Lost in the CPAN

A Foolish Manifesto has an interesting post on renaming MP3 files. It's a simple little script, the likes of which I have written several times over the years. Yet I don't recognize any of the modules he is using.

I actually noticed this the last time I tried to write one of these scripts. CPAN has a number of different MP3 tag modules, all in various states of disarray. I know I have used different modules over the years as I coded quick MP3 tag hacks, but the time between these hacks is so long that every time I feel like I'm starting fresh -- with no idea where in the maze to start.

Now fREW reveals a new one I never noticed before, Music::Tag. (Presumably it handles more than just MP3s.) I see it is at version 0.33, and hasn't had a release in over a year, which leads me to suspect it is yet another orphaned tagging module.

Is it possible for the vastness of the CPAN to actually become a disadvantage? It seems to me that if there were only one tag module instead of 5+, that one would be better supported. And it would be a lot easier for a potential user to figure out what to use.