"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." - William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

If we applied Shakespeare's logic to today's digital age, then it would also mean that watching mis-tagged or untagged videos on your Apple device (be it a Mac, iPhone, iPod or Apple TV) would be just as enjoyable. Okay, you got me, they'd probably be just as good. But this doesn't mean you're excused from tagging your videos appropriately.

First, a bit of background. The vast majority of videos purchased from the iTunes store, as well as "digital copy" (iPod/iPhone pre-formatted videos that are sometimes included on DVDs and Blu-Ray discs), will come pre-tagged. So, the situation for those in this camp (myself included) is peachy, especially when using an Apple TV. Your videos show up on the screen screen with proper titles, season and episode numbers, actors, and descriptions. Just the way Steve likes 'em.

But what if you already own the DVD and want a version for your iTunes library? For those of you with the time and patience to rip an MPEG-4 version (and believe me, this takes some patience, especially if you use H.264 encoding) of your favorite videos, a HandBrake-MetaX martini make tagging your videos a bit more of a pleasurable experience - as if it wasn't fun enough already.

The idea of tagging files as an organization and project management method has been around for some time now, and we've mentioned applications in the past (FileSpot, TagBot, Punakea ... ) which touched on some useful applications for the tagging method. A truly seamless, system-wide implementation, however, has been hard to find. Back at WWDC, Gravity applications gave me a taste of a new application which takes the concept to a new level. Tags, finally released yesterday, provides a hotkey-triggered HUD which allows tagging and searching from a wide range of applications, including:

• Finder and Path Finder
• Mail
• Address Book
• iPhoto
• Safari
• Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, etc.)
• Adobe Photoshop
• Xcode
• Rapidweaver
• Omnioutliner
• Pages and Keynote
• Quicktime

The list goes on. Basically, any application which can tell AppleScript what the current context is will work with Tags. Those that don't can also have their items tagged from Finder, which is especially easy if they have a "Reveal in Finder" shortcut.

Tags uses Spotlight metadata instead of the old Spotlight comments method. Files tagged with Tags are immediately indexed in Spotlight, allowing for searches and Smart Folders outside of Tags, as well as integration with other Spotlight-enabled applications. Its keyword storage method is directly compatible with Ironic Software's Deep, and the same method is planned for use in Leap, eventually. Ironic has actually just announced OpenMeta, an open source library for accessing and modifying this kind of metadata (more on that coming soon).

Read on for more on the concepts behind Tags.

Here's a very simple and even more useful tip from Dennis Best. He's thought of a clever way to tag almost any document he creates in Leopard with Spotlight and a clever use of keywords.

When writing a note, composing an email message, etc., he precedes keywords with the ° bullet character (shift-option 8). Later, he can conduct a Spotlight search for " °Tahoe" and find every tagged email message, sticky note, iCal event, etc. Pretty clever!

For added usefulness, save that Spotlight search for a self-updating reference.

[Via Micropersuasion]

Jay Tuley's original IEatBrainz apparently went defunct before it ever grew up to be a Universal build. Fortunately for us, Pierre Andrews picked up the (open) source code and made a version that works for just about everybody.

IEatBrainz uses the online acoustic fingerprint service "MusicBrainz" to fix improperly tagged files in your iTunes collection. It's simple, easy and pretty fast considering the number of web transactions it has to make. It serves as a great interface to MusicBrainz, which has to take the blame for any inaccuracies. The software allows you to select files from your library to check, and begins looking them up in the background while you're still picking files. You get a chance to review the ones that it thinks it found matches for before sending the information to iTunes.

For various and sundry reasons I have a lot of poorly tagged files in iTunes, so I spent some time seeing what it could fix. I have to tell you, it handled Black Metal and Classical quite well, scoring almost 100%. Other genres baffled MusicBrainz a little. My Dead Boys tracks were a wash and it told me that Siouxsie was actually Switchblade Symphony. Overall, about 60%, but I have some very obscure tracks. I don't even know what some of them are.

It's free, and no one will question why you have so many untagged tracks. We promise. You can grab the Universal build at 6V8.

Update from the developer's website: "Jay Tuley just contacted me to explain why a universal build had never been released. Basically, the TRM fingerprinting system provided by MusicBrainz will be switched off in the upcoming weeks/days. After that, even if you can run IEatBrainz, it won't find any result as the MusicBrainz servers won't be answering the requests."

The all-purpose organization app, Together, has been updated to version 2.0.4. Formerly known as KIT (Keep It Together), the new name came with the 2.0 version and a Leopard-only status.

