Installing beets to Manage My Audio Tags

By Rob in Media
13 mins to read

Yesterday, I spent a long time learning how to use MusicBrainz Picard. Today, I discovered beets on Reddit. So, I decided to install it on Windows.

Note: This assumes you have chocolatey installed.

choco install -y python
python -m ensurepip --upgrade
python -m pip install --upgrade pip
pip install beets
beet # type this to make sure everything’s in order.

choco install -y python

python -m ensurepip --upgrade

python -m pip install --upgrade pip

pip install beets

beet # type this to make sure everything’s in order.

Now just type beet at the command prompt to use it. Read the documentation for more information.

Also, download beets.reg and modify it for your system to add a Windows shell extension that imports tracks into your beets database.

Note: The shell extension only works on directories.
Verify that the shell extension is installed by running:

reg query HKCR\Directory\shell\beets /s

1	reg query HKCR\Directory\shell\beets /s

Now read through the documentation.

https://beets.readthedocs.io/en/stable/guides/main.html

pip install pyacoustid
pip install pylast
pip install requests
pip install beets[fetchart,lyrics,lastgenre]
pip install beautifulsoup4
pip install beets-copyartifacts3 # copies non-music files when importing

Do NOT install the chromaprint Python module.

The beautifulsoup4 requires a Google API key for retrieving lyrics.

Download https://github.com/acoustid/chromaprint/releases/download/v1.5.1/chromaprint-fpcalc-1.5.1-windows-x86_64.zip
Unzip fpcalc.exe to %localappdata%\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.10_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python310\Scripts
Make sure the above directory is in your path.

winget install GStreamer
Add GStreamer to your path, e.g., E:\gstreamer\1.0\msvc_x86_64\bin

pip install pyacoustid

pip install pylast

pip install requests

pip install beets[fetchart,lyrics,lastgenre]

pip install beautifulsoup4

pip install beets-copyartifacts3 # copies non-music files when importing

Do NOT install the chromaprint Python module.

The beautifulsoup4 requires a Google API key for retrieving lyrics.

Download https://github.com/acoustid/chromaprint/releases/download/v1.5.1/chromaprint-fpcalc-1.5.1-windows-x86_64.zip

Unzip fpcalc.exe to %localappdata%\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.10_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\local-packages\Python310\Scripts

Make sure the above directory is in your path.

winget install GStreamer

Add GStreamer to your path, e.g., E:\gstreamer\1.0\msvc_x86_64\bin

You may also get prompted to update pip:

[notice] A new release of pip available: 22.3.1 -> 23.0
[notice] To update, run: pip install --upgrade pip

1 2	[notice] A new release of pip available: 22.3.1 -> 23.0 [notice] To update, run: pip install --upgrade pip

Find your configuration file using:

beet config -p

1	beet config -p

Edit your configuration file using:

beet config -e

1	beet config -e

Change the first path below to a directory where you’d like to keep your music. Then, for library, choose a good place to keep a database file that keeps an index of your music. (The config’s format is YAML. You’ll want to configure your text editor to use spaces, not real tabs, for indentation. Also, ~ means your home directory in these paths, even on Windows.)

directory: ~/OneDrive/Music
library: ~/OneDrive/beets/data/musiclibrary.db

1 2	directory: ~/OneDrive/Music library: ~/OneDrive/beets/data/musiclibrary.db

The default configuration assumes you want to start a new organized music folder (that directory above) and that you’ll copy cleaned-up music into that empty folder using beets’ import command (see below). But you can configure beets to behave many other ways:

To keep your current directory structure and to not correct files’ tags: leave files completely unmodified on your disk. (Corrected tags will still be stored in beets’ database, and you can use them to do renaming or tag changes later.) Put this in your config file:

directory: ~/OneDrive/Music
library: ~/OneDrive/beets/data/musiclibrary.db
import:
    move: yes
    write: yes
format_item: $albumartist - $album - $track - $title.$format ($bitrate)
paths:
    default: $albumartist/$album%aunique{}/$albumartist - $album%aunique{} - $track - $title
plugins: embedart fetchart info lastgenre lyrics copyartifacts
embedart:
    remove_art_file: yes
#set_fields:
#    encoder: "Exact Audio Copy&nbsp; &nbsp;(Secure mode)"
#    comments: "Purchased on CD."

