, no filter is applied

These buttons move all the notes

Simply double-clicking on a note in the "Available" list creates a filter that contains only that note

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In order for a file to be included by the filter, it has to be in one of the "Include folders" or in a subfolder of one

As with the note filter, if the "Include" list is empty, no filter is applied

Simply double-clicking on a folder in the "Available" list creates a filter that contains only that folder

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Click on these buttons to toggle between simple and full view

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Query Discogs for album info and / or cover art

Query MusicBrainz for album info and / or cover art

Copy the value from the first line to the other lines, in selected columns that make sense

Toggle between "assigned" and "non-assigned" states

Paste images or track info (CTRL+V works too)

Edit patterns

See the meaning of the background colors

Press F2 to enter values manually

Drag the column headers to sort the track info sources. A source's priority decreases as it is moved to the right.

Manually set "Various artists" or "Single artist" (needs to be enabled in the configuration.)

Change the case for the text fields

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Navigation buttons skip entries that don't meet the criteria specified in "Filter"

If a result is found, it is possible to save just the image (if there is one), or the full track data

It is possible to manually launch a new search

//As data is received from the internet, the status is updated
The interaction with the database is logged here

Discogs has Styles, which you may use in the genre field

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Press this button to assign the new picture to all the tracks, then save

Press the V-shaped button to the right of a picture to assign that picture to all unassigned or selected tracks (in this case - the 3rd and the last 2 tracks)

Press this button to assign this picture to all unassigned tracks (in this case, the last 2 tracks)

The current song is Poison Prince, which was assigned image #1, so this image is shown on a darker background

Based on your settings, changes may be saved automatically when going to another album. Otherwise, you'll have to do it manually

Images displayed here:
  - images embedded in MP3s
  - JPG or PNG files in the current directory
  - pasted images
  - pasted image file names
  - images downloaded from Discogs
  - images downloaded from MusicBrainz


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Extracting info from consistently (and correctly) named files is possible, and may be easier than searching for album data on the Internet. This is achieved by using patterns.

Track number, artist name, song title, album, and rating have been computed from the full file name

Patterns may also be used to extract track info from data pasted from the clipboard

Patterns may be enabled or disabled by using the buttons at the bottom of the window

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As files are processed, their name is added to the list

MP3 Diags doesn't do normalization itself, but relies on an external program. Go to the configuration dialog to see or change the relevant settings.


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You may keep the original file

Among other things, the selected pattern adds a "-" between the track number and title and removes the rating

You have to define at least a pattern. It makes sense to have different patterns for "single artist" and "various artists" albums. Click on one of them to select it.

The first 5 files have already been renamed. This was done by selecting them and keeping SHIFT pressed when clicking on the "Rename" button. They are shown on a blue background, because their name isn't going to change again. A red background is used when the destination is in a different directory and already exists.

Press F2 in cells in the "New file name" column to change names manually

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Switch between "Erase" and "Move if the destination doesn't already exist; erase if it does". Specify a destination folder if you choose the latter option.


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Several notes are ignored by default

Select notes to move them.

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Click on the corresponding button to view / edit one of the 4 lists

See how the "Used transformations" list changes

Maximize the window and look at all the descriptions, to get a better understanding of what the various transformations do

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You may want to adjust the fonts

Configure what should happen with the changed fields

Configure what should happen with the fields whose value is different from the one in the ID3V2 tag (or if no ID3V2 tag exists)

If you want to use the normalization, make sure that this is correct

"Various artists" functionality must be enabled manually, if wanted

Check this box to add "close" buttons in case your desktop / window manager doesn't provide them. (This is usually the case with Gnome 3.)

You can choose a different language for the user interface

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You may want to use this if incorrect names are shown in files using a language other than English

Many tools and players use a single image per file, which is assumed to be the album cover. I don't know if anybody uses more than one. If you don't, you should probably check this box.

Also used for composers

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The visible transformations are listed in the same order as they appear when you click the single transformation button. Drag the row headers up and down to change that order.

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You can choose a different language for the user interface

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