Embedding Cuesheet file into a FLAC file, A question... Options

[adam917]

Is it possible to embed a Cuesheet file (*.cue) inside a FLAC file after the FLAC file's creation? Here's the Cuesheet I want to embed:

CODE

PERFORMER Enigma
TITLE "MCMXC A.D."
FILE "Enigma - MCMXC A.D..wav" WAVE
 TRACK 01 AUDIO
   TITLE "The Voice of Enigma"
   PERFORMER Enigma
   INDEX 00 00:00:00
   INDEX 01 00:00:25
 TRACK 02 AUDIO
   TITLE "Principles of Lust: A. Sadeness, B. Find Love, C. Sadeness (Reprise)"
   PERFORMER Enigma
   INDEX 01 02:22:10
   INDEX 02 06:31:05
   INDEX 03 11:16:32
 TRACK 03 AUDIO
   TITLE "Callas Went Away"
   PERFORMER Enigma
   INDEX 01 14:06:05
 TRACK 04 AUDIO
   TITLE "Mea Culpa"
   PERFORMER Enigma
   INDEX 01 18:33:70
 TRACK 05 AUDIO
   TITLE "The Voice and the Snake"
   PERFORMER Enigma
   INDEX 01 23:37:27
 TRACK 06 AUDIO
   TITLE "Knocking on Forbidden Doors"
   PERFORMER Enigma
   INDEX 01 25:17:25
 TRACK 07 AUDIO
   TITLE "Back to the Rivers of Belief: A. Way to Eternity, B. Hallelujah, C. The River..."
   PERFORMER Enigma
   INDEX 01 29:48:62
   INDEX 02 32:09:65
   INDEX 03 36:15:25

How much of this information would be embedded into the FLAC file? I never usually embedd Cuesheets within media files because I want to keep the media file "clean" but, my Winamp 5.01 has a plugin called "MP3CUE", which reads Cuesheets embedded into MP3 files' ID3v2 tags. Since FLAC supports this natively, I was wondering if I could do the same with FLACs.

PS: The Cuesheet's pointing to a WAV. Will this matter? I have it pinting to the WAV because WAV is 100% supported by all software that uses Cuesheets for recording CDs via them or CD image.

[Shockwave]

Dont know the answer, but had to comment. Thats a good CD right there.

[sinan]

CODE

metaflac --import-cuesheet-from=YOURCUEFILE

Titles, performers and file name are not imported. Therefore the file extension doesn't matter.

[ChristianHJW]

I know i may be told i am doing advertising again, but you can make a matroska audio file ( .mka ) from your FLAC, and convert the CUE sheet into a matroska chapter file with mkvmerge. The process is lossless, the FLAC will be taken from its native framing and put into the matroska container, content stays unchanged.

There is a thread about this here.

You will also read there that your matroska file will currently not allow sample precise seeking, while other containers like MP4 or Ogg allow this already. We are working on this issue, but its not resolved yet .... of course, the created files will be spec compliant and can be played fine in foobar2k ...

[adam917]

I know i may be told i am doing advertising again, but you can make a matroska audio file ( .mka ) from your FLAC, and convert the CUE sheet into a matroska chapter file with mkvmerge. The process is lossless, the FLAC will be taken from its native framing and put into the matroska container, content stays unchanged.

There is a thread about this here.

You will also read there that your matroska file will currently not allow sample precise seeking, while other containers like MP4 or Ogg allow this already. We are working on this issue, but its not resolved yet .... of course, the created files will be spec compliant and can be played fine in foobar2k ...

No, but thanks anyway! I use Winamp 5.01. Anyway, I want to keep the file as *.flac (pure), in case I may need it for stand-alone audio uses...

[adam917]

Dont know the answer, but had to comment. Thats a good CD right there. 

Thanks! I've been an Enigma fan since 1999-09-18, when I got that CD, and since then, I got "The Cross of Changes" (1994), "The Return to Innocence" (CD Single, 1993), "The Screen Behind the Mirror" (2000), and "Mystic Mixes" (2000). I'm dying to get their other albums ("Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!" (1996) and "Voyageur" (2003)), as well as their singles. www.enigmamusic.com has a complete discography of all Enigma material. BTW, I had no idea that "Metamorphosis" (1999) was a bootleg album (http://www.enigmamusic.com/ (2004-01-11))! I saw it for sale at www.amazon.com in 2000 or so! LOL I no longer see it there, though!