directory: ~/OneDrive/Music

library: ~/OneDrive/beets/data/musiclibrary.db

import:

move: yes

write: yes

format_item: $albumartist - $album - $track - $title.$format ($bitrate)

paths:

default: $albumartist/$album%aunique{}/$albumartist - $album%aunique{} - $track - $title

plugins: embedart fetchart info lastgenre lyrics copyartifacts

embedart:

remove_art_file: yes

#set_fields:

# encoder: "Exact Audio Copy   (Secure mode)"

# comments: "Purchased on CD."

Importing Your Library

To take the fast, un-autotagged path, just say:

$ beet import -A /my/huge/mp3/library

Note that you just need to add -A for “don’t autotag”.

Adding More Music

If you’ve ripped or… otherwise obtained some new music, you can add it with the beet import command, the same way you imported your library. Like so:

$ beet import ~/some_great_album

This will attempt to autotag the new album (interactively) and add it to your library. There are, of course, more options for this command—just type beet help import to see what’s available.

Seeing Your Music

If you want to query your music library, the beet list (shortened to beet ls) command is for you. You give it a query string, which is formatted something like a Google search, and it gives you a list of songs. Thus:

$ beet ls the magnetic fields

1	$ beet ls the magnetic fields

To import all of the files in the current directory, I tried:

beet import -A .

Now running beet ls showed this:

Whitesnake – Slide It In: The Ultimate Edition (2019 Remaster) (Disc 2 – Original UK Mix) – Gambler (UK Mix) [2019 Remaster]
Whitesnake – Slide It In: The Ultimate Edition (2019 Remaster) (Disc 2 – Original UK Mix) – Slide It In (UK Mix) [2019 Remaster]
Whitesnake – Slide It In: The Ultimate Edition (2019 Remaster) (Disc 2 – Original UK Mix) – Slow An’ Easy (UK Mix) [2019 Remaster]
Whitesnake – Slide It In: The Ultimate Edition (2019 Remaster) (Disc 2 – Original UK Mix) – Love Ain’t No Stranger (UK Mix) [2019 Remaster]
Whitesnake – Slide It In: The Ultimate Edition (2019 Remaster) (Disc 2 – Original UK Mix) – Give Me More Time (UK Mix) [2019 Remaster]
Whitesnake – Slide It In: The Ultimate Edition (2019 Remaster) (Disc 2 – Original UK Mix) – Standing in the Shadow (UK Mix) [2019 Remaster]
Whitesnake – Slide It In: The Ultimate Edition (2019 Remaster) (Disc 2 – Original UK Mix) – Hungry for Love (UK Mix) [2019 Remaster]
Whitesnake – Slide It In: The Ultimate Edition (2019 Remaster) (Disc 2 – Original UK Mix) – All or Nothing (UK Mix) [2019 Remaster]
Whitesnake – Slide It In: The Ultimate Edition (2019 Remaster) (Disc 2 – Original UK Mix) – Spit It Out (UK Mix) [2019 Remaster]
Whitesnake – Slide It In: The Ultimate Edition (2019 Remaster) (Disc 2 – Original UK Mix) – Guilty of Love (UK Mix) [2019 Remaster]
Whitesnake – Slide It In: The Ultimate Edition (2019 Remaster) (Disc 2 – Original UK Mix) – Need Your Love So Bad (Single B-Side) [2019 Remaster]
Whitesnake – Slide It In: The Ultimate Edition (2019 Remaster) (Disc 2 – Original UK Mix) – Gambler (7′ Eddie Kramer Mix 1983) [2019 Remaster]
Whitesnake – Slide It In: The Ultimate Edition (2019 Remaster) (Disc 2 – Original UK Mix) – Guilty of Love (7′ Eddie Kramer Mix 1983) [2019 Remaster]

And beet stats showed this:

Tracks: 13
Total time: 50.6 minutes
Approximate total size: 343.0 MiB
Artists: 1
Albums: 1
Album artists: 1

To list all files containing “love”:

beet ls love

To list all files other than those containing “love” (at cmd.exe):

beet ls ^^love

To do the same in PowerShell:

beet ls ^love

Override my “don’t update tags” setting when importing:

beet import -w .

