Description:

kantag 2.0.0

Introduction
kantag is a set of Python libraries and tools for managing audio file (flac,
ogg vorbis, mp3, and m4a) metadata using external text files called “kantag
files”. The format of the file is identical regardless of audio file type.
Included is a tool to generate the text file from existing tags, path, and
MusicBrainz data, initkan; a tool to write the
metadata to the audio file tags, applykan; and a tool to display metadata,
showkan. A typical kantag file would have lines that look like like
this:
# Album / common track info
a AlbumArtist=Rush
a AlbumArtistSort=Rush
a Album=2112
a Date=1976-03-12

a Composer=Geddy Lee
a ComposerSort=Lee, Geddy
t 01-05 Composer=Alex Lifeson
t 01-05 ComposerSort=Lifeson, Alex
t 01-03,06 Lyricist=Neil Peart
t 01-03,06 LyricistSort=Peart, Neil

t 01 Title=2112
t 01 Work=2112
t 01 Part=1. Overture
t 01 Part=2. The Temples of Syrinx
t 01 Part=3. Discovery
t 01 Part=4. Presentation
t 01 Part=5. Oracle: The Dream
t 01 Part=6. Soliloquy
t 01 Part=7. Grand Finale


Typical Usage
In a typical kantag workflow, the user will have an album of audio files,
whether ripped from a CD, purchased from an online store, downloaded from
Bandcamp, or another source. In most cases, the files will already contain
metadata tags. MusicBrainz Picard is a
recommended choice for setting the initial metadata, especially for files ripped
from physical media. The tool initkan will produce a baseline file for
a set of audio files:
$ initkan -v -b=y -M=y *.ogg > tags.kan
The output would typically be retained as a file in the same folder as the audio
files, as in the above example. Then, the file can be edited by any available
text editor, to meet the user’s personal tastes. Note, there are additional
tags recognized by the kantag tools that are not necessarily output by
initkan. To write the tags back to the audio files, use applykan:
$ applykan -v tags.kan *.ogg


Installation

Warning

Some Linux distributions discourage installation of system-level python
packages using pip or setup.py install, due to collisions with the
system package manager. In those cases, dependencies should be installed
through the package manager, if possible, or choose a user folder
installation method.



Installing with pip
If your system has pip installed, and you have access to install software in
the system packages, then kantag kan be installed as administrator from
PyPI:
# pip install kantag
If you do not have access to install system packages, or do not wish to install
in the system location, it can be installed in a user folder:
$ pip install --user kantag


Installing from source
Either download a release tarball from the
Releases page, and
unpack:
$ tar zxvf kantag-1.1.0.tar.gz
Or get the latest source from the git repository:
$ git clone https://github.com/dgasaway/kantag.git
If you have access to install software in the system packages, then it can be
installed as administrator:
# python setup.py install
If you do not have access to install system packages, or do not wish to install
in the system location, it can be installed in a user folder:
$ python setup.py install --user



File Format
Overall, if the kantag file contains any non-ASCII characters, it should be
UTF-8 encoded without BOM. Each line is parsed according to the rules below.
Blank lines are allowed and ignored.

Line format
The first character of a line indicates the line type:


Char
Description



#
A comment line that will be ignored.

a
A tag that will be applied to all files.

d
A tag that will be applied to selected discs.

t
A tag that will be applied to selected tracks.



For disc and track types, next is a space followed by a list of disc/track
numbers to which the tag applies. The list is comma separated and may
contain ranges indicated by a hyphen. Some examples:


Selector
Description



t 10
Applies to track 10.

d 2
Applies to all tracks on disc 2.

d 1-3
Applies to all tracks on discs 1, 2, and 3.

t 01,05-07,10
Applies to tracks 1, 5, 6, 7, and 10.



The numbers may need to be zero padded as in the above track example if the
audio filename has the disc or track number zero padded. This can also depend
on the setting the --path-regex option passed to applykan. With default
settings, track numbers should be padded to two digits in the kantag file and
in filenames. In addition, when working with a multi-disc release, track numbers
should be prepended with the disc number, as in these examples:


Selector
Description



t 101-103
Applies to tracks 1 to 3 of disc 1.

t 105,201-202
Applies to track 5 of disc 1, and tracks 1 and 2 of disc 2.



Next comes a space and the tag name/value pair separated by an equal sign.
Anything before the first equal sign will be used as the tag name, anything
after and to the end of the line is the value. Putting it all together, you
have something like this:
t 07 Composer=Jaromír Weinberger
There is no support for multi-line values. Instead, use multiple instances of
the tag:
t 07 Comment=Work premièred in 1927.
t 07 Comment=Known in English as "Švanda the Bagpiper" or "Schwanda the Bagpiper".

License

For personal and professional use. You cannot resell or redistribute these repositories in their original state.

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