Vista - 'tags' field embedded in metadata

'tags' field embedded in metadata

When I first got vista I could not wait to tag my files, it's the best
feature of the OS in my opinion. However it was important that the data
entered stayed latched in the file, as it mostly does, but I had a horrible
feelng that all my hard work might be missplaced as the all important 'tag'
field was not present in the visible fields of any file under XP. which
doesn't nessesarily mean it wasn't.

So I tested the theory by tagging all fields of a .jpg and checking the
meatdata on another computer from an internet cafe, it was XP (nobody has
vista yet), but could not see the tag field, so until i test it on another
vista machine I am still not 100% sure and really would like to clarify the
situation:

Does the 'tag' field data reside within the file or on a database in vista?

Also I heard it was possible to get the rating system to tag inside files
rather than the vista d/b, is this true and should Microsoft really be using
anything but the metadata within a file without making it clear?!

Many thanks,

Samuel