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NAME

       mp3blaster - An interactive text-console based mp3 player.

SYNOPSIS

       mp3blaster [options]

       mp3blaster [options]  [file ...]
              Play one or more audio files from the command-line

       mp3blaster [options] --list|-l playlist.lst
              Load a playlist at startup but don’t start playing.

       mp3blaster [options] --autolist|-a playlist.lst
              Load a playlist at startup and start playing.

DESCRIPTION

       Mp3blaster  is  an  interactive  audio player for the text-console with
       unique playlist abilities no other programs offer. Its interface is  at
       least  equally  powerful  as  those  featured  in  GUI players, without
       requiring bulky graphical environments.

       The most important feature of mp3blaster however is the playlist, which
       structure  is  comparable to that of a filesystem: Songs (files) can be
       grouped together in ‘groups’ (directories). With one function, you  can
       load  all your albums as groups into mp3blaster’s playlist, so that you
       can shuffle your albums instead of your songs. Of course, you can  also
       load  all  files  into the playlist and shuffle them, just like regular
       players.

       The interface is described in the INTERFACE ELEMENTS section.

       The configuration file is described in the MP3BLASTERRC section.

       The different program modes are described in the PROGRAM MODES section.

       The playlist playback modes are described in the PLAYMODES section.

       Who  coded  this  program?  How to report bugs? It’s in the AUTHORS and
       BUGS section at the end of this manual.

COMMAND-LINE PARAMETERS

       --downsample,-2
              Downsample audio to 22Khz (necessary on some ancient soundcards,
              but it can also be used to use less CPU time)

       --8bits,-8
              Convert audio to 8bits (necessary on 8bit soundcards, but it can
              also be used to use less CPU time)

       --chroot=rootdir, -o=rootdir
              Set <rootdir> as mp3blaster’s root dir. This  affects  ALL  file
              operations  in  mp3blaster!!  (including  reading and writing of
              playlists).  Note that only users with uid 0 (i.e. root) can use
              this  option  (yet).  This feature should be changed so it won’t
              require root privileges. Only install it suid root if you  trust
              all local users!!!!.

       --config-file,-c=<file>
              Use <file> as config-file instead of ~/.mp3blasterrc

       --debug, -d
              Log  debug-info  in  $HOME/.mp3blaster  (use  this  when sending
              bugreports!)

       --status-file, -f
              Write info on the mp3’s being played to the specified file.

       --help,-h
              Gets you this nice list of command-line parameters.

       --mixer-device/-m=<devicename>
              Set the mixer device to use  (default  =  /dev/mixer).  For  NAS
              audio  mixing,  use  ’NAS’.   (NOTE: NAS support doesn’t work in
              version 3.0 or above yet)

       --no-mixer, -n
              Don’t start the built-in mixer.

       --playmode/-p=(onegroup,allgroups,allrandom}
              Default playing mode is resp. Play first group  only,  Play  all
              groups, Play all songs in random order.

       --dont-quit,-q
              Don’t  quit  after playing all command-line supplied mp3’s (only
              makes  sense  in  combination  with  --autolist  or  files  from
              command-line)

       --repeat/-R
              Repeat the playlist indefinitely.

       --runframes/-r=<number>
              Number  or  frames  to  decode  in  one  loop.  Range:  1  to 10
              (default=5).  On slow machines, a  lower  number  might  improve
              reaction  time  of  the  interface, but it’s quite unlikely this
              will have any effect from version 3.0 on)

       --sound-device/-s=<devicename>
              Select the audio device you  wish  to  use  for  sound  playback
              (default  /dev/dsp  or  /dev/audio  for OpenBSD). If you want to
              play over NAS (Network Audio  System),  give  the  audioserver’s
              address  here  (usually $DISPLAY, e.g. a host name followed by a
              colon and a  server  number,  like  bla.foo.com:0).  (NOTE:  NAS
              support doesn’t work in version 3.0 or above yet)

       --threads/-t=<amount>
              Numbers  of  threads  to  use  for buffering. Range is 0..500 in
              increments of 50.  0 threads means no buffering (thus no  hiccup
              prevention).

       --version,-v
              Displays mp3blaster’s version number.

INTERFACE ELEMENTS

       Since  version  3.0,  mp3blaster’s interface has changed drastically to
       make it easier to use, without losing functionality. Press ’?’ to get a
       description  of  all  the commands within mp3blaster. You can scroll up
       and down this helpfile using the cursor keys  and  pageup/pagedown.  To
       leave the help, press ’?’ again.

