iTunes BPM help

Hi Everyone,

I put all my audio files through mixed in key, which calculates the BPM to 2decimal places and stores it in the "BPM" field. I then import the songs into itunes, however iTunes seems only to have the capability to store BPMs to whole numbers. Is there anyway I can change this?

Regards

Iain

You are keen with your meta-data. Most people I know leave that empty.

I'm afraid that iTunes will only accept whole numbers for the Beats Per Minute field.

Quick question though; Do you really need to
a) have the BPM at such a precise value
b) have the BPM at all?

Hi icemac

Don't think there's anything to do about that. iTunes isn't very well documented, but if you take a look in the XML file which stores your music/media library metadata (iTunes Music Library.xml or iTunes Media Library.xml), you'll see that iTunes only stores the integer part of the BPM value:

<key>BPM</key><integer>72</integer>

I've used MixMeister's freeware tool 'BPM Analyzer' (MixMeister Free Stuff :: BPM Analyzer) to calculate the BPM for my entire music collection. BPM Analyzer also returns a number with 2 decimals and automatically writes the result to the BPM field. But iTunes drops the decimals.

I can live without the decimals, but it would be nice if Apple would build a BPM feature into iTunes. And more important: include the BPM field when you sync iTunes with an iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad. The way it works today, the BPM field is not displayed on any of these devices, which is a shame - to say the least.

I understand that BPM is of little interest to the common user. But it's vital to any DJ or other person who uses iTunes in a professional capacity.

-paul-