id3 mass tagger example
For years my mp3 collection sat in a meta-data desert. All that kept it organized was a meager and poorly structured directory/filename layout. It wasn’t consistent and in many places not even complete. This sad state of affairs came to be from my poor thinking, poor ripping habits, and poor sharing of data. At first, there was no need. In my winblowz days, the uber fabulous winamp handles the directory thing with as much aplomb as it handled the real dea, ID3 tags. Then, came the iPod. Once again, my stupendoud ability to put things off, and a lack of any good tool to fix this quickly led me to live in iPod hell. In the infinite wisdom of the Great Maker Steve, the only thing that the ipod kept of the file naming convention was the file name. None of the directory structure was exposable. ID3 was the only way to really, really do the right thing. My blank, inconsistent, fubared collection reposed itself somewhere between “Unknown Genere” and “Various Artists”.
Then, my semi-regular checks into freshmeat led me to this gem: [zF!] id3 mass tagger. Blessed be! My UNIX fingers found what they had been searching for. Something to manipulate sound with my fingers. Alas, not the air-piano I mastered in my teens, but the tagging thing. A few hours and my entire (30GB +/-, ~10K songs) was in shape. Not only was the tag thing taken care of, but also the directory/filename thing!
It took a little bit to get the man page, so here’s a good example of this beaut’s power:
heyyou-2:~/Music/othermusic/Billy Joel/Greatest Hits Volume I and II juan$ ls
Billy Joel – 01 – My Life.mp3 Billy Joel – 02 – Big Shot.mp3
Billy Joel – 03 – You Might be Right.mp3
Billy Joel – 04 – It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me.mp3
Billy Joel – 05 – Don’t Ask Me Why.mp3
Billy Joel – 06 – She’s Got a Way.mp3
Billy Joel – 07 – Pressure.mp3
Billy Joel – 08 – Allentown.mp3
Billy Joel – 09 – Goodnight Saigon.mp3
Billy Joel – 10 – Tell Her About It.mp3
Billy Joel – 11 – Uptown Girl.mp3
Billy Joel – 12 – The Longest Time.mp3
Billy Joel – 13 – You’re Only Human (Second Wind).mp3
Billy Joel – 14 – The Night is Still Young.mp3
heyyou-2:~/Music/othermusic/Billy Joel/Greatest Hits Volume I and II juan$ id3 -q “%n:%a:%l:%t:%g” *
<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>
<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>
<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>
<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>
<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>
<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>
<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>
<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>
<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>
<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>
<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>
<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>
<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>
<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>:<empty>
heyyou-2:~/Music/othermusic/Billy Joel/Greatest Hits Volume I and II juan$ id3 -antlg “%1” “%2” “%3” “Greatest Hits – Vol. II” “Classic Rock” “* – * – *.mp3”
heyyou-2:~/Music/othermusic/Billy Joel/Greatest Hits Volume I and II juan$ id3 -q “%n:%a:%l:%t:%g” *
1:Billy Joel:Greatest Hits – Vol. II:My Life:Classic Rock
2:Billy Joel:Greatest Hits – Vol. II:Big Shot:Classic Rock
3:Billy Joel:Greatest Hits – Vol. II:You Might be Right:Classic Rock
4:Billy Joel:Greatest Hits – Vol. II:It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me:Classic Rock
5:Billy Joel:Greatest Hits – Vol. II:Don’t Ask Me Why:Classic Rock
6:Billy Joel:Greatest Hits – Vol. II:She’s Got a Way:Classic Rock
7:Billy Joel:Greatest Hits – Vol. II:Pressure:Classic Rock
8:Billy Joel:Greatest Hits – Vol. II:Allentown:Classic Rock
9:Billy Joel:Greatest Hits – Vol. II:Goodnight Saigon:Classic Rock
10:Billy Joel:Greatest Hits – Vol. II:Tell Her About It:Classic Rock
11:Billy Joel:Greatest Hits – Vol. II:Uptown Girl:Classic Rock
12:Billy Joel:Greatest Hits – Vol. II:The Longest Time:Classic Rock
13:Billy Joel:Greatest Hits – Vol. II:You’re Only Human (Second Wind:Classic Rock
14:Billy Joel:Greatest Hits – Vol. II:The Night is Still Young:Classic Rock
heyyou-2:~/Music/othermusic/Billy Joel/Greatest Hits Volume I and II juan$
So, thank you Marc!