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WJMoore · 10:09 AM

I'm considering writing some software to split MP3's. The functionality would be based on the Windows musiCutter program. Main features I'm thinking of at the moment include:[list=1][*]Proper MP3 splitting ie. at frame boundary.[*]Preservation of ID3 tag (v1 or v2) if desired.[*]Loading splitting information from CUE sheets, readily available from cuesheet heaven. If you are unaware, CUE sheets include where to split a file and may also include artist & title information for the individual tracks. I could even investigate the possibility of utilising cuesheet heaven within the app with permission of course.[*]Ability to manually specify split times.[*]Ability to apply CUE sheet artist/title info to ID3 tag of split files.[*]Customisable generation of output file names.[*]Ogg support if I felt there was a big enough need.[/list=1]
I was wondering what people's thoughts on such an application were. I would be implementing it in Cocoa and following HI guidelines as appropriate. Any other features you might like? Do you think it would be unreasonable to make it shareware? I'm undecided how the shareware would work. Options include trial time then cripple, crippled from the start, nag screen only, no limitations at all and a small unobtrusive reminder on the app somewhere, donationware... If it were shareware what do you think a reasonable price would be (obviously you just have to make an estimate as there isn't really anything to compare it to at the moment)?

TIA,
Wesley

WJMoore · May 1, 2003, 10:07 AM

Ooops hit reply instead of edit.

SwarmyCurve · 08:46 PM

[this was a stupid post]

WJMoore · May 1, 2003, 07:03 PM

Originally posted by SwarmyCurve:
Sound Studio will work for you. I have split up long album-legnth mp3's using it. You can insert markers where you want a track to start/end and then with a huge set of markers, you just "split by markers" and each segment is exported.

I'm writing the software not looking for software... Also the main feature as I see it is autmoated cutting and taging via cue sheets.

SwarmyCurve · May 1, 2003, 08:45 PM

ahhh ajhdasflhasfhjajs

big opps.
so sorry.

WJMoore · May 4, 2003, 07:55 AM

So can i assume from the total lack of replies to my post that no one is really interested in such a program? I really thought there would be more people looking for a program to do this

oh well guess I was wrong. To gauge a response was part of the point of posting the original set of questions. Not to worry, I'll just have to come up with a new program idea.

Wesley

icruise · May 4, 2003, 10:24 AM

Who do you see as being the target audience for this kind of program? I do occasionally feel the need to split an MP3 (or more often, to cut a bit off of either end) but it's not something that I do often enough to warrant buying something for it, if you are planning to sell it as shareware.

WJMoore · May 4, 2003, 07:26 PM

Target audience as I see it are people who get single track dance mixes and classical music to be split into their respective tracks to allow more convienent playback. From the response I gather that the audience is pretty small (or at least not many of them are on MacNN

). I think I might still go ahead with it but keep the feature set down and make it free. I might also try and get a response from from a couple of newsgroups that might have more people on them that are interested in doing this kind of thing.

Wesley

badtz · Jun 4, 2003, 11:04 PM

i would be VERY interested in a program like this ...

voodoo · Jun 4, 2003, 11:33 PM

I am interested in this program!

WJMoore · Jun 5, 2003, 01:31 AM

I might consider doing it then, there's at least 3 people that might find it useful

. Not sure when I will start though as I have a lot of work on at the moment, I will keep it in mind though.

Wesley

msh · Jun 5, 2003, 09:53 PM

Would the software you are planning on writing be able to solve the iTunes gap problem? Ie. two CD tracks that are individually ID'd yet one track flows directly into the other.

In iTunes there will always be a gap between them.

If you have editing to the frame boundary, would that solve this?

WJMoore · Jun 6, 2003, 03:25 AM

No the software I'm proposing does the opposite, it breaks tracks up. For gapless playback the MP3 needs to be one single file. Which is why most mixes etc. are distributed this way. Problem is you lose all track info and the ability to select individual tracks for playlists.

My program would take the single large file, split it into tracks and add tags as appropriate. This would also introduce a small gap when consecutive tracks are played in iTunes. There's nothing that can be done about that until iTunes gains support for features in the ID3v2 specification that allow track boundaries within a single file to be specified (at least I think I recall that being in the spec when I read it, should read it again).

WM

badtz · Sep 14, 2003, 07:59 AM

any updates on the prog.?

still nothing for the mac platform

RMXO · Dec 9, 2003, 04:48 AM

i would be very interested in a program like this also. will your software be burning also? i still havent found a software for Mac that lets me burn mp3 .cue files yet. have to use windows for it.

badtz · Dec 9, 2003, 06:12 AM

i was using cue-splitter before.

but with version 2.0 [panther only] it is down right PERFECT!!!!

I break up a lot of live mixes and there's yet to be one cue-splitter can't split

WJMoore · Dec 9, 2003, 07:08 AM

cue-splitter looks like the perfect thing. I don't have to write it anymore. And it's free!

FireStarter can apparently burn with cue files, haven't tried it though.

RMXO · Dec 9, 2003, 10:55 PM

Originally posted by WJMoore:
cue-splitter looks like the perfect thing. I don't have to write it anymore. And it's free!

FireStarter can apparently burn with cue files, haven't tried it though.

how does cue-splitter work? i tried running it but it didnt launch for me. how did u use it?

FireStarterFX wont burn music .cue files. exact error msg.

"please select a valid data file (with a 'bin' extension"

tried changing .mp3 to .bin but it didnt work either.

kentuckyfried · 07:19 AM

^ Yeah....I wish cue-splitter had instructions...

I found the cue file off of cue-sheet heaven. But what extension does it have to have when I save it? The program keeps bombing out, so I assume I must be doing something incorrectly.

Does the source mp3 file have to be named exactly as it is mentioned in the cue file? etc etc.

Somebody's who's enlightened, please share your wisdom with us. =D Or at least point us to the document that will answer all our questions.

badtz · Jan 3, 2004, 09:05 AM

kentuckyfried ...

the reason it's bombing out is probably because the cue file doesn't know that the music file is in fact an "mp3" file. It must be stated in the cue file.

Also, did you rename your mp3 file to match what's in your cue file?

try downloading another cue file and see if it works for that set/mix/album.

I had the same problem on some of the sets I've downloaded, but eventually worked through all of the problems.

cue-splitter : GREAT software!!!!