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\input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
@smallbook
@c %**start of header
@setfilename idest.info
@settitle IdEst -- ID3 Editing and Scripting Tool
@c %**end of header
@setchapternewpage odd

@defcodeindex pr
@defcodeindex op
@defcodeindex kw
@defcodeindex fl

@syncodeindex fn cp
@syncodeindex vr cp
@syncodeindex ky cp
@syncodeindex pg cp
@syncodeindex tp cp
@syncodeindex op cp
@syncodeindex pr cp
@syncodeindex kw cp
@syncodeindex fl cp

@include version.texi
@include macros.texi

@ifinfo
@dircategory Individual utilities
@direntry
* idest::                    ID3 Edit and Scripting Tool
@end direntry
@end ifinfo

@copying
Copyright @copyright{} 2009-2011 Sergey Poznyakoff

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
Invariant Sections, and without restrictions as to the Front and
Back-Cover texts.  A copy of the license is included in the section
entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License''. 
@end copying

@titlepage
@title IdEst -- ID3 Edit and Scripting Tool
@subtitle version @value{VERSION}, @value{UPDATED}
@author Sergey Poznyakoff
@page
@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
@insertcopying
@end titlepage

@ifnothtml
@page
@summarycontents
@page
@end ifnothtml
@contents

@ifnottex
@node Top
@top IdEst -- ID3 Editing and Scripting Tool

This edition of the @cite{IdEst Manual}, last updated @value{UPDATED},
documents IdEst @value{VERSION}.

@end ifnottex

@menu
* Intro::                Introduction to ID3 Tags and @samp{IdEst}
* Tag Versions::         ID3 Tag Versions
* Frames::               ID3 Frames
* View::                 Viewing Existing Tags
* Modify::               Modifying Existing Tags
* Copy::                 Copying Tags Between Files
* Delete::               Deleting Tags and Frames
* ID Versioning::        Storing Tags in Different ID3 Versions
* Structure::            Examining File Structure
* Scripting::            Scripting
* Backups::              Keeping Backup Copies
* Invocation::           Invocation Summary
* Reporting Bugs::       How to Report a Bug

Appendices

* Genre Codes::          ID3 Genre Codes
* Copying This Manual::  The GNU Free Documentation License
* Concept Index::        Index of Concepts

@end menu

@node Intro
@chapter Introduction

@cindex ID3
@cindex tag
@cindex frame
@cindex mp3
  Many @samp{mp3} files carry additional blocks of information, called
ID3 tags.  These tags supply additional information about the file,
such as artist's name, the title of the song, etc.  There are
currently two major versions of these tags.  The version 1 is able to
keep a predefined number of textual fields of limited length, and is
written at the end of the file.  The version 2 is much more flexible.
It allows to keep arbitrary number of fields, called @dfn{frames},
which may be textual or binary data.  The frame length is not limited.
ID3 tags of this version are written at the beginning of the file,
which makes them suitable for streaming.

@cindex Guile
  Idest is a command line tool for manipulating ID3 tags.  It allows
to create new tags, and to view, modify or delete the existing ones.
When compiled with Guile@footnote{Guile is the @dfn{GNU's Ubiquitous
Intelligent Language for Extensions},
@uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/guile}.}, @command{idest} allows to
write programs of arbitrary complexity for manipulating ID3 tags and
to apply them to any number of files. 

  The program name is an abbreviation for @samp{ID3 Edit and Scripting
Tool}.  When speaking about the whole package, we spell its name as
@samp{IdEst}.  When speaking about the program file name, we spell it
@command{idest}.  This latter spelling may be capitalized, if it
occurs at the beginning of a sentence.

@node Tag Versions
@chapter ID3 Tag Versions
@cindex ID3v1
@cindex ID3v1.1
@cindex ID3 version 1
@cindex ID3 version 1.1
  The version 1 of ID3 tags offers a very limited set of
possibilities, compared to its successor, version 2.  You should know
these limitations in order to understand their implications when
creating version 1 tags or converting version 2 to version 1.

  Properly speaking, the pure version 1 tag is seldom used.  It is its
modified version, called 1.1 which is used most often.

  The version 1.1 tag contains the following frames:

@float Table, ID3v1
@caption{ID3v1.1 tag}
@multitable @columnfractions 0.2 0.2 0.8
@headitem   Field   @tab Width @tab Description
@item       title   @tab 30    @tab The title
@item       artist  @tab 30    @tab The artist name
@item       album   @tab 30    @tab The album name
@item       year    @tab 4     @tab A four-digit year
@item       comment @tab 28    @tab The comment.
@item       track   @tab 1     @tab The number of the track on the album.
@item       genre   @tab 1     @tab Index in a list of genres, see below.
@end multitable
@end float

  The last field, @samp{genre}, merits special notice.  It is an ordinal
number of genre in a predefined table of genres (@pxref{Genre
Codes}).  When modifying or setting this tag, you should supply one
of the values listed in that table (case-insensitive).  If the value
you supply is not found in that table, the value @samp{Other} will be
used.

