ID3 Tags
Introduction
This page contains information on correctly tagging MP3 music files in Linux.
Command Line Tools
id3v2
HOWTO: Sort Genre Alphabetically
id3v2 -L |sort -k 2
Usage
This software Adds/Modifies/Removes/Views id3v2 tags, modifies/converts/lists id3v1 tags.
$ id3v2 --help
Usage: id3v2 [OPTION]... [FILE]...
-h, --help Display this help and exit
-f, --list-frames Display all possible frames for id3v2
-L, --list-genres Lists all id3v1 genres
-v, --version Display version information and exit
-l, --list Lists the tag(s) on the file(s)
-R, --list-rfc822 Lists using an rfc822-style format for output
-d, --delete-v2 Deletes id3v2 tags
-s, --delete-v1 Deletes id3v1 tags
-D, --delete-all Deletes both id3v1 and id3v2 tags
-C, --convert Converts id3v1 tag to id3v2
-1, --id3v1-only Writes only id3v1 tag
-2, --id3v2-only Writes only id3v2 tag
-a, --artist "ARTIST" Set the artist information
-A, --album "ALBUM" Set the album title information
-t, --song "SONG" Set the song title information
-c, --comment "DESCRIPTION":"COMMENT":"LANGUAGE"
Set the comment information (both
description and language optional)
-g, --genre num Set the genre number
-y, --year num Set the year
-T, --track num/num Set the track number/(optional) total tracks
Change to the directory where your MP3 album is located...
$ cd /path/to/album
Delete all the existing ID3 tags...
$ id3v2 --delete-all *.mp3
Set all the tags which are the same for the whole album...
$ id3v2 --artist "Led Zeppelin" --album "Led Zeppelin II" --year "1969" --genre "Rock" *.mp3
Then, set the tag for each song...
$ id3v2 --track "1" --song "Whole Lotta Love" 01\ Whole\ Lotta\ Love.mp3
Check your work...
$ id3v2 --list *.mp3
eyeD3
Usage
=====
eyeD3 [OPTS] file [file...]
Options
=======
--version show program's version number and exit
-h, --help show this help message and exit
--add-image=IMG_PATH:TYPE[:DESCRIPTION]
Add an image to the tag. The description and type
optional, but when used, both ':' delimiters must be
present. The type MUST be an string that corresponds
to one given with --list-image-types. If the IMG_PATH
value is empty the APIC frame with TYPE is removed.
mp3fu BASH Shell Script
Paul Littlefield has written a shell script to set ID3 tags in a given directory.
There are a few personal preferences (like removing underscores, permissions and ownership, etc.) but you can tweak this as required.
It depends on id3v2, eyeD3 and rename(xm) being installed.
You just need to rip the album, check the file names (for things like ' apostrophes), download the cover art (500x500 pixels from somewhere like http://www.album-cover-art.org) saved as cover.jpg, save the Genre in a plain text file called genre.txt, and make sure the directory is set like this /Artist/[year] Album/
e.g.
/home/paully/Music/Linkin Park/[2007] Minutes To Midnight/ |-- 01 Wake.mp3 |-- 02 Given Up.mp3 |-- 03 Leave Out All The Rest.mp3 |-- 04 Bleed It Out.mp3 |-- 05 Shadow Of The Day.mp3 |-- 06 What I've Done.mp3 |-- 07 Hands Held High.mp3 |-- 08 No More Sorrow.mp3 |-- 09 Valentine's Day.mp3 |-- 10 In Between.mp3 |-- 11 In Pieces.mp3 |-- 12 The Little Things Give You Away.mp3 |-- cover.jpg `-- genre.txt
