umlauts and such in iTunes

On August 20, 2008, in tech, by mugen

So I was getting pissed that whenever I listened to Hüsker Dü or Björk lately, the characters with umlauts would get all f’d up and it would change the name to Bj^rk or H^sker D^. Same was true of any characters with diacritics, etc. So I turned to Google for some answers and found a solution.

Appears to be the case that iTunes 7.7 on the Mac (maybe Windows, who knows?) hates outdated versions of ID3 tags (the things that fill in all the info on iTunes when you download… er… import… yeah… mp3s and such) and BREAKS them into tiny bits of goofy-ass characters if they have special (read: non-English) characters.

Solution: “select all” in your music list. Then go to the “Advanced” pull-down menu. Select “Convert ID3 Tags” from the menu choices, then choose “2.4” for the version you’d like to use. Once you do that (and basically upgrade the ID3 tag version for all your mp3s (or AACs or whatever), you will no longer have the “disappearing umlaut” problem.

Cheers.

Reference: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080712064910551

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Yes. God, what a song.

Lyrics assembled from various sources and some slight translation work on my own.
Thanks to the following:
Anime Lyrics dot Com
Lyric Wiki
Megchan

天体観測 (Star Gazing)

2 o’clock in the morning at the railroad crossing, telescope on my shoulders
The radio tied to my waist said it wouldn’t rain

After two minutes, you came with way too many things
Shall we begin watching the night sky and searching for falling stars?

To avoid being swallowed by the darkness,
I earnestly considered holding your trembling hand that night.

Searching for things we can’t see, we looked into the telescope
A number of new voices were born which sliced through the darkness
Tomorrow was calling for us, but we never gave it a proper response
We chased the comet named “the present” together

Before I realized it, I began searching for something
Something like the meaning of happiness, or a place to store sadness

From the day I’m born until the moment I die I’ll be searching for it
But for now, lets go watch the night sky and search for falling stars

I still remember all the things we found that day,
and I still remember the pain of not holding your trembling hand

Hoping to know the things we didn’t know, we peered into the telescope
Hoping to illuminate the darkness with the faint, twinkling lights
And I still remember the pain we discovered through this
Alone, I still chase the comet named “the present” even now

And as we grow up, the number of things I want to tell you also increase
My unaddressed letters have built up into a pile that’s so large it looks like it would crumble

I’m doing well. And my worries are few.
But there’s one that I still remember even now.

While the rain the reports didn’t predict showered on us, you looked like you were about to cry
That day when I didn’t take your quivering hand

Searching for things I can see, a telescope on my shoulders again
I run back through the silence and darkness
And I still hold the pain at bay
Alone, I still chase the comet named “the present” even now

Let’s meet again one more time, a telescope on my shoulders
At 2 am at the railroad crossing like before
Shall we start watching the stars? Even if you don’t arrive 2 minutes later
We’ll chase the comet called “The Present” together

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