diff -ru picard-0.12.1/file.py picard-0.12.1-preserve_timestamps/file.py
--- picard-0.12.1/file.py	2009-11-01 19:10:27.000000000 +0100
+++ picard-0.12.1-preserve_timestamps/file.py	2009-12-01 00:07:35.000000000 +0100
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 import sys
 import re
 import traceback
+from stat import ST_ATIME, ST_MTIME
 from PyQt4 import QtCore
 from picard.metadata import Metadata
 from picard.ui.item import Item
@@ -143,7 +144,13 @@
         """Save the metadata."""
         new_filename = old_filename
         if not settings["dont_write_tags"]:
-            self._save(old_filename, metadata, settings)
+            try:
+               stat_data_for_old_filename = os.stat(old_filename)
+               self._save(old_filename, metadata, settings)
+               if settings["preserve_timestamps"]:
+                  os.utime(old_filename, (stat_data_for_old_filename[ST_ATIME], stat_data_for_old_filename[ST_MTIME]))
+            except os.error:
+               self.log.debug("Couldn't preserve timestamp for %r", old_filename)
         # Rename files
         if settings["rename_files"] or settings["move_files"]:
             new_filename = self._rename(old_filename, metadata, settings)
diff -ru picard-0.12.1/ui/options/tags.py picard-0.12.1-preserve_timestamps/ui/options/tags.py
--- picard-0.12.1/ui/options/tags.py	2009-11-01 19:10:27.000000000 +0100
+++ picard-0.12.1-preserve_timestamps/ui/options/tags.py	2009-12-01 00:01:07.000000000 +0100
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
         BoolOption("setting", "remove_ape_from_mp3", False),
         BoolOption("setting", "tpe2_albumartist", False),
         BoolOption("setting", "dont_write_tags", False),
+        BoolOption("setting", "preserve_timestamps", False),
     ]
 
     def __init__(self, parent=None):
@@ -51,6 +52,7 @@
 
     def load(self):
         self.ui.write_tags.setChecked(not self.config.setting["dont_write_tags"])
+        self.ui.preserve_timestamps.setChecked(self.config.setting["preserve_timestamps"])
         self.ui.clear_existing_tags.setChecked(self.config.setting["clear_existing_tags"])
         self.ui.write_id3v1.setChecked(self.config.setting["write_id3v1"])
         self.ui.write_id3v23.setChecked(self.config.setting["write_id3v23"])
@@ -66,6 +68,7 @@
 
     def save(self):
         self.config.setting["dont_write_tags"] = not self.ui.write_tags.isChecked()
+        self.config.setting["preserve_timestamps"] = self.ui.preserve_timestamps.isChecked()
         self.config.setting["clear_existing_tags"] = self.ui.clear_existing_tags.isChecked()
         self.config.setting["write_id3v1"] = self.ui.write_id3v1.isChecked()
         self.config.setting["write_id3v23"] = self.ui.write_id3v23.isChecked()
diff -ru picard-0.12.1/ui/ui_options_tags.py picard-0.12.1-preserve_timestamps/ui/ui_options_tags.py
--- picard-0.12.1/ui/ui_options_tags.py	2009-11-01 19:10:27.000000000 +0100
+++ picard-0.12.1-preserve_timestamps/ui/ui_options_tags.py	2009-11-30 23:59:16.000000000 +0100
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@
         self.write_tags = QtGui.QCheckBox(TagsOptionsPage)
         self.write_tags.setObjectName("write_tags")
         self.vboxlayout.addWidget(self.write_tags)
+        self.preserve_timestamps = QtGui.QCheckBox(TagsOptionsPage)
+        self.preserve_timestamps.setObjectName("preserve_timestamp")
+        self.vboxlayout.addWidget(self.preserve_timestamps)
         self.rename_files = QtGui.QGroupBox(TagsOptionsPage)
         self.rename_files.setObjectName("rename_files")
         self.vboxlayout1 = QtGui.QVBoxLayout(self.rename_files)
@@ -95,6 +98,7 @@
 
     def retranslateUi(self, TagsOptionsPage):
         self.write_tags.setText(_("Write tags to files"))
+        self.preserve_timestamps.setText(_("Preserve timestamps of tagged files"))
         self.rename_files.setTitle(_("Before tagging"))
         self.clear_existing_tags.setText(_("Clear existing tags"))
         self.remove_id3_from_flac.setText(_("Remove ID3 tags from FLAC files"))