FLACTAG(1)
==========
Andy Hawkins <andy@gently.org.uk>

NAME
----

flactag - A tagger for whole album FLACs using data from the MusicBrainz
service

SYNOPSIS
--------
*flactag* [options] flacfile [ flacfile ] [ flacfile ]

*ripflac* basename [ /path/to/cdrom ]

*ripdataflac* basename numtracks [ /path/to/cdrom ]

*checkflac* flacfile

*discid* devicename

RIPPING CDS TO FLAC
-------------------
*IMPORTANT: I think I found a bug in `cueconvert` which means that any FLAC
files generated from CDs that used INDEX marks to separate tracks that didn't
have any pre-gap would generate invalid disc IDs. I would urge you to use the
`checkflac` script provided to compare any disks you may have ripped with
their FLAC files to ensure that the discids match correctly. Included in this
release is a SED script which will massage the TOC file of a CD to work around
this problem. Unfortunately, the only way to recover from this is to re-rip the
CD.*

To rip a CD to flac, simply enter `ripflac <basename>` (where basename is
used as the base name of the FLAC file you will be creating. The CD in the drive
will be ripped, and a FLAC file created containing an embedded CUE sheet. ripflac
takes an optional final parameter for the path to the CD drive, which defaults
to /dev/cdrom.

If the original CD contains data tracks, then the FLAC conversion will fail.
Should this happen, enter `ripdataflac <basename> <range>` (where basename is
the same one specified in the first rip attempt, and range is the range of
tracks to rip (e.g. if the CD has 13 tracks, where track 13 is the data track,
then the range would be 1-12). ripdataflac takes an optional final parameter
for the path to the CD drive, which defaults to /dev/cdrom.

During the ripping of the data CD, you will be provided with the CUE sheet in an
editor. You should delete the data track from this CUE sheet file and save it (I
will try to automate this process at some point).

Both these scripts will compare the calculated discid of the FLAC file with the
discid of the CD in the drive. If they do not match, a warning will be issued.

The *discid* command can be used to display the disc ID of a CD in the drive.

DESCRIPTION
-----------
The *flactag* command retrieves and writes tag information for a whole-album
FLAC file. The data is retrieved from the MusicBrainz service. Additionally,
if an Amazon ASIN is associated with the release, then cover art will be
included in the FLAC file.

*flactag* can be used either interactively or in batch mode

OPTIONS
-------
-v, --version::
	Display the software version.

-h, --help::
	Display brief usage information.

-d, --discid::
	Display the calculated disc ID for the specified FLAC file and exit.

-s, --submit-url::
	Display the URL used to submit information for this file to the
	MusicBrainz service. Use this to submit data for your CD if the
	data returned does not match.

-c, --check::
	This option will compare the file's tags against those returned from
	the MusicBrainz service. A message will be displayed indicating
	where the tags match or not.

-w, --write::
	This option implies *--check*. If the files tags differ from those
	returned from the MusicBrainz service, the tags will be written to
	the file.

-f, --force-write::
	If --write is specified then tags will be written even if they appear
	to match those already in the file.

-r, --rename::
	The filename will be compared with that specified by the rename rules,
	and if it doesn't match, the file will be renamed.

-o, --overwrite-existing::
	If --rename is specified then existing files will be overwritten when
	renaming.

-O <discID>, --override-discid <discID>::
        Instead of calculating disc ID from the cuesheet, flactag will use the
        provided disc ID to query MusicBrainz.  Only one FLAC file can be
        processed when this option is used.


BATCH MODE
----------
*flactag* can be used in batch mode to process an entire music collection. For
example, to check every FLAC file, write new tags and rename appropriately:

`find /var/spool/music -name "*.flac" -print0 | xargs -0 flactag --write --rename`

INTERACTIVE MODE
----------------
If *flactac* is executed without any options, it will interactively process
all FLAC files given as arguments.

