# mp3splt-gtk Manual

## Introduction

The mp3splt-gtk application is a tool that allows to cut MP3 and Ogg Vorbis files without the need to re-encode them (which would loose them quality).

Features include graphical selection of split points, automatic splitting of music recordings into tracks and automatic adjustment of split points to fall into pauses.

### mp3splt-gtk directly after startup

Shows mp3splt-gtk directly after startup.

### Starting mp3splt-gtk

You can start mp3splt-gtk in - at least - the following ways:

- Choose Sound and Video mp3splt-gtk from the Applications menu.

- Run `mp3splt-gtk` at the prompt in a terminal such as gnome-terminal, or from the Run Application dialogue.

### Closing mp3splt-gtk

To close the mp3splt-gtk window there are many options, too:

- choose File Quit

- press Ctrl W

- press on the X-shaped button the window manager of your choise provides you with

### mp3splt-gtk Features

mp3splt-gtk will allow you to manipulate audio files without loosing any quality.

This program was designed with usability in Mind and contains the followning features

- The ability to use your favourite audio playback application for playback of the file that is to be cut.

- Automatic detection of the right places to split.

- Automatic adjustment of manually set split points to fall into a nearby pause - which allows the user to work with less than milisecond-accuracy when specifying the split points.

- Importing splitpoints for a known album from a database like freedb.

- Automatically split albums that have been joined by albumwrap or mp3wrap into the original files.

## Basic Workflow

### Opening a file

Just press the Choose button and select a file to open.

### Choose the right split points

#### Choosing split points manually

Press the Play button (a gray triangle pointing to the right) on the Player tab, listen to the music and press the add button (which is on the Player tab, too) every time a new audio track should begin.

If you don't want to be made to press the button exactly at the right centisecond the add Preferences tab gives you the possibility to let the program fine-tune the split points you choose.

#### Automatical setting of split points

The Type of Split tab provides you with a wide choices of ways to select where to split a file into tracks. If you want to split a media into tracks others might have had access to before you can try searching for splitpoint readymades in the FreeDB tab instead.

### Tweaking split points and entering track information

The Splitpoints tab now contains a list of points where tracks start or end. It also contains the information if this piece of the audio file is to be kept and how the corresponding track has to be named.

#### The split point tab

Shows all split points and track names.

If you want to change the start or end position of a track or give it a name just do it at any time you want.

### Exporting the tracks

Now press the button with the green check mark that is always visible in the menu line. mp3splt-gtk will output all tracks into single files. If anything goes wrong don't despair: Since one of the goals of mp3splt-gtk is to work completely lossless even if anything goes wrong not much is lost.

## Batch processing of files

Besides manual and automatic splitting of a single file mp3splt-gtk also supports automatic batch-processing of multiple files at once.

### Enabling batch processing mode

Go to the Type of split tab and there to the File mode tab. After selecting Batch processing here batch processing mode is enabled

### Adding files in batch processing mode

Go to the Type of split tab and there to the Split mode tab and select after which criteria you want the files to be split.

### Adding files in batch processing mode

Go to the Batch Processing tab and add all files you want to be automatically processed.

### Exporting the tracks

Now press the button with the green check mark that is always visible in the menu line. mp3splt-gtk will output all tracks into single files. If anything goes wrong don't despair: Since one of the goals of mp3splt-gtk is to work completely lossless even if anything goes wrong not much is lost.

## Saving and resuming your work

mp3splt-gtk contains an export feature that saves the current project's state as a cue file. This cue file can later be re-opened by mp3splt-gtk or be used by any cd burner or other application that can read cue files.

If the cue file is used in a different application than mp3splt-gtk there is one feature that most probably won't work, though:

The cue standard does provide commentary fields that allow applications to store private data (which we use for to remember which part of the file is not to be output). But since there is no standartized way to exclude parts of a file from the CD burning process other applications most probably won't know if you want to do so.

To export the current split points as a cue file press File Export Splitpoints

## Troubleshooting

### The player won't start

If the player won't start even if the play button is pressed try starting the player independently from mp3splt-gtk and pressing play thereafter.

mp3splt-gtk knows how to remote-control SnackAmp and Audacious to automatically switch to the file that is about to be split.

### Splitting doesn't work

Try to make sure that the version of libmp3splt is installed correspondends to the version of mp3splt-gtk. Even if (for newer versions of the program) the configure script makes sure that both versions match it might still be possible to have the wrong combination of these elements installed on the same system.

If that is the case make sure that in the File mode tab of the Type of split tab Single file mode is selected.

### Splitting a certain Ogg file doesn't work

Next to the lossy ogg vorbis format that gives good compression while keeping file sizes extremely low there are other file formats that can be kept inside an ogg container as well, notably ogg flac.

Flac is a completely lossless codec which means that the output files are sonewhat larger than Ogg vorbis ones but these files can be cut on any information without loosing any quality.

Since there is no direct need mp3splt-gtk still does not support cutting flac files.

### Adding a file to the files view doesn't work

Make sure that in the File mode tab of the Type of split tab Batch processing mode is selected.