Lyrics metadata tagging with Songbird

[jtpolk]

An easy way that I stumbled upon to add lyrics to songs is to use Songbird plus a Songbird add on named MLyrics (currently ver. 1.2.5). There was an older add-on for Songbird that has been discontinued - please note the older one does not work.

 

Both Songbird and the MLyrics add-on are free.

 

It will add lyrics for iTunes (ALAC tested) and FLAC files.

 

I am only using it for the Lyrics, since I am getting everything else tagged when I bring the files into my system.

 

Lyrics can be added song by song, as well as a batch method.

 

After the add-on is installed, select and play the song you want the lyrics for in Songbird, and in the right panel will appear the lyrics. The program searches through 18 different lyric web sites, but not all are checked. For instance, it leaves Hindi lyrics unchecked. There is an option to search google if no lyrics found.

 

Now, when this ad-on is installed, and it finds the lyrics for a song, there will be a little [OK] button. If that doesn’t work after it searches through the list of lyric web sites, it instead has a [WEB] button - click that and it opens a window in Songbird for a google search where you can find the lyrics, then copy and paste them into the left hand window.

 

If you select some songs, then right click on them, the option appears to allow you to ‘Gather Lyrics’. A big window pops up, and it then goes through the songs, with check marks as it finds lyrics. At the bottom there is a sliver of a button, that says Accept Changes. Do that, and all the found files are tagged.

 

Beside each lyric found, there is giant green check mark. Click on that and it switches to the don’t do it graphic (the circle with a bar across it - sorry, cannot think of the name for it).

 

I have been using it to tag my iTunes files with zero problem - both in the batch mode, which I only found while writing this, and the individual method. The search web if no lyrics found works well with songs where the song is correct, but might have a different title, or the like.

 

It also will tag up your FLAC files, as well as ALAC files - the only two types I have used it on.

 

It is a lot easier than finding lyrics then cutting and pasting them into the iTunes info box.

 

OH-sometimes the batch ‘Gather Lyrics’ does not close after you click the [Accept Changes] button. It happens occasionally, as it did to me. The only thing to do then is kill the Songbird.

 

enjoy!

 

Jimtom Polk