If the flactag utility does not find information for your CD, a URL will be
provided to submit information for it. Often the MusicBrainz server will
have information about the tracks and artist, but cannot match this up to your
CD. In these circumstances, it is simply a matter of \'associating\' your CD's
DiskID with the correct album data on the MusicBrainz server. In other
instances, you may be required to enter the track and album information into the
MusicBrainz service. Once you have entered this information, you can re-run
flactag, and the data should be downloaded from the MusicBrainz server.

If the flactag utility finds information for your CD at the musicbrainz server,
the application's main window will be shown.

This contains three main areas:

- The *\'Albums'* window. This will contain a list of albums that match
the DiskID for your FLAC file.

- The *\'Tracks'* window. This contains a list of all the tracks on the
currently selected album.

- The *\'Tags'* window. At startup, this will contain a list of the tags
currently found in your FLAC file. If there are no tags present, then an empty
set appropriate for the album will be displayed. If you make changes to these
tags, an asterisk (\'*') will be displayed to indicate that this information has
been changed.

The currently active window will be highlighted by the border and window title
changing colour. To switch between the three windows, press the *TAB* key. To
scroll around the active window, use the *cursor UP* and *cursor DOWN* keys (to
scroll one line at a time) or the *PAGE UP* and *PAGE DOWN* keys (to scroll half
a page at a time). Scrolling in the *\'Albums'* window will update the information
in the *\'Tracks'* window appropriately.

Once the appropriate album has been selected, pressing *c* will copy the tags
for that album into the *\'Tags'* window. These tags can then be saved to the FLAC
file by pressing the *w* key.

Pressing *r* will rename the file based on the settings in the
configuration file (~/.flactag - this file is created automatically the first
time you run *flactag*). Note that this facility uses the tags that are
actually written to the file, so should generally be performed after the new
tags have been written. This option will be unavailable if the filename and
location are already correct.

Pressing *q* will move to the next file specified on the command line.
If all files have been processed, the application will exit.

FILE RENAMING DETAILS
---------------------
The following configuration file (~/.flactag) entries affect file renaming:

- *BasePath* - This is the 'root' directory of where your music files
should be stored. (e.g. /var/spool/music)

- *SingleDiskFileName* - This template is used to rename disks that
are not part of a multi-disk set.

- *MultiDiskFileName* - This template is used to rename disks that
are part of a multi-disk set.

- *DirectoryCreatePermissions* - The permissions to be set on any
directory that is created (e.g. 0755).

- *CreateCuesheetAfterRename* - If set to true, flactag will generate
a cuesheet file to accompany the renamed FLAC file.

The FileName templates can accept the following parameters:

- *%A* - This will be replaced with the artist name

- *%S* - This will be replaced with the artist sort name

- *%T* - This will be replaced with the album title

- *%D* - This will be replaced with the disk number

- *%Y* - This will be replaced with the year

- *%G* - This will be replaced with the genre

- *%1* - This will be replaced with the first character of the artist sort name

- *%E* - This will be replaced by the appropriate filename extension (flac or cue)

If any item is used but does not have a value, then it will be stored as (for
example) NOGENRE (if the genre tag is empty).

USING A DIFFERENT MUSICBRAINZ SERVER
------------------------------------

To use a different MusicBrainz server (for example if you have a local mirror)
you can set the 'Server' and 'Port' parameters in the configuration file.

e.g.

Server=mbserver.localdomain

Port=5000

BUGS / LIMITATIONS / FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS
----------------------------------------
- Once changes are written to the FLAC file, there is no way of reverting
back to the original tags.

AUTHOR
------
Written by

Andy Hawkins, <mailto:andy@gently.org.uk[]>

Daniel Pocock, <mailto:daniel@pocock.com.au[]>

RESOURCES
---------

Main web site: http://flactag.sourceforge.net[]

COPYING
-------

Copyright \(C) 2007-2012 Andy Hawkins
Copyright \(C) 2011-2012 Daniel Pocock

Use of this software is granted under the terms of the GNU General
Public License (GPL) v3.
