LAME

RAFAL · 12-28-2009, 06:10 AM

Hi
does anybody know option for LAME which will allow me to copy id3 tags (including picture) ?

I have written small bash script to lower bitrate of all mp3 files in the folder. When I copy my songs to mp3 player like iPod I don't need songs with 320kbps. Therefore I use lame in command line to change from 320kbps to 128kbps. This works fine. The problem is that new mp3 files lost all id3 tags but id3 tags are very useful with iPod.

I am looking for option when I execute LAME to copy all id3 tags. I found only options to set ID3 info, but maybe there is only one option I have to use with LAME.

regards
Rafal

jschiwal · 12-29-2009, 12:21 AM

You could use the id3v2 program to set many id3v2 tags, however it seems to just display data on APIC tags.

To be able to script extracting the picture from the original, and insert it into your new file, I think you would need to use id3lib to do it. Either directly (C++ programming) or via a scripting language with a id3lib library module.

Have a look at id3lib-ruby. http://id3lib-ruby.rubyforge.org/
This page has an example adding an attached picture frame.

RAFAL · 12-29-2009, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jschiwal

You could use the id3v2 program to set many id3v2 tags, however it seems to just display data on APIC tags.

To be able to script extracting the picture from the original, and insert it into your new file, I think you would need to use id3lib to do it. Either directly (C++ programming) or via a scripting language with a id3lib library module.

Have a look at id3lib-ruby. http://id3lib-ruby.rubyforge.org/
This page has an example adding an attached picture frame.

Hi

In the meantime I have solved the problem as follows:
I have created small python script using mutagen.
Everything works perfectly.My script uses LAME to change bit rate and copies all tags I need (including picture). I have small problem with ZENITY (folder selection) but its another topic.
Apparently LAME does not support ID3 tags which is visible if I use it in terminal:
ID3v2 found. Be aware that the ID3 tag is currently lost when transcoding.

regards
Rafal

jschiwal · 12-30-2009, 12:21 PM

Thanks for posting that link. I may incorporate it in my ogg2mp3 script. It used ogginfo to get the tags and then added the ones available in lame. Sounds like mutagen would work much better for this, if I'm not to lazy to edit it.

FutureNerd · 05-15-2011, 10:31 PM

I had the same issue as Rafal and followed his advice to use mutagen. I hit a couple wrinkles so I thought I would paste my code here in case someone else googles to here looking for the same functionality. The slightly goofy arrangement lets this act like both a script (with -h or --help):

Code:

$ copy_id3.py --help
usage: copy_id3.py [-h] [-v] source_file destination_file

Copy ID3 tags from one mp3 file to another.

positional arguments:
  source_file       name of mp3 file to get tags from
  destination_file  name of mp3 file to copy tags into

optional arguments:
  -h, --help        show this help message and exit
  -v, --verbose     Display the resulting set of tags when done.
$

...and as a module (with help()):

Code:

>>> import copy_id3
>>> help(copy_id3)
Help on module copy_id3:

NAME
    copy_id3 - Copy ID3 tags from one mp3 file to another.

FILE
    /fs/bin/copy_id3.py

FUNCTIONS
    copy_id3(srcname, destname, verbose=False)
        Copy ID3 tags from srcname to destname.

argparse is available for older Pythons but was only added to the standard library in 2.7. Of course you can strip out the niceties. The core of this thing is only about six lines including the import. Have fun.

--Steve

Code:

#!/usr/bin/env python
""" Copy ID3 tags from one mp3 file to another. """

import mutagen
import argparse


def _main():
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=__doc__)
    parser.add_argument(
        'srcname', metavar='source_file', type=str,
        help='name of mp3 file to get tags from')
    parser.add_argument(
        'destname', metavar='destination_file', type=str,
        help='name of mp3 file to copy tags into')
    parser.add_argument(
        '-v', '--verbose', action="store_true",
        help='Display the resulting set of tags when done.')
    args = parser.parse_args()
    copy_id3(args.srcname, args.destname, args.verbose)


def copy_id3(srcname, destname, verbose=False):
    """ Copy ID3 tags from srcname to destname. """
    src = mutagen.File(srcname, easy=True)
    dest = mutagen.File(destname, easy=True)
    for k in src:
        dest[k] = src[k]
    dest.save()
    if verbose:
        print "Copied ID3 tags from %(srcname)r to %(destname)r--result:" % locals()
        print dest.pprint()


if __name__ == "__main__":
    _main()

JurgyMan · 09-13-2011, 04:23 PM

FutureNerd, I'd like to employ your script... but get below python error
I've no exposure to python; any ideas?

python copyid3.py
File "copyid3.py", line 31
print "Copied ID3 tags from %(srcname)r to %(destname)r--result:" % locals()
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

FutureNerd · 09-16-2011, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JurgyMan

FutureNerd, I'd like to employ your script... but get below python error
I've no exposure to python; any ideas?

python copyid3.py
File "copyid3.py", line 31
print "Copied ID3 tags from %(srcname)r to %(destname)r--result:" % locals()
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

JurgyMan: I guess something happened when you cut & pasted the text in-- check the indent of that line compared to on this page. Or it could be the previous line. Anyway, once you get that fixed you'll just get another error because you need to install mutagen, and maybe argparse, and you need to type in the from and to filenames.

Go to meetup.com and search for Python! Find someone there to help you getting started! Consume Python. Enjoy Python. Socialize only with those who do Python. Produce more Python.

--Steve