MP3 and ID3 library/module recommendations

[p.]

Wondering what experiences people have had using various packages for
extracting data from and manipulating mp3 files. Specifically, i need
to get a song duration, which as i understand it, you extract from the
framesets, as well as the typical id3 stuff like artist, album, song,
year, etc. Ideally, i'd also like something that converts audio files
to mp3 format.

Looking on the the python package index, I see the following:
- eyeD3
- PyMedia
- hachoir-metadata
- libtagedit
- mutagen

Any others to consider?
What are peoples comments on these?

thanks all,
p.

 

[Basilisk96]

I use PyMedia and mutagen.

I've found PyMedia to be excellent for creating custom mp3 files from
line input and performing frequency/energy analysis. I can't say that
I've tried to convert other audio formats to MP3 with it, but I'm sure
it's possible. I was able to get a working binary of v1.3.7.3 for
win32 and python 2.5 directly from the author, since I have no way to
compile it from the source that's posted on the project website. If
you need it, let me know.

On the other hand, mutagen is a good lightweight utility for
extracting and modifying all kinds of audio metadata. On mp3's, that
includes track duration, all ID3 info, bitrate, sample rate, etc. It
provides an easy dictionary-like interface. It supports a number of
audio formats, but I don't believe it has conversion capability.

Cheers,
-Basilisk96