# Can't write metadata to files

**URL:** <https://discourse.beets.io/t/cant-write-metadata-to-files/854>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [August 2, 2019, 11:29pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/cant-write-metadata-to-files/854 "2019-08-02T23:29:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![indotoonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d2c977/32.png) [@indotoonster](https://discourse.beets.io/u/indotoonster)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 11:29pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/cant-write-metadata-to-files/854/1 "2019-08-02T23:29:40Z")

</div>

Hi there, I just noticed that beets is not writing metadata to my music file tags (i.e. id3). The documentation states that the `import: write` parameter is `yes` by default. I even tried issuing `beet write` but nothing seems to change. Am I missing something?

Here is my config:

```
directory: /bigtank/audio/music
library: /bigtank/audio/beets_music.db

import:
    incremental_skip_later: yes

paths:
    comp: Various Artists/$album%aunique{}/$track - $artist - $title
    singleton: Non-Album/$artist_sort/$title
    default: $albumartist_sort/$album%aunique{}/$track - $title

plugins: chroma copyartifacts discogs fromfilename the
chroma:
    auto: no
acoustid:
    apikey: REDACTED
copyartifacts:
    extensions: .*
    print_ignored: yes
discogs:
    user_token: REDACTED
    apikey: REDACTED
    apisecret: REDACTED
    tokenfile: discogs_token.json
    source_weight: 0.5
the:
    the: yes
    a: yes
    format: '{0}, {1}'
    strip: no
    patterns: []
```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![adrian](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.beets.io/adrian/32/4_2.png) [@adrian](https://discourse.beets.io/u/adrian)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 11:53pm UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/cant-write-metadata-to-files/854/2 "2019-08-02T23:53:22Z")

</div>

Can you explain a little more about how you checked for changing metadata, and what you observed using what tool?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![indotoonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d2c977/32.png) [@indotoonster](https://discourse.beets.io/u/indotoonster)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 12:38am UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/cant-write-metadata-to-files/854/3 "2019-08-03T00:38:49Z")

</div>

Sure! So I recently imported an album, as follows:

`$ beet import /bigtank/incoming/Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra`

the import operation successfully found the appropriate metadata and stored it in the beets database, as verified by the following:

```
$ beet ls album:"Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra"
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Woodsong
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Sugar Tongue
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Able To Sing
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Compromise
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Virginia Woolf
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Happy In The Sorrow Key
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Power Of Two
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Yoke
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Love Of Our Lives
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - World Falls
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Galileo
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Chickenman
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Fugitive
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Come A Long Way
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - War Rugs
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Mystery
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Damo
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Come On Home
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Kid Fears
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Ghost
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Go
Indigo Girls - Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra - Closer To Fine

```

but if I then inspect the id3 tags of the files themselves, no tags are found:

```
$ id3info /bigtank/audio/music/Indigo\ Girls/Live\ With\ The\ University\ Of\ Colorado\ Symphony\ Orchestra/*mp3

*** Tag information for /bigtank/audio/music/Indigo Girls/Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra/01 - Woodsong.mp3
*** mp3 info
MPEG1/layer III
Bitrate: 320KBps
Frequency: 44KHz

*** Tag information for /bigtank/audio/music/Indigo Girls/Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra/02 - Sugar Tongue.mp3
*** mp3 info
MPEG1/layer III
Bitrate: 320KBps
Frequency: 44KHz

*** Tag information for /bigtank/audio/music/Indigo Girls/Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra/03 - Able To Sing.mp3
*** mp3 info
MPEG1/layer III
Bitrate: 320KBps
Frequency: 44KHz

*** Tag information for /bigtank/audio/music/Indigo Girls/Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra/04 - Compromise.mp3
*** mp3 info
MPEG1/layer III
Bitrate: 320KBps
Frequency: 44KHz

*** Tag information for /bigtank/audio/music/Indigo Girls/Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra/05 - Virginia Woolf.mp3
*** mp3 info
MPEG1/layer III
Bitrate: 320KBps
Frequency: 44KHz

etc....

```

I know that id3info works because for some other files it correctly displays the id3 tags.

When I try to write the tags using `beet write`, nothing happens:

```
$ beet write album:"Live With The University Of Colorado Symphony Orchestra"
$
```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![adrian](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.beets.io/adrian/32/4_2.png) [@adrian](https://discourse.beets.io/u/adrian)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 2:35am UTC](https://discourse.beets.io/t/cant-write-metadata-to-files/854/4 "2019-08-03T02:35:08Z")

</div>

Hmm… I know some of those older CLI tools sometimes only support some versions of ID3. Can you try with at least one other tool, such as VLC or perhaps beets’ own `info` plugin?