       All  keybindings  mentioned  from  here on are the default keybindings.
       Most of them can be altered in mp3blaster’s config  file  (see  section
       MP3BLASTERRC)

       Keybindings window
              In  the  top  of the screen is the keybindings window. In it you
              will  find  all  keybindings  that  you  can  use  in  the  mode
              mp3blaster  is  in  at  that  time.   If  you  change modes, the
              keybindings are dynamically  updated.  To  scroll  through  this
              window, use ’-’ and ’+’.

       Info window
              This  window is located directly beneath the keybindings window.
              It displays the global playmode (see section PLAYMODES), and the
              next  song  to be played (if appropriate). Next to it is a small
              window which displays technical information  about  the  current
              song.

       Main window
              This  window is located directly underneath the info window. Its
              content is usually determined by the mode mp3blaster is in  (see
              section  PROGRAM  MODES).   If  you’re editing the playlist, the
              playlist is shown. In  file  manager  mode,  you  will  see  the
              directory  you’re  currently  in. In help mode, the help text is
              being displayed.

       CD-style window
              This is the window next to the main window. Here you  will  find
              the  cd-style controls, as well as checkboxes for shuffle/repeat
              mode. When a song is being played, you can see the elapsed/total
              time here as well.

       Status window
              It’s underneath the main window, and displays status information
              like song title, hints, etc. In the top-left, a CD-player  style
              symbol  is  shown  to  indicate  what mp3blaster is doing during
              playback.

       Mixer window
              The mixer is right next to  the  status  window.  Although  very
              compact,  it’s  a  full sound mixer. Press ’t’ to toggle between
              all  available  mixer   devices.    Press   ’<’   and   ’>’   to
              decrease/increase  the  volume  of  the currently selected mixer
              device.

PROGRAM MODES

       Playlist Editor
              By default, mp3blaster starts  with  the  playlist  editor.  All
              keybindings  specific  to  playlist  editing  are  listed in the
              keybindings window.   The  playlist  consists  of  one  or  more
              groups.  Each  group  can have its own groupname and can contain
              supported audio files. You can  toggle  shuffle  mode  for  each
              group  independently.  Many  users  will  simply  use the single
              (root)  group  that  mp3blaster  starts  with.  In  that   case,
              shuffling  all  songs  is  simply  a  question  of  toggling the
              GroupShuffle mode (default keybinding: F7).

              If you have multiple groups, and you want to shuffle  all  songs
              from  all  groups, you will have to set the global playback mode
              (see section PLAYMODES). Without shuffling, the  songs  will  be
              played in the order you added them from the file manager. Groups
              can be nested inside other groups. For example, you could make a
              group  for  each  music genre you are interested in. Within each
              genre, you can add subgenres, and in the subgenres you  can  add
              albums  as  groups. Starting and stopping a playlist can be done
              with ’5’ (default keybinding for the Play button). If  you  stop
              playback using the Stop button, all information about which song
              has already been played is lost. If you want to stop playback to
              continue later, pause the current song.
              In the main window, the contents of the currently selected group
              is shown.  By default, this is the ’root’  group.  Other  groups
              are  denoted  by  square  brackets  and a purple colour. You can
              enter other groups simply  by  highlighting  them  and  pressing
              enter. If you enter the file manager, files will be added in the
              group that was selected in the main window. This even works  for
              playlists;  if  you load a playlist from the file manager (which
              you always do), it will be added in  the  current  group!  Using
              this feature, you can merge multiple playlists into one.
              If  you’re  listening  to your current playlist, but you want to
              hear  another  song  in  between,  you  can  simply  do  so   by
              highlighting  this song (either in playlist mode or file manager
              mode) and  pressing  enter.  When  the  song  is  finished,  the
              playlist continues with the next song in the list.

