Linux Tutorial Blog

My short solution to convert flac to mp3 caught a lot of attention, and uncovered a demand for a more sophisticated solution. Therefore, after all the scripts posted in the comments, I decided to go on and write an extensive script that should be able to offer all the requested functionality (and more). This post contains a script and installation instructions to allow you to convert both individual files and directories, keep the tags of the files fully intact and enjoy an easy-to-use drag 'n drop interface.
 

The script

First of all, you can get the script here: flac2mp3. Its features are:

• Converts both individual files and directories
• Keeps the tags
• Full support for weird characters in filenames (they just need to end in .flac, case insensitive)
• Drag 'n drop support (tested in Gnome and KDE)
• Progress and estimated time left indication

The script requires a recent version of bash and the flac, metaflac and lame commands. 

Installation

The installation is pretty straightforward. After downloading the script (see the link in the previous section), make sure it's in a standard logical folder (I recommend ~/bin, though others may like to put the script in /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin to make it available to all users) and that you have the execute permission to it. If not, you can use your favourite file manager to give yourself that permission or use a command, like:

[rechosen@localhost ~]$ chmod u+x ~/bin/flac2mp3

Note: if you placed the script in /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin, you should make it executable for everyone, like:

[rechosen@localhost ~]$ sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/flac2mp3

Using drag 'n drop

I prepared .desktop files for both KDE and Gnome. You can download flac2mp3kde.desktop and flac2mp3gnome.desktop, respectively. After saving it to your desktop (usually in the folder ~/Desktop), you may want/need to alter a few things of the shortcut (right click on it and edit its properties):

• When using Gnome, you'll have to change the username in "/home/USERNAME/bin/flac2mp3" to your own username (provided that you've placed the script there, otherwise you should either specify the full path or omit the path entirely and just use the script's name).
• You can choose the bitrate of the converted mp3 files by changing the value after the -b option. If you want to use VBR, you can specify custom options for lame using the -l option (see Usage for instructions).
• You can choose the amount of source directories to retain by altering the value after the -d option. This sets the amount of directories of the source path used for placing the target mp3. It works from the right to the left. Example:
  /home/rechosen/music/After Edmund/Hello/01_Thank_God.flac
  will be converted to the following directory is -d is set to 2:
  <outputdir>/After Edmund/Hello/01_Thank_God.mp3
  And if -d is set to 1:
  <outputdir>/Hello/01_Thank_God.mp3
• You can choose the output directory by replacing the path after the -o option. If you omit the option entirely, convert files will be placed in the same directory as the source files (e.g. /home/rechosen/music/After Edmund/Hello/01_Thank_God.flac is converted to /home/rechosen/music/After Edmund/Hello/01_Thank_God.mp3). If you do specify a path, don't forget specifying the amount of source directories to retain using the -d option (see the previous bullet).

You should leave the -r option as it is, so both files and directories will be supported. If you placed the script in an other place than ~/bin, you should (of course) change the script location at the start of the command. After you've modified the desktop shortcut to your likings, you may drag and drop files and/or directories into it. Just select some files or directories in your file manager, click and drag them to your desktop and onto the shortcut. The script will try to convert any file ending in .flac (case insensitive) to an mp3. Be aware that you can safely move the shortcut to your panel, so it'll always be easily reachable.

Usage

When running the script with the option --help, you will see the following:

Usage: flac2mp3 [-b bitrate] [-d dirstoretain] [-l lameopts]
[-o outputdirectory] [-r] FILES
This script uses the tools flac, metaflac and lame to convert flac files to
mp3s. Accepts both individual files and directories (the latter when using the
-r option).

Explanation of the options:
    -b bitrate          Specifies the bitrate of the converted mp3. Defaults to
                        128. Specify a bitrate of "none" to stop the -b option
                        from being passed to lame.
    -d dirstoretain     Specifies how many directory names to retain when using
                        both -r and -o. Works from right to left. See the -r
                        option for an example.
    -l lameopts         Allows to give custom options to lame. Make sure to
                        surround them with quotes (e.g. -l "-V 6")!
    -o outputdirectory  Specifies the directory to write the mp3s to. If not
                        specified, the mp3s will be written to the directory
                        where the flac files are located.
    -r                  Makes the script look for flac files recursively. If
                        this option is specified together with an alternative
                        output directory, the mp3s will be written to the
                        specified output directory plus the current relative
                        path of the flac file. Example:
                        "After Edmund/Hello/01_Thank_God.flac"
                        will be converted to
                        "<outputdirectory>/After Edmund/Hello/01_Thank_God.mp3."

                        ATTENTION: When using full paths (like
                        /home/user/music/After Edmund/Hello/01_Thank_God.flac),
                        you can determine how many directories the script will
                        retain using the -d option. With -d 2, the full path
                        file just above will be converted to:
                        "<outputdirectory>/After Edmund/Hello/01_Thank_God.mp3."

    -s                  Do not use this option unless you know what you are
                        doing! It is used internally to self-execute the
                        script for conversion.
    -v                  Be verbose; makes the script tell what it is doing.

For more information see http://www.linuxtutorialblog.com/.
No warranty included with this script ;-)                              Rechosen

That should explain most of it already, though there are some other things useful to know:

• To convert to a VBR mp3, use (for example) -b none -l "-V 6".
• To be able to run the script directly (without explicit path) if you placed it in ~/bin, add the following line to your ~/.bashrc:
  

  export PATH="$PATH:~/bin"

• The script nullifies any genre tags lame does not provide to prevent errors. It is currently not possible to specify an alternate genre in this case, though I may add that by request. For now, please make sure the flacs' genres are valid lame genres.
• Related to the former statement, the script truncates the comment tag to 30 characters to prevent lame from throwing an error on comment length. Request if you'd wish to see an option.

Have fun using the script and feel free to comment if you spot anything that could use an update (or if you don't understand something)!

Related Articles:

• Solution: Converting flac to mp3
• Introduction: FLAC, the Free Lossless Audio Codec
• Tutorial: Conditions in bash scripting (if statements)

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