Convert mp3 files to an m4b audiobook, with metadata
This also includes a small CD ripper wrapper, rippet, to convert audiobook CDs to MP3 files.
The following are prerequisites:
- Python 3.6 or newer
- ffmpeg
- The Python 3 mutagen module
- MP4Box, from the 'gpac' package
- mp4chaps, from the mp4v2-utils package
- cdda2track, from the audiotools package
Install the last five with:
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg python3-mutagen gpac mp4v2-utils audiotools
Or just install the deb file:
sudo dpkg -i mp3tom4b*deb
sudo apt-get -f install
rippet takes a single argument - the audio CD disk number. It creates MP3 files in the current directory.
The m4b conversion is a three-step process. First run the script using the component MP3 files as arguments. This will create a JSON file containing metadata for creating the audiobook file.
$ mp3tom4b *.mp3
metadata saved to "James Herriot's Animal Stories.json"
$
Second, edit the JSON file as necessary to add/modify the metadata. Specifically, review and update the following fields as required:
- Book "title".
- Book "year", the year of publication.
- Book "coverPath", the path to JPEG or PNG cover art. This can be left blank.
- Book "author".
- The "title" of each chapter. Leave this blank to omit a chapter title for a particular MP3 file.
Also, re-sort the chapters, if necessary. Note that JSON is a machine-readable format - be careful with the formatting.
Finally, run the script with the JSON file as the sole argument. This will create the audiobook.
$ mp3tom4b *json
audiobook saved to "James Herriot's Animal Stories.m4b"
$ mp3tom4b -h
usage: mp3tom4b [-h | <MP3 file> <MP3 file> [...] | <JSON file>]
Convert mp3 audio files to an m4b audiobook
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
When called with an argument list of mp3 files, mp3tom4b will
create a JSON file containing metadata for the collection.
Edit the JSON file to refine meta information for the audiobook.
When called with a single argument, mp3tom4b will interpret the
argument as a JSON metadata file, and will use it to create an
m4b audio file containing the mp3 file and metadata information.
$ rippet -h
usage: rippet [-h] disk_number
Parse a CD to sortable tracks
positional arguments:
disk_number disk number
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit