Well, actually it can. The metadata fields are readable.
I'm now using 'Exif wMarker' to label my JPG's before adding them to PhotoStage. The use an encoding techinque in the text fields. To add TITLE you enter [xmp.dc:title] or select it from a drop down.
'Exif wMarker' is what I'm using but it would be a useful enhancement for TEXT in PhotoStage.