PS: The woman's (I forget her name) voice is very beautifully- and sexy-sounding !

Enigma's sound is changing, though. As of "The Screen Behind the Mirror", the sound is evolved much from the likes of "MCMXC A.D." (1992) and "The Cross of Changes" (1994)... I like their older sound better...

This post has been edited by adam917: Jan 11 2004, 14:34

[adam917]

Thanks for all of the advice given here everyone! I think I'll just stick with the unmodified (except for tag) FLAC + CUE in the same directory. Does anyone save any say on what to do regarding CDs that are a single long track? I have many of those and wonder if anyone on here uses the Cuesheet file to keep the FLAC exact. Usually, besides CD-TEXT and Index info, there probably isn't much else I'd use them for on single-track CDs... What's everyone's opinion on this matter?

[adam917]

CODE

metaflac --import-cuesheet-from=YOURCUEFILE

Titles, performers and file name are not imported. Therefore the file extension doesn't matter.

But track and index marks are, right?

[jcoalson]

CODE

metaflac --import-cuesheet-from=YOURCUEFILE

Titles, performers and file name are not imported. Therefore the file extension doesn't matter.

But track and index marks are, right?

yes.

[adam917]

CODE

metaflac --import-cuesheet-from=YOURCUEFILE

Titles, performers and file name are not imported. Therefore the file extension doesn't matter.

But track and index marks are, right?

yes.

Thanks...

[spase]

CODE

metaflac --import-cuesheet-from=YOURCUEFILE

Titles, performers and file name are not imported. Therefore the file extension doesn't matter.

But track and index marks are, right?

Yes. Same with ISRC/UPC codes and all the other info.

I also have just decided to go with FLAC files and external cuesheets since there is really no standard way to get the artist and track names into the FLAC file when the whole CD is one file and the cuesheet is internal. The way to do it that work with foobar2000 is complicated and involves setting each tag manually.

I actually decided to put the cuesheets in a different directory than the actual FLAC files for simplicity sake (as my original aim was one file per CD).

Alternatively you can put the FLAC into an Ogg container, but you need to set the serial number for each track defined by the CUE seperately. This is also not an automated process.

On a side note...

I know i may be told i am doing advertising again, but you can make a matroska audio file ( .mka ) from your FLAC, and convert the CUE sheet into a matroska chapter file with mkvmerge. The process is lossless, the FLAC will be taken from its native framing and put into the matroska container, content stays unchanged.

There is a thread about this here.

You will also read there that your matroska file will currently not allow sample precise seeking, while other containers like MP4 or Ogg allow this already. We are working on this issue, but its not resolved yet .... of course, the created files will be spec compliant and can be played fine in foobar2k ...

When I tried to import a cuesheet made in the latest available EAC into a MKA using the latest downloaded mmg, it failed saying it was an unrecognized format or something.

[ShavenYak]

I also have just decided to go with FLAC files and external cuesheets since there is really no standard way to get the artist and track names into the FLAC file when the whole CD is one file and the cuesheet is internal.  The way to do it that work with foobar2000 is complicated and involves setting each tag manually.

That's not entirely true - I've just started re-ripping my CD collection to .flac+.cue. What I do is rip to .wav+.cue with EAC, compress to .flac and embed the .cue with the Flac front-end, then drag the .flac (NOT the .cue) to a Foobar2000 playlist. Now I can select all the tracks and use the foo_freedb plugin to tag them in one step. At this point, the .cue is pretty much redundant, but I keep it around anyway since I can spare the 2k or so.

Of course, I'm all ears if anyone has any ideas on how I could increase the efficiency of this process, but right now it works great for me. I should probably set up Flac as my external compressor in EAC, but I haven't gotten around to that yet. Anyone have the correct command line for EAC to compress at level 6 and embed the cuesheet in one swoop?