       File Manager
              You  can enter the file manager by pressing F1 from the playlist
              editor. The  interface  is  almost  identical  to  that  of  the
              playlist  editor, but you can tell the mode you’re in by looking
              at  the  keybindings  in  the  keybindings   window   which   is
              automatically  updated.   In the file manager, you can add files
              to the group you had currently selected in the playlist  editor.
              You  can  also  listen  to  a  file  by  selecting  it  with the
              highlighted bar and pressing enter over it.  Adding files can be
              done  in  2 ways: Selecting a file by moving the bar over it and
              pressing the spacebar, or by recursively selecting all files  in
              the  current  directory and all directories in it. If you select
              some files, change to another directory (by pressing enter  over
              one) and then select some more files, the old selection will not
              be lost, even though you can’t see it  on  your  screen  at  the
              time.  As soon as you return to the playlist editor by using F1,
              you will see they have been added to the group in the  order  in
              which  you  selected them.  However, you can’t deselect selected
              files as soon as you change into another directory: you’ll  have
              to  remove  them  from  the  playlist  editor.   A  quick way of
              selecting *all* files in the current directory is to invert  the
              selection  (using  F2)  when  none  are selected. If you want to
              select all files but one, select the one you don’t want and then
              invert the selection.
              The recursive selection can be done in two ways: By pressing F3,
              you add all audiofiles that are found in the  current  directory
              and  all  directories  in it.  By using F5 (add dirs as groups),
              mp3’s are added in groups that are named like the directory  the
              mp3’s  were  in.  This  is  an  ultimately  fast way of making a
              playlist grouped by albums!
              Help for other keybindings can be  found  inside  mp3blaster  by
              pressing ’?’  (note that this leaves file manager mode!)

       Help mode
              You  can  get in this mode by pressing ’?’. Leave it by pressing
              ’?’ again.  It will always return you to playlist mode.

       Playing Mode
              Mp3blaster  versions  prior  to  version  3.0  featured  another
              distinctly different mode: the playing mode. The reason for this
              was that it wasn’t possible to edit a playlist and play mp3’s at
              the  same  time.  Since  this  is now possible, playing songs is
              possible in all program modes. Keybindings specific to  playback
              are always listed in the keybindings window.

PLAYMODES

       The  order  in  which files are played in the playlist is determined by
       two settings: The global playback mode (displayed in the info  window),
       and  each  group’s  independent shuffle setting. The ’current group’ in
       the global playback modes means: The group that is shown  in  the  main
       window  at  the time the playlist was started. This is important, since
       it enables you to play a subsection of your playlist instead of playing
       the entire list.
       These are the global playback modes:

       Play current group, including subgroups
              Plays all songs shown in the current group, as well as all songs
              in all subgroups. First, all groups will be played in the  order
              you  have  added  them  (unless  the  current group’s shuffle is
              enabled, then the order is randomly determined). Then, the songs
              in  the group itself will be played.  You can determine for each
              individual group whether you want to shuffle the songs  in  them
              or not, by enabling the group’s shuffle setting.

       Play current group, but not its subgroups
              This  is  essentially the same as the previous mode, except that
              subgroups in this group will be skipped.

       Shuffle all songs from all groups
              This is comparable  to  the  ’shuffle’  mode  that  all  players
              support:  It  ignores  the  group  structure totally, and simply
              shuffles all songs in a completely random order.

MP3BLASTERRC

       You can store many settings  and  keybindings  in  a  config  file.  By
       default,  mp3blaster  will look for ~/.mp3blasterrc, unless you specify
       another file on the command-line (using -c/--config-file).

       The structure of the config file is  pretty  straightforward.  Look  at
       sample.mp3blasterrc  in  your  share or share/doc directory for a quick
       example.  Lines starting with a ’#’ are ignored. You can  use  them  to
       put  comments on.  All other lines consist of a keyword/value pair like
       this:

       Keyword = Value

       Some keywords can have multiple values, in that case it’s:

       Keyword = Value1, Value2

       Escape comma’s in a value with a backslash (). If you  want  a  literal
       backslash,  escape  it  with  another backslash (\). Keywords are case-
       sensitive.

       There are a  few  types  of  values:  numbers,  booleans,  keybindings,
       colours,  and  everything  else  is a string. The syntax of these types
       are:

       numbers
              Numerical values, in decimal notation.

       booleans
              yes/no, 1/0, or true/false (case-insensitive)

       keybindings
              Single-character keybindings represent themselves. If  you  want
              to  specify a scancode, the syntax is ’s<hex-digit><hex-digit>’.
              All others are special canonical  names:  ’spc’  (space),  ’ent’
              (enter),  ’kp0’..’kp9’  (keypad  0..9),  ’ins’  (insert),  ’hom’
              (home), ’del’  (delete),  ’end’  (end),  ’pup’  (pageup),  ’pdn’
              (pagedown),  ’f1’..’f12’,  ’up’/’dwn’/’lft’/’rig’ (cursor keys),
              ’bsp’ (backspace).

       colours
              One of: black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white

       These keywords are currently supported:

       AudioDriver (string)
              Which audiodriver to use for playback. Currently, you can choose
              between  the following drivers: oss, esd, nas and sdl. If SDL is
              available,  it  will  be  used  by  default.  OSS  is  the  next
              alternative.  ESD  should only be used if everything else fails.
              Note that, if you use SDL as audio driver, you can  select  from
              many   output   devices  by  setting  the  environment  variable
              SDL_AUDIODRIVER. This is an SDL feature, please refer to the FAQ
              on libsdl.org for more information.

       AudiofileMatching (list of strings)
              List  of  file patterns (in regexp format) that determines which
              files will be considered audiofiles (default: all  files  ending
              on  .mp3,  .wav,  and  files  starting  with  ’http://’ for http
              streaming). Check sample.mp3blasterrc for a good example.

       CharsetTable (string)
              Specify a character recoding table which maps  ID3  songinfo  to
              your  local  charset. For more info about how to create one, see
              the README in the installed  mp3blaster  documentation  (usually
              /usr/local/share/mp3blaster)  for  more  information. An example
              which recodes the Russian win1251 charset to the koi8-r  charset
              is included.

       DownFrequency (boolean)
              If  true,  downsample  audio  output  to  22Khz instead of 44Khz
              (necessary on some ancient soundcards, like genuine Soundblaster
              Pro’s)

       File.ID3Names (boolean)
              If enabled, the display mode in the file manager will show mp3’s
              by  their  ID3-tag  by  default,  instead  of  their   filename.
              (default:  disabled)  (TODO:  Make  this directive a string with
              printf-like format for the id3tag fields).

       File.SortMode (string)
              Determines the default file sorting mode for the  file  manager.
              Valid   modes  are:  alpha  (default),  alpha-case,  modify-new,
              modify-old, size-small, size-big, none.

       HideOtherFiles (boolean)
              If enabled, non-audio/playlist files will not be  shown  in  the
              file manager.

       MixerDevice (string)
              Mixer device to use for mixing (default: /dev/mixer).

       PlaylistDir (string)
              Directory    path   where   playlists   are   stored   (default:
              ~/.mp3blaster_playlists)

       PlaylistMatching (list of strings)
              List of file patterns (in regexp format)  that  determine  which
              files  are  considered  playlists  (default: all files ending on
              .lst/.m3u). Syntax identical to that of AudiofileMatching.

       ScanMP3 (boolean)
              If set, it will read each mp3 file before playing, to  calculate
              VBR  total time. This might be impractical if mp3’s are streamed
              over a slow network connection, because the entire file will  be
              read.  Scanning  is  unnecessary if the mp3 has a so-called XING
              header  (which  most  VBR  mp3’s  have,   nowadays).    Default:
              disabled.

       SelectItems.UnselectFirst (boolean)
              When  selecting  files  from  the  filemanager or playlist using
              ’Select some items’, unselect previously selected items prior to
              selecting  matching  new  ones  if this option is set. (default:
              disabled)

       SelectItems.SearchRegex (boolean)
              If set, use extended regular expression to match  files  instead
              of  using  the  global (fnmatch-style) matching. This is for the
              ’Select some items’ feature.  (default: disabled)

       SelectItems.SearchCaseInsensitive (boolean)
              If set, search case-insensitive when using ’Select  some  items’
              feature. (default: enabled)

       SkipLength (number)
              How  many  seconds  to skip when forwarding or rewinding a song.
              Default is 10.  Change to your liking.

       PanSize (number)
              Number of characters to pan content to  the  left  or  right  in
              scrollable window.  Default = 5. Range is 1..40.

       WrapAround (boolean)
              If disabled, the scrollable window will not wrap around when you
              use attempt to go past the upper or  lower  boundary  using  the
              arrow keys. (default: enabled)

       SoundDevice (string)
              Sound   device   to  use  for  audio  output  (default  /dev/dsp
              (/dev/audio on OpenBSD)).

       Threads (number, range 50..500)
              Amount of threads to use for buffering. More threads means  more
              buffering (thus better hiccup prevention)

       WarnDelay (number, obsolete)
              Time  before  a  warning  popup will disappear. Currently not in
              use.

       Now a list of keywords that set colours.  Not  all  keywords  are  well
       tested to do the right thing at the time of writing..

       Color.Default.fg (colour)
              Default foreground colour

       Color.Default.bg (colour)
              Default background colour

       Color.Popup.fg (colour)
              Popup window foreground colour

       Color.Popup.bg (colour)
              Popup window background colour

       Color.PopupInput.fg (colour)
              Popup window input box foreground color

       Color.PopupInput.bg (colour)
              Popup window input box background color

       Color.Error.fg (colour)
              Error message foreground colour

       Color.Error.bg (colour)
              Error message background colour

       Color.Button.fg (colour)
              Foreground colour of CD-player buttons

       Color.Button.bg (colour)
              Background colour of CD-player buttons

       Color.ShortCut.fg (colour)
              Foreground colour of keybindings

       Color.ShortCut.bg (colour)
              Background colour of keybindings

       Color.Label.fg (colour)
              Foreground colour of .. something :)

       Color.Label.bg (colour)
              Background colour of .. something :)

       Color.Number.fg (colour)
              Foreground color for numbers and similar status indicators.

       Color.Number.bg (colour)
              Background color for numbers and similar status indicators.

       Color.FileMp3.fg (colour)
              Foreground colour of mp3 files in file manager

       Color.FileDir.fg (colour)
              Foreground colour of directories in file manager

       Color.FileLst.fg (colour)
              Foreground colour of playlist files in file manager

       Color.FileWin.fg (colour)
              Foreground colour of other files in file manager

       This  is  the  list of all keybindings. It should be obvious from their
       names which function they’re attached to.

       Key.SelectFiles (keybinding)

       Key.AddGroup (keybinding)

       Key.LoadPlaylist (keybinding)

       Key.WritePlaylist (keybinding)

       Key.SetGroupTitle (keybinding)

       Key.ToggleRepeat (keybinding)

       Key.ToggleShuffle (keybinding)

       Key.TogglePlaymode (keybinding)

       Key.ToggleDisplay (keybinding)

       Key.ToggleSort (keybinding)

       Key.StartPlaylist (keybinding)

       Key.ChangeThread (keybinding)

       Key.ToggleMixer (keybinding)

       Key.MixerVolDown (keybinding)

       Key.MixerVolUp (keybinding)

       Key.MoveAfter (keybinding)

       Key.MoveBefore (keybinding)

       Key.QuitProgram (keybinding)

       Key.Help (keybinding)

       Key.Del (keybinding)

       Key.Select (keybinding)

       Key.Enter (keybinding)

       Key.Refresh (keybinding)

       Key.PrevPage (keybinding)

       Key.NextPage (keybinding)

       Key.Up (keybinding)

       Key.Down (keybinding)

       Key.Left (keybinding)

       Key.Right (keybinding)

       Key.Home (keybinding)

       Key.End (keybinding)

       Key.StartSearch (keybinding)

       Key.File.Enter (keybinding)

       Key.File.Select (keybinding)

       Key.File.AddFiles (keybinding)

       Key.File.InvSelection (keybinding)

       Key.File.RecursiveSelect (keybinding)

       Key.File.SetPath (keybinding)

       Key.File.Delete (keybinding)

       Key.File.DirsAsGroups (keybinding)

       Key.File.Mp3ToWav (keybinding)

       Key.File.AddURL (keybinding)

       Key.File.UpDir (keybinding)

       Key.Play.Previous (keybinding)

       Key.Play.Play (keybinding)

       Key.Play.Next (keybinding)

       Key.Play.Rewind (keybinding)

       Key.Play.Stop (keybinding)

       Key.Play.Forward (keybinding)

       Key.Play.NextGroup (keybinding)

       Key.Play.PrevGroup (keybinding)

       Key.HelpPrev (keybinding)

       Key.HelpNext (keybinding)

       Key.File.MarkBad (keybinding)

       Key.ClearPlaylist (keybinding)

       Key.DeleteMark (keybinding)

BUGS

       If you find bugs, please report them on the sourceforge project site.

AUTHOR

       mp3blaster has been written written  and  performed  by  Bram  Avontuur
       <bram@avontuur.org> <http://www.stack.nl/~brama/>

       The  mpegsound lib used is written by many people. The latest port from
       windows  c++  source  to  unix  was  done  by  Jung  woo-jae.   Several
       alterations have been applied since.

       Please  leave  comments, suggestions, complaints, bug fixes, coffee and
       porting experiences on the sourceforge project page.  If  you  want  to
       report a bug, please include the version number.

                                                                 mp3blaster(1)