leo charre

I was browsing through my music collection and found a soundtrack to Natural Born Killers.
I thought, great- I’ll put this in my ipod.

The ipod organizes by album, track, and artist.
I put these files in, but the track names, album, etc – were all messed up!!!
It seems they were encoded in Japanese or Chinese- most likely.

So- what to do?
As a human being, visually, I had all the data I needed.
But what would I do, tag each one separately? Fix the id3 tags by hand?
Hell no, that’s why I run unix- not to so stupid shit like that.

So, I solved it. Here’s how.

(You’ll need id3tag command, it’s in libid3tag package )

My file listing:

$ ls
01 - Leonard Cohen - Waiting For The Miracle.mp3
02 - L7 - Shitlist.mp3
03 - Dan Zanes - Moon Over Greene County.mp3
04 - Patti Smith - Rock & Roll Nigger.mp3
05 - Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane.mp3
06 - Bob Dylan - You Belong To Me.mp3
07 - Duane Eddy - The Trembler.mp3
08 - Nine Inch Nails - Burn.mp3
09 - Brian Berdan - Route 666.mp3
10 - Remmy Ongala - Totally Hot.mp3
11 - Patsy Cline - Back In Baby's Arms.mp3
12 - Peter Gabriel - Taboo.mp3
13 - Jane's Addiction - Sex Is Violent.mp3
14 - AOS - History (Repeats Itself).mp3
15 - Nine Inch Nails - Something I Can Never Have.mp3
16 - Russell Means - I Will Take You Home.mp3
17 - Hollywood Persuaders - Drums A Go-Go.mp3
18 - Barry Adamson - Hungry Ants.mp3
19 - Dr.Dre - The Day The Niggaz Took Over.mp3
20 - Juliette Lewis - Born Bad.mp3
21 - Sergio Cervetti - Fall Of The Rebel Angels.mp3
22 - Lard - Forkboy.mp3
23 - Budapest Philharmonic - Batonga In Batongaville.mp3
24 - Nine Inch Nails - A Warm Place.mp3
25 - Khan & Nusrat Fateh - Allah, Mohammed, Char, Yaar.mp3
26 - Leonard Cohen - The Future.mp3
27 - Dogg Pound - What Would U Do.mp3
data
newfile
scan0001.jpg
scan0002.jpg
scan0003.jpg
scan0004.jpg
scan0005.jpg
scan0006.jpg
scan0007.jpg

I know the album is ‘Natural Born Killers’. I can tell the id3 tag info I need from the filenames. I need to format this to fit id3tag commands such as:

idt3tag --artist='Peter Gabriel' --album='Natural Born Killers' --track=12 --song='Taboo' '12 - Peter Gabriel - Taboo.mp3'

1. Create a dsv

   What I’m going to do is create a delimiter separated values file (dsv) for short.

   We know that each ‘field’ is separated here by ‘ – ‘, we cannot set the delimiter to be more than one character at a time (this is not perl, this is bash- so we need to make the field delimiter be one character. Let’s use the colon (as do password files).

   for file in *mp3 ; do record=$(echo $file | sed 's/ - /:/g' | sed 's/\.mp3//') ; echo "$record:$file" >> data ; done
   

   Great, let’s check out the data…

   $ cat data
   01:Leonard Cohen:Waiting For The Miracle:01 - Leonard Cohen - Waiting For The Miracle.mp3
   02:L7:Shitlist:02 - L7 - Shitlist.mp3
   03:Dan Zanes:Moon Over Greene County:03 - Dan Zanes - Moon Over Greene County.mp3
   04:Patti Smith:Rock & Roll Nigger:04 - Patti Smith - Rock & Roll Nigger.mp3
   05:Cowboy Junkies:Sweet Jane:05 - Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane.mp3
   06:Bob Dylan:You Belong To Me:06 - Bob Dylan - You Belong To Me.mp3
   07:Duane Eddy:The Trembler:07 - Duane Eddy - The Trembler.mp3
   08:Nine Inch Nails:Burn:08 - Nine Inch Nails - Burn.mp3
   09:Brian Berdan:Route 666:09 - Brian Berdan - Route 666.mp3
   10:Remmy Ongala:Totally Hot:10 - Remmy Ongala - Totally Hot.mp3
   11:Patsy Cline:Back In Baby's Arms:11 - Patsy Cline - Back In Baby's Arms.mp3
   12:Peter Gabriel:Taboo:12 - Peter Gabriel - Taboo.mp3
   13:Jane's Addiction:Sex Is Violent:13 - Jane's Addiction - Sex Is Violent.mp3
   14:AOS:History (Repeats Itself):14 - AOS - History (Repeats Itself).mp3
   15:Nine Inch Nails:Something I Can Never Have:15 - Nine Inch Nails - Something I Can Never Have.mp3
   16:Russell Means:I Will Take You Home:16 - Russell Means - I Will Take You Home.mp3
   17:Hollywood Persuaders:Drums A Go-Go:17 - Hollywood Persuaders - Drums A Go-Go.mp3
   18:Barry Adamson:Hungry Ants:18 - Barry Adamson - Hungry Ants.mp3
   19:Dr.Dre:The Day The Niggaz Took Over:19 - Dr.Dre - The Day The Niggaz Took Over.mp3
   20:Juliette Lewis:Born Bad:20 - Juliette Lewis - Born Bad.mp3
   21:Sergio Cervetti:Fall Of The Rebel Angels:21 - Sergio Cervetti - Fall Of The Rebel Angels.mp3
   22:Lard:Forkboy:22 - Lard - Forkboy.mp3
   23:Budapest Philharmonic:Batonga In Batongaville:23 - Budapest Philharmonic - Batonga In Batongaville.mp3
   24:Nine Inch Nails:A Warm Place:24 - Nine Inch Nails - A Warm Place.mp3
   25:Khan & Nusrat Fateh:Allah, Mohammed, Char, Yaar:25 - Khan & Nusrat Fateh - Allah, Mohammed, Char, Yaar.mp3
   26:Leonard Cohen:The Future:26 - Leonard Cohen - The Future.mp3
   27:Dogg Pound:What Would U Do:27 - Dogg Pound - What Would U Do.mp3
   