Show tags as written to files (uses the info plugin):

beet info whitesnake

beet import -W: when autotagging, don’t write new tags to the files themselves (just keep the new metadata in beets’ database)

Album Art

<span class="n">pip</span> <span class="n">install</span> <span class="n">requests<br /></span>

				1

						<span class="n">pip</span> <span class="n">install</span> <span class="n">requests<br /></span>

Then add fetchart and embedart to plugins.

Note: if there is already a cover.jpg file in this folder, it may not download new art and then write it into your file.

Lyrics

pip install requests

Then add lyrics to plugins.

Genre

<span class="n">pip</span> <span class="n">install</span> <span class="n">pylast</span> 

				1

						<span class="n">pip</span> <span class="n">install</span> <span class="n">pylast</span>

After you have pylast installed, enable the lastgenre plugin in your configuration.

Importing Tracks

Using “K” for keep both when you are adding tracks to an albums creates a second directory for the album. Don’t use this!

Set Specific Fields

beet modify whitesnake encoder="Exact Audio Copy   (Secure mode)"

1	beet modify whitesnake encoder="Exact Audio Copy (Secure mode)"

beet modify whitesnake comments="Purchased on CD/DVD on 06/13/2020 from Amazon."

1	beet modify whitesnake comments="Purchased on CD/DVD on 06/13/2020 from Amazon."

beet modify press play month="05"

1	beet modify press play month="05"

beet modify press play day="12"

1	beet modify press play day="12"

Note that Tag&Rename seems to set the month and day fields to “00” when you update the comments field.

Update Album Art from a Local File

beet embedart -f .\img008.jpg wild fire

1	beet embedart -f .\img008.jpg wild fire

Note that you must have the EmbedArt plugin installed for this to work.

Search for File Type

beet stats format:MP3

beet stats format:FLAC

Search for Bitrate

beet stats bitrate:128000

beet list format:MP3 bitrate:128000

Search and Display Specific Fields

beet ls press play -f '$title $mb_albumid'

1	beet ls press play -f '$title $mb_albumid'

beet ls press play -f '$title $month $day'

1	beet ls press play -f '$title $month $day'

Show More Verbose Information

beet -vv

beet -vv

beet import --search-id c2d7051b-a367-4367-b0a0-a7746db2d9da .

1	beet import --search-id c2d7051b-a367-4367-b0a0-a7746db2d9da .

beet remove whitesnake slide it in ultimate

1	beet remove whitesnake slide it in ultimate

beet info albumartist:whitesnake track:1

1	beet info albumartist:whitesnake track:1

beet remove -p whitesnake slide it in ultimate

1	beet remove -p whitesnake slide it in ultimate

Update Your Database to Remove Deleted Files

beet update The Beatles 1962-1966

1	beet update The Beatles 1962-1966

Remove a Custom Field (Created by Accident)

beet modify duran duran Singles 1986-1995 comment!

1	beet modify duran duran Singles 1986-1995 comment!

Add to the existing comments field for a single file

$comments = beet ls tonic track:13 -f '$comments'

$comments
Amazon.com Song ID: 211724784

beet modify tonic track:13 comments="$comments`n`nPurchased on 12/19/2020 from Amazon for `$1.29."

$comments = beet ls tonic track:13 -f '$comments'

$comments

Amazon.com Song ID: 211724784

beet modify tonic track:13 comments="$comments`n`nPurchased on 12/19/2020 from Amazon for `$1.29."

Add to the existing comments field for multiple files

1..((beet ls "final rip off").count) | % { `
     $comment = beet ls "final rip off" track:$_ -f '$comments' `
     beet modify -y "final rip off" track:$_ comments="$comment`n`nPurchased in MP3 format from Amazon.com on 11/06/2022 for `$5.99.`nAlso owned on CD, but last four tracks of disc 1 were bad." `
}

1..((beet ls "final rip off").count) | % { `

$comment = beet ls "final rip off" track:$_ -f '$comments' `

beet modify -y "final rip off" track:$_ comments="$comment`n`nPurchased in MP3 format from Amazon.com on 11/06/2022 for `$5.99.`nAlso owned on CD, but last four tracks of disc 1 were bad." `

}