@cindex ID3v2
@cindex ID3 version 2
  The version 2 is much more advanced and flexible.  It is described
in detail in @uref{http://www.id3.org/id3v2-00}.  Its frames are named
using four-character abbreviations.  The 7 most used frames,
corresponding to the ID3v1 fields, are:

@float Table, ID3v2
@caption{Some ID3v2 frames}
@multitable @columnfractions 0.3 0.7
@headitem Frame   @tab V1 field
@item     TIT2    @tab title
@item     TPE1    @tab artist
@item     TALB    @tab album
@item     TDRC    @tab year
@item     COMM    @tab comment
@item     TRCK    @tab track
@item     TCON    @tab genre
@end multitable
@end float

@node Frames
@chapter ID3 Frames
@cindex frames
Each ID3 tag consists of frames.  As described above, IDv1 tags
contain a fixed set of frames, whereas IDv2 tags can contain
any number of this.  The frame @dfn{ID} is a four-character name
which identifies a frame.

@cindex qualifiers
There are frames that can appear only once in a tag, and there are
ones that can appear multiple times.  These latter have some
additional fields which serve to discern between them.  In
@command{idest} parlance we call these fields frame @dfn{qualifiers}.
The number and semantics of qualifiers are frame-dependent.  For
example, the @samp{COMM} (comment) frame contains two qualifiers:
@dfn{language}, which holds a three-letter code of the language the
comment is written in, and @dfn{content descriptor}, which holds
arbitrary string describing the comment.

@anchor{fully-qualified name}
@cindex fully-qualified frame name
There are two ways to address a frame: by its ID, and by its
fully-qualified name.  Addressing the frame by its ID retrieves all
instances of that frame.  A @dfn{fully-qualified name}, on the other
hand, provides a way to retrieve a particular instance of the frame.
A fully-qualified name consists of frame ID, followed by a colon and
a list of qualifier values, delimited with colons.  For example, the
name @samp{COMM:eng:my-comment} will select the @samp{COMM} frame
which has @samp{eng} in its language field and @samp{my-comment} in
its content descriptor field.  Any of qualifiers in a fully-qualified
name can be omitted.  Such an empty qualifier works as a
@dfn{wildcard}, matching any value in the actual field.  Thus,
@samp{COMM::my-comment} select the @samp{COMM} frames with content
descriptor @samp{my-comment}, no matter what their language.

@anchor{list-frames}
@xopindex{list-frames, introduced}
To examine the qualifiers a particular frame has, use the
@option{--list-frames} (@option{-L}) option.  It lists all the supported
frames:

@example
$ idest --list-frames
COMM:lang:condesc          Comments
TALB                       Album/movie/show title
TBPM                       BPM (beats per minute)
TCOM                       Composer
...
@end example

The output it produces consists of two columns: the first one shows
the frame ID and its qualifiers (if any).  The second one contains a
short description of this frame purpose.

@anchor{filter--list-frames}
@xopindex{filter, introduced}
To select one or several frames of interest, give their names as
argument (a comma-separated list) to the @option{--filter}
(@option{-F}) argument, e.g.:

@example
$ idest --list --filter=COMM,TXXX
COMM:lang:condesc          Comments
TXXX:descr                 User defined text information frame
@end example

The @option{--filter} option is a standard way to abridge
@command{idest} operation to a subset of frames.

@node View
@chapter Viewing Existing Tags

  Viewing existing tags is simple.  Just give @command{idest} a list
of files to extract information from, with no additional options:

@example
$ idest file.mp3
title: Diamonds & Rust
album: Diamonds & Rust
track: 1
comment:
artist: Joan Baez
year: 1975  
genre: Folk
@end example

@cindex query mode
@xopindex{query, introduced}
This operation mode is called @dfn{query mode}.  By default,
@command{idest} shows all these fields in this order.  If there are
several comment fields, they will be shown in the fully-qualified
form, e.g.:

@example
$ idest track01.mp3
title: Plou i fa sol
album: Camins de Tarda
track: 3
comment:eng:my: Comment text
comment:eng:encoder: lame
artist: Josep Tero
year: 1995
genre: Folk
@end example

@anchor{filter--query}
@xopindex{filter, in query mode}
If you wish to display another frames, use the @option{--filter}
(@option{-F}) option:

@example
$ idest --filter=artist,title,year file.mp3
artist: Joan Baez
title: Diamonds & Rust
year: 1975  
@end example

The names given in the filter list can be either IDv1 or IDv2 names,
@command{idest} will convert the to IDv2 automatically.