Together, by way of background information, offers functionality similar to Yojimbo with several major differences, including file system storage, hierarchical folders, and a wider range of supported filetypes. Together handles multiple libraries and deals well with large files and large file collections.

The development of Together is progressing nicely, and 2.0.4 fixes a few low-profile but crucial bugs. I'm especially pleased about the lowering of the sensitivity in the spring-loaded folders when dragging to the import drawer. I just tested the new build and am happy to report that the delay is indeed improved and the drawer is now highly usable. The new build also improves tag handling and fixes some tag-related bugs, among other fixes.

A forum was just opened today as well for user feedback and discussion.

Together can be purchased for $39 from Reinvented Software.

Synthesis Studios has released version 2.1 of FileSpot (formerly MoRU), their advanced interface for Spotlight. It allows you to make advanced, boolean logic queries and makes accessible some of the more complex aspects of Spotlight. Not to make it sound complicated, though, its iTunes-ish interface is pretty simple to use. It also adds file tagging with support for other 3rd party tagging apps like Spotmeta.

This release adds two great features: Quick Look support and search results that display as they're located rather than waiting for the search to complete. Both features definitely make my day.

FileSpot has a 30 day trial period and costs $20 to register.

While I wasn't exactly dying without Keyword Manager in iPhoto '08 just yet, thanks to its new built-in keyword abilities, I am nonetheless relieved to see that my favorite iPhoto keyword plug-in for power users has just been updated for the latest version. While the major new feature in Keyword Manager v1.3 is of course iPhoto '08 compatibility, I have noticed what I believe is a new, dedicated Keyword Manager button added to the controls in the lower left of the iPhoto window (or has that been there all along? I've always just used the keyboard shortcut to invoke it so I never looked down there). Also on the new features list is slightly better performance when selecting many photos, an updated UI for the Keyword Manager windows to match iPhoto '08's new Adjust palette UI, and updates to the Danish translation of the plug-in. It is also worth noting that Keyword Manager still works with iPhoto '06 as well.

A demo is available from Bullstorm Software, while a license costs $19 USD (or €19).

I've been waiting (impatiently) for a tagging UI like this to come to iPhoto for some time now, and I'm generally happy to say that iPhoto '08 finally does tagging well (for the sake of this post, however, I'll be using the terms 'tags' and 'keywords' interchangeably, since iPhoto refuses to adopt the web 2.0 terminology). If you display keywords beneath your photos (View > Keywords or shift-command-K), you can simply click below your photo in that field (even if it doesn't have any keywords yet) and begin typing. iPhoto will attempt to auto-fill from your keyword library, or it will add new keywords you create on the fly.

For keyword ninjas this still might not replace powerful plug-ins like Keyword Manager, but it's definitely a step in the right direction for the general iPhoto user. Since it's barely been 24 hours, Keyword Manager understandably hasn't updated yet, but I don't find myself gasping for breath without it. Thanks to this improvement and others which I'll explore, iPhoto has gained respectable features that finally allow users to manage their library with the power of tags. Read on to see what else is new with iPhoto's keyword features.

In case you missed TUAW Podcast #24, I've gone gaga for Philip Dow's Journler. It's a phenomenal donationware app that offers robust features for keeping a diary, storing files you need to keep track of, recording audio/video entries and even blogging. One of Journler's cruxes, however, is that its UI for tagging entries wasn't quite up to par; tags were separated with spaces or commas (your choice), but aside from searching, there was no decent way to really grab hold of and utilize your tags.

Fortunately, a beta posted by Dow in the Journler forums offers a glimpse at how the app's tagging paradigm is changing for the better - much better. As you can see, tags are now 'officially' recognized by Journler, and pressing return invokes a satisfying blue bubble around them, securing their entry in Journler's database. As you work with these new tags, Journler will also begin to auto-complete them, saving you more and more time as you continue down the path to Journler goodness.

[Update: I didn't even realize this, but Dow built in an even cooler, killer feature with these tags - you can click on then in an entry or in the entry browser and view a list of other entries using that same tag. I'm in love.]

If you decide to check out this new version though, be sure to read through the entire forum post. Dow had to make some changes to the way Journler stores and creates your tags, so he had to create an AppleScript you only have to run once to help get the new version up to par and convert over all your old tags for the new system. Naturally, you should back up your Journler folder in Application Support before trying any of this, but I happily performed the upgrade with nary a bump on the trip.

