Filed under: Software, iTunes, Beta Beat
Beta beat: TuneUp plugin gets your iTunes straightened out
The MP3 is an astonishing invention; who would have thought, in the days of LPs and 8-track tapes, that someday you could keep a houseful of albums on a gadget the size of a Zippo? Unfortunately, with power and convenience comes managerial effort and housekeeping chaos -- duped files, missing cover art, and overall aggravation. Keeping your music clean and neat can seem like a full-time job.
I've long relied on Chaotic's vintage and versatile MP3 Rage (now Media Rage 3, $30) utility for organizing my music, and it does fine (although it can't resolve the one big issue I still have -- a smattering of very old MP2 files that need to be converted to MP3 or AAC before syncing to an iPod, and there's no good way to search for them... rrgh) but I'd love to have a plugin for iTunes that could handle some of the same chores.
It turns out, there already is such a plugin, but (silly Mac user!) I didn't know about it because it's only available in the Windows version of iTunes. TuneUp will happily sit in the iTunes sidebar and kick into gear on request, cleaning your song filenames, adding album art, pointing out concert dates and YouTube videos for your favorite artists, and more. The tool comes in a free version (limited to 50 art downloads and 500 file cleanups) or a paid Gold version ($12 US annual subscription or $20 lifetime license) with unlimited art and cleaning power.
If only there was a Mac version... ah, there's the fun part. The Mac beta for TuneUp will be starting shortly, and we can help you move to the front of the line. Send an email to with your full name as the only thing on the first line of the email -- the first 100 respondents will be automatically added to the beta list.
Happy cleaning!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Kevin said 2:10PM on 10-24-2008
Looks seriously wicked :)
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Andrew Wickliffe said 12:46PM on 10-24-2008
Can't you search for the MP2's via bitrate?
I know I've used that before to find stuff... I don't remember though, if MP2s have goofy bitrates....
Anyone else remember when Iomega had that MP2-encoder, so you could put your CDs on zip disks?
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Michael Rose said 1:20PM on 10-24-2008
Bitrate doesn't help. The atoms I need are "Format" or "Encoded with," which are visible in the iTunes info field but don't seem to be otherwise searchable.
gordon.child said 12:47PM on 10-24-2008
Oooo, looks pretty good. Sign me up, eh?
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fred said 12:51PM on 10-24-2008
If this cleans up filenames and tracks down lost art, this will have to be the single greatest plugin for itunes!
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collegecate said 12:57PM on 10-24-2008
This seems a good time to ask, are there other way-cool iTunes plugins that one should know about?
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Jimmy said 1:14PM on 10-24-2008
Sort your library according to kind.
Then scroll down to mpeg-layer-2 =)
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Michael Rose said 1:16PM on 10-24-2008
If only it were that simple. All of them show as "MPEG audio file" without regard to the encoding type.
MonthsForever said 1:16PM on 10-24-2008
I just reviewed this program myself on http://monthsforever.wordpress.com. Its a fantastic program. I signed up for the OSx Beta Program and Tuneup sent me the link to download it for Mac. Tried it out and it seems to be working flawlessly. Love it.
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Tim Brazer said 1:16PM on 10-24-2008
I have been using this for about 6 months now and my iTunes library isn't missing one piece of album art or name.
Works great! 8^)
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B said 1:19PM on 10-24-2008
Sign me up, please?
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John said 1:19PM on 10-24-2008
My days of itunes clean up procrastination are over? Say it aint so! Simple solutions to problems - the procrastinators achilles heel.
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Jimmy said 1:23PM on 10-24-2008
Okay, second try:
Search with PathFinder in your Music Folder for the suffix mp2.
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Andrew Wickliffe said 2:00PM on 10-24-2008
Here's a silly solution...
Do the search for MP2 in pathfinder or whatnot (wouldn't finder work too?).
Then drag the resulting files to a new playlist, holding down that do not copy key combo. iTunes will automatically just put the existing tracks (with metadata) into the playlist. Then just give them a modified genre or some other field.
adam_____ said 1:50PM on 10-24-2008
Cant wait til this is on the mac...
I used to listen to brand new back in the day!
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Rattboi said 2:27PM on 10-24-2008
iConcertCal is a really good plugin if you like seeing the bands you listen to.
http://www.iconcertcal.com/
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Doug said 4:54PM on 10-24-2008
mpfreaker is another good program that does the same thing. Its a separate program though, not a plug-in.
http://www.lairware.com/mpfreaker/
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George said 2:25PM on 10-24-2008
YES TO YOU GOOD SIR for the Brand New! Best! Band! Ever!
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Josh said 2:26PM on 10-24-2008
You see, this is where I am glad I am a tag-freak. Everytime I get new music, I go through and custom tag everything to be as complete as possible and follow my own tagging methods (Especially with Genre and artist names. I hate seeing "Song Name by Artist featuring another Artist" anywhere. It's "Song Name (Featuring Another Artist) by Artist"). Yes, it can take 20 minutes to add a single album to my library but I feel it saves me much more time in the long run. I can easily find songs I want through my 6000 song library and never have to do any tidying up.
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Grant said 4:28PM on 10-24-2008
I don't even like that, I prefer putting any guest artists in the comments field ;)