sneetchalizer version 0.9.0

Manifest:

README                - You're reading it now.
LICENSE               - A copy of the GPL, under which sneetchalizer is released.
CHANGES               - sneetchalizer's cvs/svn commit log.
sneetchalizer         - The script itself.
sneetchalizer.1       - The manpage for sneetchalizer.
sneetchalizer.desktop - A KDE service menu for converting with Konqueror.
install.rb            - A quick and dirty script to install the sneetchalizer.

Install:
  If you have root/sudo capabilities you can use the included 'install.rb' ruby script
  to install sneetchalizer to /usr/bin, the manpage to /usr/share/man/man1, and the .desktop
  file to an appropriate KDE directory. Otherwise you will just have to move them somewhere
  appropriate manually.

Supported software:

  * lame - for MP3 encoding/decoding
      http://lame.sourceforge.net/
  * gogo - for MP3 encoding
      http://freshmeat.net/projects/gogo/
  * bladeenc - for MP3 encoding
      http://freshmeat.net/projects/bladeenc/
  * oggenc/oggdec - for Ogg Vorbis encoding/decoding
      http://www.vorbis.com/
  * speexenc/speexdec - for Speex encoding/decoding
      http://www.speex.org/
  * faac/faad - for AAC/M4A encoding/decoding
      http://www.audiocoding.com/
  * flac - for Flac encoding/decoding
      http://flac.sourceforge.net/
  * mplayer - for WMA encoding/decoding plus all video formats
      http://www.mplayerhq.hu/
  * mac - for APE encoding/decoding
      http://sourceforge.net/projects/mac-port
  * mppenc/mppdec - for Musepack encoding/decoding
      http://www.musepack.net/
  * wavpack/wvunpack - for Wavpack encoding/decoding
      http://www.wavpack.com/
  * ttaenc - for True Audio encoding/decoding
      http://www.true-audio.com/
  * ofr/ofs for OptimFROG and OptimFROG DualStream encoding/decoding
      http://www.losslessaudio.org/
  * sox - for aif/au/mp2/cdr encoding/decoding
      http://sox.sourceforge.net/

  Note: none of these are strictly 'required' per se. The sneetchalizer does not check
  that they are installed, (until attempting to use them) but obviously, if you want
  to encode to MP3 you need a supported mp3 encoder installed and so forth....

Optional software:

  * Guillaume Pierronnet's ruby-mp3info library (to grab mp3 tags)
      http://rubyforge.org/projects/ruby-mp3info/
  * Robin Stokers id3lib-ruby library (to grab mp3 tags)
      http://rubyforge.org/projects/id3lib-ruby/
  * Tilo Sloboda's ID3 library for Ruby (to grab mp3 tags)
      http://www.unixgods.org/~tilo/Ruby/ID3-v0.4/docs/index.html
  * Darren Kirby's wmainfo-rb library (to grab wma tags)
      http://rubyforge.org/projects/wmainfo/
  * Darren Kirby's flacinfo-rb library (to grab flac tags)
      http://rubyforge.org/projects/flacinfo-rb/
  * Jeremy Evans' ruby-apetag library (to grab Ape, Musepack, and Wavpack tags)
      http://rubyforge.org/projects/apetag/
  * Jason Terk's MP4Info library (to grab m4a et all tags)
      http://rubyforge.org/projects/mp4info/
  * Guillaume Pierronnet's ruby-ogginfo library (to grab Vorbis comments from ogg files)
      http://rubyforge.org/projects/ruby-ogginfo/

  The script will still work without these libs, but tags will not be retrieved except
  for Vorbis comments in Ogg files (by parsing the output of 'ogginfo') and m4a et al tags
  (by parsing the output of 'faad -i'. In all other cases scratch tags will be created.

  The script will search for and use id3 libs in order: ruby-mp3info, id3lib-ruby, id3.

  Most of these libraries are available to install via Gem. To install wmainfo-rb, for
  example, you can do:

  # gem install wmainfo-rb

  and it will be downloaded and installed automatically. Libraries that do not have gems
  will need to be downloaded and installed manually.

Usage:

  Read the manpage for detailed instructions or use the '--help' option.

KDE Servicemenu:

  The KDE Servicemenu creates an entry under the 'action' menu to allow conversions with
  sneetchalizer when right-clicking supported filetypes in Konqueror. The 'sneetchalizer.desktop'
  file should be placed in '$KDEDIR/share/apps/konqueror/servicemenus/'. This will be 
  something like '/usr/kde/3.5/share/apps/konqueror/servicemenus/' for a systemwide install
  or '~/.kde/share/apps/konqueror/servicemenus/' for a single user.

Bugs:

  Probably. There is a more comprehensive enumeration of bugs/gotchas in the man page.
  Please send bug reports to: sneetch@badcomputer.org
  If pasting console output, please run the command with '-v' and '-s' options enabled.

Roadmap:

  Short term plans (ie: for next release or so) include:
    * Allowing for more than one tool for the same job (ie: mpg321 as well as lame)
    * Supporting default config files (ie: .sneetchrc)
  Long term plans/ideas include:
    * Full-on CD ripper/encoder?
    * Fix naive threading.

License and Disclaimer:

  This program is released under the GPL. A copy is enclosed in the sneetchalizer tarball.
  If you make sneetchalizer better the author would appreciate if you send him a copy. This
  software comes without any warranty, and the author can accept absolutely no responsibility
  for lost or damaged files.

Author:

  This script was written by Darren Kirby :: d@badcomputer.org :: http://badcomputer.org/

Contributors:

  Vance Morgan <lafeyette_management [AT] comcast.net> noticed and fixed a bug in the install script.

  Peter 'H' <peterh_hretep [AT] yahoo.com> wrote the support for 'ape' (monkey's audio) files as well
  as some threading code I have not yet incorporated into the script.

  Sam Ockman <ockman [AT] gmail.com> suggested I print a warning if a tag library was not found, and
  prompted me to write temp files to the outdir so sneetch can be used to convert files from a
  read-only directory. Good ideas!

  Flac encoding bug and ebuild fixes thanks to Ian Young <youngian [AT] grinnell.edu>

  'rename' and 'copy' functions are also thanks to Ian Young <youngian [AT] grinnell.edu>

  Oleg Lyashko <olegvl@gmail.com> sent in a simple fix to the '-D' or '--outdir' bug.

Date:
  April 13, 2008.