One thing you'll quickly learn about Linux is that the command line is alive and well. Just right-click on the desktop and select New Terminal. It's your first step into jerkdom. Hopefully, you've created a User account (and not running as the root). You'll see something like the following line:
[one@one one]$
This tells you three things: One, the user is named one, two the computer is named one and three we're in the directory one. Or to be precise, /home/one as the command pwd will atest. Logging on as the root, with a command of su (followed by authentication), is akin to administrator access in Windows, and changes the prompt to:
[root@one one]#Of course, not even an itjerk wants to go back to the command line era, so you've undoubtedly discovered one of two of Linux's fine GUIs, Gnome or KDE. While both have their merits, I'll be using “g-nome”. Just like Windows or Mac, it's loaded with all sorts of interfaces and control panels designed to prevent you from every using that command line again. Just click the little red hat icon on the task bar to peruse the rich menu. Now let's get back to music. Red Hat hides two of our primary applications for MP3 playback in the Sound and Video menu under More Sound and Video Applications. Let's meet them:
Step One Playing Music Files
XMMS
Real Name: X Multimedia System
Website: www.xmms.org
XMMS is the Linux clone of the veritable Windows warhorse, Winamp. Not the fanciest piece of software, but just like Winamp, it works and it works well. However, there are three things we'll have to do before we can start playing MP3s. First, let's download the most current version from:
http://www.xmms.org/download.php
Be sure to pick the correct package, or rpm. In our case, it's RedHat 9, i386. There's no need to get the devel(oper) or debug package - we're mere mortals. Second, there's an input plugin for Ogg Vorbis. We'll need to download that as well. Oddly, although OGG is the defacto music format standard for Linux, one needs to install a plugin in order to get OGG playback. Finally, let's install both, by typing at the command line:
# rpm -Uvh xmms-1.2.8-1.i386.rpmand when it completes
# rpm -ivh xmms-vorbis-1.2.8-1.i386.rpmThis accomplished two things for us. First, it installed (or rather upgraded as the U parameter indicates) the current version of XMMS - which also enabled MP3 playback - and second it installed the OGG Vorbis plugin so we may listen to OGG files. If you select preferences, you should see the following:
You'll notice that our input plugins, libmpg123.so and libvorbis.so, are installed, and just as importantly the output plugin OSS Driver, libOSS.so. Great news, now you're able to play MP3 and OGG files. Step One accomplished.
Step Two Creating Music Files
GRIP
Real Name: G(nome) Rip
Website: www.nostatic.org/grip/
Grip is a decent software package that serves as a front end to rip and encode Audio CDs. Grip utilizes Cdparanoia to rip the audio from the disc and we'll add Lame to encode the our files to MP3. Grip provides an OGG encoder as well, and pulls titles and information (for ID3 tags) from CDDB. Again, let's first download the current version from the link below. We'll take the latest stable version, selecting the Red Hat 9.0 RPM and update our installed version by entering the following at a command line. Of course, you can always double-click on the rpm packages to install them as well.http://nostatic.org/grip/grip-download.shtml
# rpm -Uvh grip-3.0.7-1.i386.rpmBefore we can begin encoding, we have to install an MP3 encoder in order to make MP3s. Lame is one of the best, and can be downloaded from the link below (usually located under a local mirror). Then we can install it by double-clicking or using the command below.
http://www.rpmfind.net/linux/RPM/
# rpm -ivh lame-3.93.1-1.i386.rpmNow that everthings is installed, we'll need to configure Grip. Most people use variable bit rate encoding (VBR) instead of constant bit rate (CBR). This allows a little extra headroom when encoding needs it and, coupled with a high average bit rate (ABR), ensures a consistent quality MP3. ID3 tags contain information about the track. There are two version, with ID3v2 being more robust. Itunes, for instance, will always read from the ID3v2 tag first.
1. First, enter the base encoding value into Grip under the Config> Encode> Options tag. I use 192 kps, which you should too if you want to share those files with anyone with chin held high. Anything less isn't worth the download.
2. Under the ID3 tag tab, be sure to check the box “Only tag files ending in MP3” (otherwise your OGG files won't play). The other boxes should also be checked if you want to add ID3 tags to your files. Also, enter a comment line if you choose, especially so the RIAA can hunt you down.
3. Finally, go to the Config> Encode> Encoder tab. Here's where we choose which encoder Grip will use. Be careful when switching between them as Grip doesn't always switch accordingly! For details on what each switch entry means, consult Grip's extensive Help.
The Switches for the LAME encoder are as follows (CBR, VBR):
-h -b %b %w %m
-h -v -m j --abr %b %w %m
The switches for the OGG encoder are as follows (CBR, VBR):
-o %m -a %a -l %d -t %n -b %b %w
-o %m -a %a -l %d -t %n -N %t -G %G -d %y -q 4 %w
And finally, enter the "Encoded File Format" (MP3, OGG):
~/mp3/%a/%y %d/%t-%n.mp3
~/ogg/%a/%y %d/%t-%n.oggThis will create the encoded file with the following naming convention:
~/ext/Artist Name/Year Album Title/Track Number - Track Title.ext
Be advised that when you change the encoder type in GRIP, it doesn't change the “Encode File Format” line. Same applies with the rip file format under the Config> Rip> Ripper tab (it may leave an empty directory after it deletes the wav file).
Great news, we're ready to Rip some CDs to our hard drive. One thing about Grip. It's only as fast as your hardware. On my box, the paltry 500mhz, this isn't that fast. Even with the “nice value” maxed at -20, the fastest I can get Cdparanoia to rip is about 7x, while Lame creeps in at about 1.4x (OGG is slightly faster, btw). Not very fast, but as something of a consolation, rest assured the quality is top notch.
Step Three Editing ID3 Tags
EasyTAG
website: easytag.sourceforge.net
Let's install one final application. EasyTAG is a ID3 tag editor that, while not essential, will aid in scrubbing our archive of music downloads. Again, most music managers use ID3 tags to sort, making properly tagged MP3s more than desirable. With its convenient tree view, EasyTAG will handily browse through directories if you follow the naming convention outlined above in Grip. EasyTAG handles both MP3 and OGG files, the latter of which doesn't use ID3.
First, we'll download the current version of EasyTAG and the dependent library, id3lib. Again, choose the Red Hat 9 packages, version 0.30 of the program and 3.8.3-1 of the library from the link below:
http://easytag.sourceforge.net/
Note that EasyTAG is dependent on the library id3lib, and the rpm won't install without it. So let's first install:
# rpm -ivh id3lib-3.8.3-1_rh9.i386.rpmand when that completes:
# rpm -ivh easytag-0.30-1_rh9.i386.rpmVoila! Now create a shortcut to the program by right-clicking on the desktop and choosing New Launcher. Under Name, put the name of the program, while the Comment field holds the mouse-over text. The program was installed in the /usr/bin directory, so in the Command field we'll need to put our path and program name, /usr/bin/easytag. Remember, Linux is case sensitive. You'll also need to assign an icon to the launcher item. Great, now double-click and run EasyTAG. Unfortunately EasyTAG wants to scan the our drives and find all of our music files when first run, but that's nothing a quick change of the preferences won't handle. Again, it's an early version of the program, but certainly more efficient than using Nautilus or XMMS. It also creates playlists quite easily, which integrates well with XMMS.
Next, we'll look at ways to handle our music files, including CD Recording, file sharing and transfering to USB devices.