Copying tags between music files

Over the years, I’ve ripped CDs in various formats. In the beginning, it was MP3, but I soon switched to OGG. A few years ago I, it made the switch to FLAC. Unfortunately, that leaves me with a large “sediment” of files in lossy formats and I’ve started to rip those again — for the last time, I hope.

The ripping is tedious, but redoing the tags would be far worse. So here’s a script to help avoid the drudgery.

This is how it is used:

$ copytags.rb --help
Usage: copytags [options] from_pattern to_pattern
    -n, --dry-run                    Don't run any commands, just print them
    -t, --tag                        copy tags from matching files (default)
    -T, --no-tag                     do not copy tags from matching files
    -r, --rename                     rename from matching files
    -R, --no-rename                  do not rename from matching files (default)
    -q, --quiet                      Display less information
    -v, --verbose                    Display extra information
    -h, --help                       Show this message

Examples
    # Copy tags from 1.Track.ogg to 1.Track.flac
    copytags '%.1d.*.ogg' '%.1d.*.flac'

    # Copy tags from 01.Track.ogg to 01.Track.flac
    copytags '%.2d.*.ogg' '%.2d.*.flac'
                                                                                                                                                    
    # Assuming 1.Song.ogg, rename 1.Track.flac to 1.Song.flac                                                                                       
    copytags -rT '%.1d.*.ogg' '%.1d.*.flac'                                                                                                         

And this is the script:

Art Zoyd: Le champ des larmes

But is it music? Acoustic art may be more descriptive. To get an idea, imagine what it might sound like in the engine bay of battered space freighter. Yes, I’m assuming there’s air in the bay and you better hope that you notice the quietly approaching Alien early enough to run for it.

Listening to this Art Zoyd album won’t kill you, but you better be sure to check your ears afterwards.