Don't forget: Journler is donationware, and Philip Dow sure would appreciate a few bucks for his excellent work.

Scott Morrison's fantastic MailTags 2.0 is hands-down the best (and not because it is the only) plug-in that brings the wonders of tagging and iCal integration to Apple Mail. We've mentioned it plenty of times here on TUAW, and with good reason: Scott has put this new version of MailTags and its healthy dose of new features through a rigorous beta testing period, and tonight the plug-in makes that coveted leap from 'beta' to 'official release.' While Scott pops some well-deserved bubbly to celebrate his hard work, check out this list of tasty features designed for those who need more from an integrated desktop email client:

• IMAP support - sync your tags over IMAP servers and use them to keep your mail organized and synced across any Mac you have MailTags installed on
• A much-improved integrated interface for viewing and editing tags
• The ability to view tags in Mail's List view (an extra, optional column to let you know a message is tagged)
• Dynamic coloring of messages based on project, approaching due dates and priorities
• Integration with iCal, allowing you to create to dos and events right from Mail
• Including tags in your outbound messages for other MailTags users
• Better integration with Mail's search tools, allowing you to specify searching only for message tags, projects or even notes you've applied with MailTags (in addition to Mail's default criteria of Entire Message, From, To, etc.)
• Better integration with Mail's smart mailboxes
• Applescript compatibility

I've been a happy user of MailTags 2.0 since it the early days of the beta, and I tip my hat to Scott for releasing such a great product. You can grab your own demo that runs for 21 days, while a license costs $29.95, with educational and volume discounts available upon requests.

Brett's AutoTag bundle works with WordPress 2.1 and its Ultimate Tag Warrior plugin to present a window (pictured) containing all the tags you've used on your WordPress blog; perfect for tagging your posts on the fly and helping you to keep your tag system tidy. But one might ask: what is an AutoTag plugin without some auto action, right? AutoTag can tag your post for you by scanning what you've written and comparing it against your tag database. Simply type 'auto' and press tab to watch the magic happen. And as if that wasn't enough, AutoTag even has a command for suggesting new tags, again based on a scan of your post's content or even Yahoo's Tag Suggestion feature. With all this clever 'auto' functionality going on, let's just hope Brett's next plugin isn't called 'AutoBlog,' or we might all be in trouble.

To give your TextMate + WordPress workflow a tagging boost, you simply need to install a UTW-RPC plugin for WordPress (available with the AutoTag bundle) in order for TextMate to access your database of tags. Setup is really simple, but be sure to download the version of AutoTag that corresponds to the version of TextMate you're running, i.e. - Cutting-Edge or the regular version available from the Macromates site.

The AutoTag bundle and UTW-RPC WordPress plugin are open source and available from Circle Six Design.

Everybody knows about the endless wars: Mac vs. PC, Coke vs. Pepsi, Tags vs. Hierarchical Filing... Well, okay, so the last one isn't quite as long-running, but it does seem like a point of controversy. A nice article on theappleblog about Spotlight and meta-data has gotten me thinking again about the whole tagging thing. The file folder metaphor is so strongly embedded in the way many of us long-time computer users think that it's sometimes hard to appreciate the benefits of new ways of doing things. I still instinctively crave hierarchical folder systems and was very happy, for instance, when iTunes finely gained folders (and remain annoyed that Yojimbo doesn't support nested Collection Folders). That said, as big of a stick in the mud as I normally am, del.icio.us (especially with Pukka) and some other tagging implementations have finally got me seeing that tags are definitely useful. At the end of the day, of course, there's no need to choose since neither filing method is exclusive of the other, so I think I'll continue to use both for the foreseeable future.

All of that was a lead-in to a couple of applications that make tagging with OS X easier. Of course, the best thing would be if Leopard included an official tagging mechanism, rather than the improvised systems involving Spotlight comments, but even if it does not there are some tools out there worth looking at if tagging is your thing. First there's Punkaea (donation requested) from nudge:nudge. Punakea features a drawer that pops out of the side of your screen onto which you can drag and drop files. When you do so, it will pop up a small dialog allowing you to define tags for that file. You can then search for tags with Spotlight or use the Tag Cloud within Punakea's browser window to find your files. Punakea can even be set to manage files you drop into it. That is, you can define a folder for Punakea to manage, and whenever you drop a file onto Punakea's application icon it will ask you for the tags and then move that file to the folder, in essence creating a non-hierarchical filing system.