Frames can also be given in a fully-qualified form, for example:

@example
$ idest --filter=title,comment::encoder track01.mp3
title: Plou i fa sol
comment:eng:encoder: lame
@end example

You can also define a string which will be printed instead of the
frame name in the output.  This string is given as a prefix to the
frame name.  The two parts are delimited by a percent sign, e.g.:

@example
$ idest --filter=Title%title,'Encoded by'%comment::encoder track01.mp3
Title: Plou i fa sol
Encoded by: lame
@end example

@anchor{describe}
To describe frames in a verbose manner, use the @option{--describe}
(@option{-D}) option:

@example
$ idest --describe --filter=artist,title,year file.mp3
Lead performer(s)/soloist(s): Joan Baez
Title/songname/content description: Diamonds & Rust
Recording time: 1975  
@end example

@xopindex{query, introduced}
For compatibility with previous versions, the @option{--query} option 
(or @option{-q}, for short) is supported.  When used without argument
it forces the query mode.  If argument is supplied, it must be in the
same format as for the @option{--filter} option and has the same
effect (e.g. @code{idest -qartist,title,year file.mp3}).

If the long option form (@option{--query}) is used, then the frame
list must be separated from the option by an equal sign, with no
surrounding white space.  If the short option form (@option{-q}) is
used, the list must follow the option letter, with no white space in
between.

@xopindex{latin1, introduced}
@cindex UTF-8
@cindex ISO-8859-1
All textual fields are displayed in their original encoding.  For ID3
version 2 it is usually UTF-8.  The @option{--latin1} option may be
used to display them in ISO-8859-1, e.g.:

@example
$ idest --latin1 track06.mp3
title: D@'ona'm sa m@`a
album: Torna aviat
track: 6
comment: 
artist: Llu@'is Llach
year: 1991
genre:
@end example

Of course, @option{--latin1} and @option{--filter} (or
@option{--query}) can be used together:

@example
$ idest --latin1 --filter=title,artist,album track06.mp3
title: D@'ona'm sa m@`a
artist: Llu@'is Llach
album: Torna aviat
@end example

Future versions of @command{idest} will provide more sophisticated
recoding facilities.

@anchor{all-frames query}
@anchor{fully qualified comment}
@xopindex{all, introduced}
@cindex comment, fully qualified form
There is a special option which instructs @command{idest} to output
all frames: the @option{--all} (@option{-a}) option:

@example
$ idest --all track01.mp3
title: Cor i arbre
album: Fronteres
track: 1
comment:eng:Bit_Rate: 320
comment:eng:Sample_Rate: 44100
TENC: Myencoder 1.0
artist: Josep Tero
year: 2009
genre: 
@end example

@node Modify
@chapter Modifying Existing Tags

@xopindex{set, introduced}
  To modify a particular field or frame, use the @option{--set} (@option{-s})
option.  For example:

@example
$ idest --set artist='Jacques Brel' track01.mp3
@end example

Several frames can be set at once.  To do so you can either supply
a distinct @option{--set} option for each frame, or to give a
single @option{--set} option followed by as many frame assignments as
you need, for example:

@example
$ idest --set artist='Jacques Brel' \
        --set title='Ne me quitte pas' track01.mp3
@end example

@noindent
or

@example
$ idest --set artist='Jacques Brel' \
        title='Ne me quitte pas' track01.mp3
@end example

You can use fully qualified form (@pxref{fully-qualified name}) for
frames that require it:

@example
$ idest --set comment:eng:My_comment='Noise reduction on' track01.mp3
@end example

In the example above, if a comment with this content descriptor
exists, its content will be replaced with the new one.  If not, a new
comment frame will be created.

If a frame which can appear multiple times (such as e.g. comment) is
being set without qualifiers, all existing frames of this type will be
removed and replaced with a new one.  Its qualifiers will be set to
default values.

@xopindex{latin1, using with --set}
Textual fields will be saved in the UTF-8 encoding.  To store them
in ISO-8859-1, use the @option{--latin1} option:

@example
$ idest --latin1 --set artist='Llu@'is Llach' *.mp3
@end example

@node Copy
@chapter Copying Tags Between Files
@xopindex{copy, described}
  To copy tags from one file to another, use the @option{--copy}
(@option{-c}) option.  Its argument supplies the @dfn{source file}.
Non-optional arguments supply destination files:

@example
$ idest --copy sample.mp3 track1.mp3 track2.mp3
@end example

As a result of this operation all tags from @file{sample.mp3} will be
copied to @file{track1.mp3} and @file{track2.mp3}.

@anchor{filter--copy}
@xopindex{--filter, used with @option{--copy}}.
As with another operations, you can abridge the scope of copying to
a certain subset of frames by using the @option{--filter} option,
e.g.:

@example
$ idest --copy sample.mp3 --filter TPE1,TCOM track1.mp3 track2.mp3
@end example

You can also use @option{--copy} together with @option{--set} in a
single invocation.  In this case, the frames will first be copied from
the source file and then the resulting tags will be modified according
to the @option{--set} options.  For example:

@example
$ idest --copy sample.mp3 --filter TPE1,TCOM \