Can I change the codepage of MP3 tags in Google Music?

Question

I have many MP3s of songs in Hebrew. The tags are in Hebrew, auto-populated by Windows Media Player when I rip the CD. Windows uses the Windows Hebrew code-page (1255), which apparently Google Music doesn't like, because all the Hebrew tags come out in gibberish.

I am a fluent Hebrew speaker, and the mp3s are songs that I ripped myself (from CDs that I own), and for which I edited the tags myself, using Windows Media Player. I know how to automatically convert the code-page of an ID3 tag on my local hard disk, but not for what's already uploaded to Google Music.

When I change the code-page to the Mac Hebrew code-page (10005) before uploading to Google Music, the Hebrew comes out fine.

Is there any way to change the codepage of MP3s that I've already uploaded, or do I have to remove them and re-upload them?

Answer 1

To update your ID3 tags on Play, you will need to set the codepage for your local MP3's first and then use something other than Windows Media Player to edit the tags in some way. A batch-edit tool might do the trick, and would make it easy to reverse the change afterward if needed. Add something to a field that you don't use, and then strip that change back out after the first update is successful.

If editing a tag does not trigger an update, you may need to delete entire tracks or albums from Play and then re-upload them with the new ID3 tags. In researching a related problem I found the delete-and-upload method to be effective and sufficiently quick, but your mileage may vary.