SpotMeta, an open-source project from Ben Summers, takes a different approach, which is more integrated into the Finder, but also seems a bit more limited as to the practical number of tags possible. With SpotMeta you must first define your tags or "keys"in the application, and then whenever you want to tag a file, you just right-click in the Finder and select "Edit Metadata with SpotMeta...". (or alternatively you can select the file and then hit SpotMeta's Hotkey combo). This will bring up an editing window in which you can chose one of your pre-defined "keys" or tags. Finally, when you want to find you tagged files, you can just use Spotlight directly or search by Kind with the Finder search box.

Of course, in addition to these two applications, there's also the very handy File Tagging plugin for Quicksilver.

Thanks to Steve for the SpotMeta tip!

[Edit: fixed SpotMeta description; turns out it's not as new as I had thought]

Keyword Manager from Bullstorm scored a license purchase from yours truly the day we found it, and the feature-packed iPhoto keyword plugin recently had an unassuming but handy upgrade to v1.1. Clicking on the "What's New?" heading at Bullstorm's site reveals a strong list of new features, including:

• Address Book auto-completion
• Share keywords between photo libraries
• Alphabetic sorting of keyword lists
• Preferences windows
• Built-in software update

If you've been looking for an easier-to-use and more powerful way to wrangle your iPhoto library, I highly recommend giving Keyword Manager's full-featured demo a try. One of its most useful features, besides highly streamlining the tagging/keyword assigning process, is its ability to filter keywords in a search. This is something iPhoto is sorely lacking, but Keyword Manager makes it easy to pick keywords to both search for and exclude. This feature alone is easily worth a good portion of the plugin's $19 USD (€19 in Sweden and EU) for a single license.

For as long as I can remember, Ken Ferry's Keyword Assistant has been the only iPhoto plugin (at least, AFAIK) for adding some real power and, dare I say, "tagging" to iPhoto's keyword system. Now there's a new kid on the block by the name of Keyword Manager, and it definitely brings some interesting features to the table. Keyword Manager uses two separate windows that both have their own keyboard shortcuts for toggling visibility. The first is a Quick Assigner window (pictured on right) which, as you might guess, allows you to quickly tag add keywords to your photos. It offers keyword completion (via a slick drop down menu) and support for multiple word keywords. The second panel (on left) is a very nice Keyword Manager, allowing you to organize keywords in a hierarchy to help keep your organization in check. Naturally, since both of these panels have their own keyboard shortcuts, you can call them even when in iPhoto's full-screen mode. All this is done with a very nice iPhoto Adjustment Panel-like UI.

Now Keyword Manager is pretty impressive, but I think they're reaching just a little too high by charging $19 for a plugin, especially in light of Keyword Assistant being free. I think $14.99 would hit the sweet spot for a plugin like this, but then again, I admittedly haven't plunged into organizing my increasingly sprawling iPhoto library yet, so YMMV.

[Update: Commenters Jools tipped us off to promotional codes at VersionTracker that drop the price to $12 in the US or €12 in the EU: VT-542U845 (US) and VT-542E845 (EU). No word on how long those codes are good for, but that's a much more reasonable price in my book.]

Keyword Manager is available from Bullstorm, and a demo is available which allows you to assign keywords 75 times before requiring a license.

Thanks Bernt

Late last week, Bare Bones released an update to their excellent junk drawer app, Yojimbo, bringing it up to verison 1.3. I was going to post about it, but a hiccup in my database was preventing me to use the new version (I blame recent .Mac errors, as I'm having all sorts of syncing issues with other apps). Now that I've settled everything, however, I can honestly say this is one of the most pleasing and significant updates to a strong application. In addition to the typical bug fixes and behavior tweaks (you can see the extensive list of changes here), one of the many major additions is tags - users can now tag notes in Yojimbo, complete with support for searching by tags and smart tag collections (and a new Tags management panel in the preferences. Peep the screenshot:

As you can see, not only did Bare Bones add tag support, but they did it right. Tags are separated by commas as opposed to restrictive spaces (I'm looking at you, del.icio.us), and yes - that's a Tag Collection you see below my Serial Numbers group (bonus points for still allowing users to change a Tag Collection's folder icon via the Inspector). I honestly can't say enough good things about the addition of tags to Yojimbo, but I need to leave room for the other major additions I mentioned, such as list and table formatting in notes, easy link creation (for both URLs and file system links), a new UI for the Item Details bar (which you can see includes an area for tags), and much, much more. If you're a Yojimbo user, or someone who's still looking for a good junk drawer app, I highly recommend this new version, as Yojimbo is really beginning to shape up well.