ID3TOOLS - Useful ID3 tools for DOS
By Matt Craven
(c)2000 Hedgehog Software
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Contents
========

1. Why ?
2. Disclaimer / Legal
3. Usage
   3.1 ID3Edit
   3.2 ID3Dir
4. Credits
5. Future

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1. Why ?
========

A user of my MP3 player, DAMP (http://www.damp-mp3.co.uk/) asked me
if I knew of any ID3 tag editors for DOS.  I didn't, so I wrote
one myself :-)

Then he suggested the i3dir program, so I wrote that as well!

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2. Disclaimer / Legal
=====================

This software is provided as-is. No warranty is either expressed or
implied. Use this software at your own risk.  Neither the author
nor Hedgehog Software can be held responsible for the effects,
adverse or otherwise of using this software.

In English: If something goes wrong, unlucky, you can't sue me.


Distribution:
This software is free. Do what you like with it, but don't claim you
wrote it or try and rip me off in any way.  You can copy it, give
it to people, put it on websites/cds etc. You can even sell it if
you like (but remember who wrote it if you become a millionaire).

Licence:
If you use these programs a lot, and you really like them, it'd be nice
if you could make a donation to a charity of your choice.


These programs are open source.  If you want the source code, go to
http://www.damp-mp3.co.uk/ and have a look on the download page.

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3. Usage
========

This section describes how to use the tools.

3.1 ID3Edit
===========

First of all, note that this is a very early release of a piece of
software that needs more work.  It might not work, it might trash your
MP3 files.  It worked fine for me though...


Right, from a DOS-prompt, type:

id3edit <filename(s).mp3>

Where <filename(s).mp3> is one (or more) of:

a) A single filename, eg:

id3edit tune.mp3

b) Several filenames, eg:

id3edit tune.mp3 music.mp3 track.mp3

c) Filename with wildcards, eg:

id3edit *.mp3

[Note: There may be a limit to how many files it'll let you edit by
doing *.mp3 - caused by the limited command-line length.  I'd recommend
you do it in batches, eg:  a*.mp3  then  b*.mp3   then c*.mp3  etc. ]


When the program starts, you'll be presented with a title message and
then the editing begins.

It'll tell you what file you're editing, and whether it's already tagged
or not, then it'll ask you to enter the details.  If the file is already
tagged, you will be shown the existing entry for a particular field. If
you want to keep the existing info, you can just press ENTER without
typing anything.  Otherwise, type in the new details and press ENTER.

Note: You cannot currently edit genre information.  This will be in
a later version.

When you've finished with one file, it'll move on to the next, until
all files have been processed.

You can press ESC at any time to quit the program (this won't save the
changes to the file currently being edited).



3.2 ID3Dir
==========

The idea behind this tool is that generally under DOS, you're limited
to 8.3 filenames, so if you type "dir *.mp3" you get a list of short
filenames that don't mean much (usually all just the artist name
followed by ~1 etc.)

But if you've added ID3 tags to your files, why not display the artist
and title from there?  What a great idea! :-)  That's what this program
does. It outputs the standard filename, and alongside it the ID3
tag information (if there is any).  It clamps any output that would go
off the edge of the screen.  Obviously this is pretty useless under
a Windows DOS box, since you'll get the long filename there anyway...

Ok, here's how you use it:

You can just type:

   id3dir

and that'll list ALL the files in the current directory, and if any of
them have an ID3 tag, it'll also display the artist and song title.
***
***   NOTE: This doesn't seem to work under plain MS-DOS - I'm not sure
***   why - it'll work in a Win DOS box, and I don't know about other
***   DOSes.  If you want this sort of behaviour, I'd suggest you do:
***   id3dir *.*
***

Now, you probably don't want to list all the non-mp3 files, so just like
the normal "dir" command, you can type:

   id3dir *.mp3

This will just list the MP3 files, along with any tag information as
before.  But your MP3 collection might be huge, and all you'll see
is a load of text go scrolling past.  To pause the output after each
page, do this:

   id3dir /P *.mp3

Maybe you also want to display the track number. If so, do this:

   id3dir /T *.mp3

This will display:

   "artist" - "tracknumber" - "title"

But what if you've forgotten the options and don't have this readme
handy?  Do this:

   id3dir /H

That'll display the usage instructions.

Of course you can mix-and-match your options, and specify other
wildcards and multiple filenames, so:

   id3dir /P /T c:\*.mp3 d:\tunes\abba*.mp3

One thing you CAN'T do that you can do with the normal "dir" command
is leave out the filename specifier.  Eg:

   id3dir c:\

won't work, you'd have to do:

   id3dir c:\*

But I'm sure you can live with typing one extra character :-)

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4. Credits
==========

These little utilities were programmed by Matt Craven of Hedehog Software.
http://come.to/hedgehog-software/

It makes a great companion to DAMP.
http://www.damp-mp3.co.uk/

"Burnfire" suggested I write these tools, so it's thanks to him that this
program exists.

It was written using the excellent DJGPP.
http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/

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5. Future
=========

These tools are still very early versions, primarily written for one
person.  They were released since it was felt that other users might
find them useful.

Of course, if there's anything you'd like to suggest (new tools, or
additions to the existing tools), drop me a mail
at id3tools@damp-mp3.co.uk and I'll see what I can do.

Better still, if you're a programmer, download the source from
http://www.damp-mp3.co.uk/ and add any features yourself.

