ID3Remover

Music files are generally equipped with thorough descriptions so you know more about the artist, album, and so on. However, this does not only apply to music, but rather audio files in general, and your projects might require these detail fields to be empty. In this regard, ID3Remover comes with the right means to erase all ID3 tags in the blink of an eye.

There’s an advantage you notice even before getting to meet the set of features, and that’s because the application doesn’t take you through a setup process. Portability lets you carry it around with you on a USB flash drive, and use it directly from that portable drive. Another consequence of portability is that system registries remain intact, without affecting the integrity of your PC.

A compact main window is used to store all features. The visual design is simple, with a classic window border used as template, a large list that shows all imported items, and several parameters to configure.

Since the application is meant to remove ID3 tags, the files you get to work with are limited to MP3. Luckily, you’re free to process more files at a time, and adding them to the list is simply done through drag and drop, which means you can easily select more files from diverse locations.

Once files are loaded, ID3Remover shows them in the upper list, but with no details other than path itself. It would have been useful to see at least a visual representation of the tags you get to remove. The application lets you choose the type of tags to clear out, with options that apply to ID3v1, as well as ID3v2.

All that’s left to do is press the Remove button to put the process in motion. However, be sure to create a backup of original files if you later consider ID3 tags are important, because files are instantly replaced, with no option to undo the whole operation.

To sum it up, ID3Remover is a lightweight and straightforward application that does exactly what the name suggests and nothing more. It feels rough around the edges, especially because there’s no built-in method to view tags, or simply an option to set a different destination. However, if this simple task is what you need, then the utility serves the cause just right.