OWLBUMS

This's a group of conversion scripts which convert audio formats, numerous audio files, ergo an album. They convert from FLAC by default, but you can edit the scripts to convert from other formats, i.e. replace wherever "flac" is written, e.g. with "wav".

It requires these programs: opusenc, ffmpeg, and exiftool to work at its highest potential.

Simply place one of these scripts into a directory with audio files and run it:

Make Opus Album

"make-opus-album.sh" converts audio files with "opusenc" to Opus format, without doubt it's the best compressed audio format in the world. It requires the package "opus-tools". You'll be asked what bitrate that you desire from the opus files.¹

Make MP3 Album

"make-mp3-album.sh" converts audio files to MP3 with "ffmpeg" (a program that is required for the script to work).² This script is for devices such as CD players in cars of the 2000s that can read MP3 disks, alongside CDs, but nothing more. This script also has the bonus of erasing needless imbedded album art, which also makes the files somewhat less burdensome.

Make M4A To Opus

"make-m4a-to-opus.sh" is very similar to make-mp3-album.sh and uses ffmpeg, but it converts M4A audio files to Opus ones instead, since many digital music downloads are sold as M4A files — which is often a container for the AAC format. This is handy for reducing music file sizes for your portable devices.

Podcast Press

"podcast-press" is a bonus script which converts MP3 and Ogg files to Opus format. I made it for myself to compress podcasts into smaller Opus files, just to save space in my smartphone — my podcast entertainment system.³ It also erases needless embedded album art, and [NEW FEATURE] makes the file names more readable using the metatags from the originals.

Better Meta

This a much faster version of Podcast Press because it doesn't compress into opus files, it just makes copies of the originals, uses metadata for better titles than that mess you're given by podcasters. Then the script deletes the originals immediately after processing. This program is useful if you can't be bothered with further compression, and for powersaving.

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Footnotes and Hints

1. Making an Opus album at 96 kbs is good sound quality, you shouldn't notice the fluffiness of compressed audio much, but 128 kbs is much better.

2. For MP3 albums, you should make their bitrates no less than 128 kbs, otherwise the sound gets wet. You know what I mean.

3. In podcast press, I make my podcasts in 56 kbs Opus, which can reduce the original filesizes by up to half, and the compression procedure is faster at this rate! In podcasts, people usually just talk, and the sound quality of talking can be very poor for humans to understand it — like telephones. You could compress the filesizes all the way down to 6 kbs and still understand the words!