From: Stefan Holst <mail@...>
Date: 2005-02-16T19:16:52+09:00
Subject: Re: Reading mp3 files

Scott Rubin wrote:
> I've been writing some simple music collection management scripts in 
> ruby lately, and it seems to be going well.  I found ruby id3 with a 
> google search, it while not perfect it seems to meet my needs.  However, 
> I can't seem to find any ruby library/class that will help me get 
> information out of mp3/ogg/etc. files that is not ID3.  For example I 
> would like to examine any mp3 file and determine its bitrate and 
> playtime. Is there a utility to give me this functionality or am I going 
> to have to write a wrapper for a C library?

i've already written a wrapper which might suit your needs. it is
rather new and it's also the first time i mention it here.
it wraps xine (http://xine.sf.net), a media player library you might
heard of and can be found here:

http://xiron.sourceforge.net/

only a cvs module (xiron-new) is available for now, it is not yet
released. you may also need the latest cvs of xine-lib since xiron may
trigger some bugs in lastest released version.

you can retrieve information about _any_ media file xine supports:

stefan@droopy data $ irb -r xiron
irb(main):001:0> s = Stream.new VideoPort.none, AudioPort.none
=> #<Stream:0x40715de4>
irb(main):002:0> s.open "ogg_vorbis.ogg"
=> true
irb(main):003:0> s.length
=> 10.011
irb(main):004:0> s.title
=> "Matrix XP Soundtrack"
irb(main):005:0> s.bitrate
=> 110734
irb(main):006:0> s.open "xvid.avi"
=> true
irb(main):007:0> s.length
=> 120.0
irb(main):008:0>

you can also play these files of course.

but there are also a few catches:
- xine has a relatively large memory footprint which might be too blown
   for your needs
- the tag informations are only readible for now
- only tested on linux, might also work on other unix-derivates


RY
Stefan