Subject: From: Date:

command line MP3 lsit builder Scott Reston Tue, 16 Nov 1999 09:06:59 -0500

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i've got about 20 gig of MP3 files and was finding it difficult to find songs that were
spread across multiple drives on multiple servers, so i 
cooked up a couple of perl scripts to help manage the process. they're not much to look
at, but they get the job done. i set them up to 
work from a command line so that ECS can fire them off. essentially, there's one script
that builds an index file with the ID3 v1 info from my 
MP3 files (you can tell the script all of the directories that you keep MP3s in and
it'll search them) and another script that searches that 
index and builds playlists. it'll take several arguments describing how to handle the
search, whether to play the resulting playlist, etc.. i've 
also built a web-based front end for it that works fine on apache (haven't tested it
elsewhere)

the only hitch is that you'll need to install a perl interpeter. the URL for a free
one and all of the info about my scripts can be found at:
http://www.indelible-blue.com/info/mp3list

if you decide to put it to use (or spot any problems), drop me an email to let me know...


some things i've used these scripts for:
* voice commands like "play some jazz" will result in a random list of jazz tunes being
cued up and played
* i wake up to a random song (playlist of one song -  search criteria can be ".mp3"
or a genre...)
* friday afternoons, when returning from work i'm greeted with songs from my 'friday'
folder - upbeat ready-for-the-weekend kind of stuff...

a side note - i've also put a link on that page to an app that a friend of mine built
for me. it's a java-based remote execute cilent/server. i 
have winamp located on a separate machine and this app allows me to send commands to
it from ECS. i use it in conjuction with an app 
that David Kindred wrote (link also on my page...) to get pretty complete control of
winamp on a remote machine.

if i need to clarify anything about my scripts or fix the very limited documentation,
let me know. i've put the items that you'll need to update 
to match your system at the beginning of each script.

scott reston
ih8gates@concentric.net
http://www.indelible-blue.com/meetib/scott/

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