Editing metadata: actual mp3 file properties diappear if using non-English (Russian) language

I am taliking about properties which can be seen in Windows Explorer.

Exact steps:

Check file properties of an existing mp3 file:
-- open a Windows Explorer window, navigate to the directory containing the file(say, "C:\My Music")
-- select the file ("song.mp3)
-- in the Explorer window menu, select "File" --> "Properties"
-- in the appearing window (titled "song.mp3 Properties") select "Sumarry" tab, there click "Advanced" button
-- "Artist" field is "ENIKI" (in English) (marked in red)
-- the properties are also seen in Windows Explorer's "Details" view if columns to be shown are configured properly (marked in red) :



Now let's change the file's properties using Songbird:

-- import the file into Songbird (launch Songbird, in the menu select ""File" --> "Import Media", navigate to "C:\My Music", click "OK")

-- in Songbird, select the file:



-- edit metadata: press "Ctrl + E", change field Artist from "ENIKI" to "ЭНИКИ" (in Russian), click "OK"



-- check file properties in Windows Explorer: field "Artist" is blank (marked in red)



Same happens when using Russian to type in other metadata in Songbird.

For English, everything works ok (new data typed in in Songbird appear in Windows Explorer correctly).

Ozuxy,

Thanks for the detailed report!

Artist field in file properties was written in English before you edited Russian name in Songbird. We write back to the file in Unicode, which Windows can not handle properly. You don't have to edit anything in Songbird to test it. Just find some files with Russian metadata already written in it. Open it in Songbird, then open it in Windows explorer. I've done that and it shows blank in properties.
Let say, Japanese metadata shows properly in Songbird, but can't be read by Windows as well (attaching screenshot).
That's not a Songbird fault, in fact we do better then Windows in reading metadata.
You need to search on some settings in Windows that can be changed to handle non-english metadata.
Example of japanese metadata in windows explorer.