mp3 file length in time

[Jay]

In python, I know there are a couple of modules for getting id3 info,
but what about the length of an mp3 file in time? Is there a way to
aquire that info? Most of my MP3s don't have id3 tags. I don't care
for them. But I need to use python to get their file lengths. How?

 

[Paul Rubin]

In python, I know there are a couple of modules for getting id3 info,
but what about the length of an mp3 file in time? Is there a way to
aquire that info? Most of my MP3s don't have id3 tags. I don't care
for them. But I need to use python to get their file lengths. How?

You have to count the frames. Lots of mp3 files use variable bit
rates, so you can't go by the file length.

 

[Jay]

Any tips on how to do that?

You have to count the frames. Lots of mp3 files use variable bit
rates, so you can't go by the file length.

 

[Paul Rubin]

Any tips on how to do that?

You might type "python mp3" into google. That's often the fastest way
to find answers of this type.

 

[Tim Heaney]

Any tips on how to do that?

Just as there are modules to help you read ID3 tags, there are modules
to help you read the data. For example, MAD

http://www.underbit.com/products/mad/

can be used from Python

http://spacepants.org/src/pymad/

so that you could get the length of a track in milliseconds with
something like

import mad
print mad.MadFile("a_track.mp3").total_time()

There are other modules for other libraries as well.

I hope this helps,

Tim