Hi
Forgive the question but what exactly is the impact if a track is tagged with a different length to what it had previously been tagged as …or indeed its actual real length?? Does this really matter if it is only a couple of seconds different? Would it matter when playing back at all?
Generally the tags are just metadata and mostly don’t affect the playback (with the exception of e.g. ReplayGain tags, which hold loudness information the player might use).
A small difference in duration is not uncommon and usually not a reason for separate recordings on MusicBrainz. A +/- 1 second difference usually is due to rounding differences.
If there is a significant difference in duration between your files and the data on MusicBrainz this might indicate you have selected the wrong recording. If this is important to you is up to you.
Since Picard 2.8 AcoustIDs are not submitted if the length difference between the file and the MB metadata is more than 30 seconds.
9 Likes
For playback I have to agree with what @outsidecontext has said. There is a trivial edge-case where it may matter in the retrieving of a AcoustID for a fingerprint when you only have the fingerprint but that is off subject and part of a different thread.