Q. Who created abcde? Who develops it nowadays?
A. It was originally created by Robert Woodcook. He decided to give up
maintaining it at some point in 2002 and Jesus Climent took over. In 2012,
- Colin Tuckley and Steve McIntyre joined in to help. Contact
- jesus.climent@hispalinux.es, colint@debian.org or 93sam@debian.org if you
- have a problem or a suggestion.
+ Colin Tuckley and Steve McIntyre joined in to help. Currently Steve maintains
+ abcde along with Andrew Strong. Contact either with comments or suggestions
+ at the following email addresses:
+ Steve McIntyre <93sam@@debian.org>
+ Andrew Strong <andrew.david.strong@gmail.com>
1. INSTALLATION
As of version 2.7 abcde tests the version of faac being used for mp4v2
support and then appropriately places the audio either in .m4a or .aac.
Note that tagging is not possible with mpeg-2/ADTS streams in .aac.
-
+
+Q. How do I encode to Apple Lossless Audio Codec (alac)?
+A. As of abcde 2.7.1 there are 3 ways to encode to alac: using qaac, refalac
+ or FFmpeg. To use qaac or refalac follow the installation directions here:
+
+ http://www.andrews-corner.org/qaac.html#installation
+
+ and then set your ~/.abcde.conf file as follows:
+
+ AACENCODERSYNTAX=qaac
+ QAAC="$HOME/.wine/drive_c/qaac/qaac.exe"
+ # Or use the Open Source alac encoder with this small hack:
+ # QAAC="$HOME/.wine/drive_c/qaac/refalac.exe"
+ QAACENCOPTS="--alac --threading --verbose"
+ OUTPUTTYPE="m4a"
+
+ To use FFmpeg (or avconv) set your ~/.abcde.conf file as follows:
+
+ AACENCODERSYNTAX=ffmpeg
+ FFMPEG=ffmpeg
+ # Or give the path to avconv instead:
+ # FFMPEG=avconv
+ FFMPEGENCOPTS="-c:a alac"
+ OUTPUTTYPE="m4a"
+
+ And then sit back and enjoy the music :)
+
+Q. Will FFmpeg be used with abcde for any other audio formats?
+A. The plan is to use FFmpeg (or avconv) when FFmpeg has a good quality native
+ encoder available. For example FFmpeg has a low quality native native encoder
+ for Vorbis and AAC which will not be used but a great reverse engineered alac
+ encoder that has been used in abcde. FFmpeg also has a good WavPack encoder
+ that has been added in abcde 2.7.1 which can be added into your ~/.abcde.conf
+ file as follows:
+
+ # WVENCODERSYNTAX=wavpack
+ WVENCODERSYNTAX=ffmpeg
+ # Appropriate PATH:
+ WAVPACK=wavpack
+ FFMPEG=ffmpeg
+ # Appropriate options:
+ FFMPEGENCOPTS="-c:a wavpack -compression_level 6"
+ WAVPACKENCOPTS="-hx3"
+ # Correct output type:
+ OUTPUTTYPE="wv"
+
+ You can see in this example how easy it is to switch from one WavPack encoder to
+ another by changing the comment mark '#' on the WVENCODERSYNTAX line. For mp2
+ encoding with FFmpeg try the following:
+
+ # MP2ENCODERSYNTAX=twolame
+ MP2ENCODERSYNTAX=ffmpeg
+ # Appropriate PATH:
+ TWOLAME=twolame
+ FFMPEG=ffmpeg
+ FFMPEGENCOPTS='-c:a mp2 -b:a 320k'
+ TWOLAMENCOPTS='--bitrate 320'
+ # Correct output type:
+ OUTPUTTYPE="mp2"
+
+ So currently FFmpeg supports: alac, wavpack and mp2. FFmpeg native aac support will
+ be added when it comes out of 'experimental'.
5. USEPIPES
========
Q. Do all rippers and encoders work with USEPIPES?
A. No :). Keep in mind that every ripper and encoder differs from in each
other in the way they interact with pipes and not all rippers and encoders
- will use or understand the '-o' and '-' options. Currently (May 2015) the
+ will use or understand the '-o' and '-' options. Currently (August 2015) the
following rippers and encoders work:
Rippers: cdparanoia, debug, libcdio, cdda2wav, flac, pird.
Encoders: mp3enc, lame, bladeenc, oggenc, opusenc, flac, speexenc,
- mpcenc, wavpack, faac, neroAacEnc, fdkaac.
+ mpcenc, wavpack, faac, neroAacEnc, fdkaac, qaac, fhgaacenc,
+ ffmpeg, tta, ttaenc.
Q. Can I add a ripper or encoder which is not supported?
A. Sure! If you plan to use a ripper or encoder which is not supported you