Mastroska as a general audio-container - useable? Options

[Guest_schlauf_*]

Hi there,

I've been thinking about using Matroska as a general audio-container solution in oder to display stuff like lyrics, in-depth information and more about my music.

AFAIK there are no software muxing applications that allow for a comfortable editing and final mastering of a .mka-file, right? The only file I was able to grab was AVIMux-GUI, and it did not a good job in muxing SRT-files (as a lyrics solution) and, say, an MP3-file.

So, what is recommended to use in order to include different audio files (MPC, Vorbis, MP3, FLAC) in an .mka-container, preferably with lyrics, common tags and, eventually, more information such as covers ... ?

Thanks

[robUx4]

You might try MKVMerge. But AFAIK only MP1/2/3, Vorbis and (HE-)AAC are supported. No FLAC or MPC (yet).
You can already have nice tags.

[ChristianHJW]

FLAC is supported by mkvmerge .....

[spase]

You might try MKVMerge. But AFAIK only MP1/2/3, Vorbis and (HE-)AAC are supported. No FLAC or MPC (yet).
You can already have nice tags.

FLAC is supported. As of now I take a single FLAC file with tracks/chapters defined in the MKA by referencing an external CUE sheet, mux it with the original CUE sheet (for burning purposes) and the original EAC .log file, and mux them all into an MKA container. I see no reason other sorts of files could not be attached.

As far as "user friendly" things, try the MKVMerge GUI, aka "mmg." It is in the standard distribution for windows from the mkvmerge site. Personally I found it easier to write a batch file and use it to do things for me. You can find that here.

NOTE: MKVMerge is a slightly misleading name, as it can handle all sorts of files, not just video.

[robUx4]

Yeah, indeed I was totally wrong about FLAC.
And we are all waiting for MPC in Matroska now

[seanyseansean]

Yeah, indeed I was totally wrong about FLAC.
And we are all waiting for MPC in Matroska now

I was going to PM Christian about mpc, but this thread seems as appropriate a place. What's the next step, then? Are we waiting on Frank to do his magic, or are there things we could do now?

And regarding the usefulness of matroska as a container right now, i'm thinking of testing the format with my mp3s (only about 500, most are musepack). Am I right in assuming I can take a whole mp3 album, remux it into 1 matroska file, with art etc, the result of which I can play this 1 file album in foobar?

sean

This post has been edited by seanyseansean: Mar 27 2004, 16:44

[echo]

Am I right in assuming I can take a whole mp3 album, remux it into 1 matroska file, with art etc, the result of which I can play this 1 file album in foobar?

Yep, you can do that. But I think that you have to join the mp3's into one big mp3 first and then mux it to matroska along with a cue/chapters file and everything else you want in it. They play just fine with foobar.

regards
echo

[Guest_schlauf_*]

Now, first of all thanks go out to everybody who has helped me. Indeed, MKVMerge is a comfortable solution for my needs. What additional software would I need for foobar in order to display the embedded lyrics texts?

[seanyseansean]

Am I right in assuming I can take a whole mp3 album, remux it into 1 matroska file, with art etc, the result of which I can play this 1 file album in foobar?

Yep, you can do that. But I think that you have to join the mp3's into one big mp3 first and then mux it to matroska along with a cue/chapters file and everything else you want in it. They play just fine with foobar.

regards
echo

Thank you.

And which is the best tool for joining the mp3s and creating a .cue file?

sean

[echo]

And which is the best tool for joining the mp3s and creating a .cue file?

Try a google search with "join mp3 files"! Well, the always available way is to run a "copy /b file1.mp3+file2.mp3+...+fileX.mp3 /b album.mp3". The resulting file will only play the first track as an mp3 but once you mux in to matroska it will be OK. I don't think there is an automated way to create the cue files though, but you can create those manually. Try to edit an existing one. They are quite self-explenatory I think...

regards
echo

[music_man_mpc]

I don't think there is an automated way to create the cue files though, but you can create those manually.

That wouldn't be too fun if you have a lot of albums to mux.

[seanyseansean]

I don't think there is an automated way to create the cue files though, but you can create those manually.

That wouldn't be too fun if you have a lot of albums to mux.

Yup, it renders the whole exercise completely unlikely

Besides, I hate cue files - whenever I rip an album, I just stick the music files in the directory and that's it. 1 file per album would be ace though

[ChristianHJW]

Indeed, an automatic file appending and CUE sheet / XML chapter file creation tool would be uber-cool, also when looking at future MPC support in matroska ..... no volunteers ?

[jcsston]

I don't think there is an automated way to create the cue files though, but you can create those manually.

That wouldn't be too fun if you have a lot of albums to mux.

EAC can save a .cue sheet from a audio cd.

[Pamel]

What additional software would I need for foobar in order to display the embedded lyrics texts?

I wish I knew. What is normally used to display embedded lyrics in foobar?

[Der_Iltis]

Is there a GUI for mkvmerge? I want to put all my oggs and mp3s into mka's. What do I have to do in order to get them played in Foobar 0.8.1?

[xmixahlx]

yeah. the gui is called mmg found in mkvtoolnix (linux)

windows has a few that do the same thing (and are named mmg, but different, iirc)


later

[tiki4]

mmg by Moritz Bunkus is the same program in Windows and Linux. It was written with a toolkit called wxWidgets (former wxWindows) which allows GUI programs for Windows and Linux (and other platforms?). I think on Linux it relies on GTK+, on the Windows side on MFC.

tiki4

[xmixahlx]

mmg by Moritz Bunkus is the same program in Windows and Linux. It was written with a toolkit called wxWidgets (former wxWindows) which allows GUI programs for Windows and Linux (and other platforms?). I think on Linux it relies on GTK+, on the Windows side on MFC.

tiki4

hrm, i guess i was referring to BOTH
http://corecodec.org/projects/mmg/
http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/index.html

explained here...
http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/index.html#gui

although i don't know what the status is for windows GUI apps in the slightest


later

This post has been edited by xmixahlx: Apr 8 2004, 14:29