   Looks good? Yes? No? Edit and make changes to your data file as wanted.

2. Create the id3tag commands

   Now we’re going to use unix ‘read’ to create out commands..

   $ IFS=':'; cat data | while read track artist song file; do echo id3tag --artist=\'$artist\' --song=\'$song\' --track=$track --album=\'Natural Born Killers\' \'$file\'; done > commands
   

   Notice that we set IFS to colon.
   Let’s revise our commands..

   $ cat commands
   id3tag --artist='Leonard Cohen' --song='Waiting For The Miracle' --track=01 --album='Natural Born Killers' '01 - Leonard Cohen - Waiting For The Miracle.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='L7' --song='Shitlist' --track=02 --album='Natural Born Killers' '02 - L7 - Shitlist.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Dan Zanes' --song='Moon Over Greene County' --track=03 --album='Natural Born Killers' '03 - Dan Zanes - Moon Over Greene County.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Patti Smith' --song='Rock & Roll Nigger' --track=04 --album='Natural Born Killers' '04 - Patti Smith - Rock & Roll Nigger.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Cowboy Junkies' --song='Sweet Jane' --track=05 --album='Natural Born Killers' '05 - Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Bob Dylan' --song='You Belong To Me' --track=06 --album='Natural Born Killers' '06 - Bob Dylan - You Belong To Me.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Duane Eddy' --song='The Trembler' --track=07 --album='Natural Born Killers' '07 - Duane Eddy - The Trembler.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Nine Inch Nails' --song='Burn' --track=08 --album='Natural Born Killers' '08 - Nine Inch Nails - Burn.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Brian Berdan' --song='Route 666' --track=09 --album='Natural Born Killers' '09 - Brian Berdan - Route 666.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Remmy Ongala' --song='Totally Hot' --track=10 --album='Natural Born Killers' '10 - Remmy Ongala - Totally Hot.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Patsy Cline' --song='Back In Baby's Arms' --track=11 --album='Natural Born Killers' '11 - Patsy Cline - Back In Baby's Arms.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Peter Gabriel' --song='Taboo' --track=12 --album='Natural Born Killers' '12 - Peter Gabriel - Taboo.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Jane's Addiction' --song='Sex Is Violent' --track=13 --album='Natural Born Killers' '13 - Jane's Addiction - Sex Is Violent.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='AOS' --song='History (Repeats Itself)' --track=14 --album='Natural Born Killers' '14 - AOS - History (Repeats Itself).mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Nine Inch Nails' --song='Something I Can Never Have' --track=15 --album='Natural Born Killers' '15 - Nine Inch Nails - Something I Can Never Have.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Russell Means' --song='I Will Take You Home' --track=16 --album='Natural Born Killers' '16 - Russell Means - I Will Take You Home.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Hollywood Persuaders' --song='Drums A Go-Go' --track=17 --album='Natural Born Killers' '17 - Hollywood Persuaders - Drums A Go-Go.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Barry Adamson' --song='Hungry Ants' --track=18 --album='Natural Born Killers' '18 - Barry Adamson - Hungry Ants.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Dr.Dre' --song='The Day The Niggaz Took Over' --track=19 --album='Natural Born Killers' '19 - Dr.Dre - The Day The Niggaz Took Over.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Juliette Lewis' --song='Born Bad' --track=20 --album='Natural Born Killers' '20 - Juliette Lewis - Born Bad.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Sergio Cervetti' --song='Fall Of The Rebel Angels' --track=21 --album='Natural Born Killers' '21 - Sergio Cervetti - Fall Of The Rebel Angels.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Lard' --song='Forkboy' --track=22 --album='Natural Born Killers' '22 - Lard - Forkboy.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Budapest Philharmonic' --song='Batonga In Batongaville' --track=23 --album='Natural Born Killers' '23 - Budapest Philharmonic - Batonga In Batongaville.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Nine Inch Nails' --song='A Warm Place' --track=24 --album='Natural Born Killers' '24 - Nine Inch Nails - A Warm Place.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Khan & Nusrat Fateh' --song='Allah, Mohammed, Char, Yaar' --track=25 --album='Natural Born Killers' '25 - Khan & Nusrat Fateh - Allah, Mohammed, Char, Yaar.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Leonard Cohen' --song='The Future' --track=26 --album='Natural Born Killers' '26 - Leonard Cohen - The Future.mp3'
   id3tag --artist='Dogg Pound' --song='What Would U Do' --track=27 --album='Natural Born Killers' '27 - Dogg Pound - What Would U Do.mp3'
   

   Look good? Revise, edit at will..

3. Do it

   Now we run the commands..

   sh commands
   

   Done.

Unix rules.