export in specified folder, not in "cleaned"

[hjsmail]

I want to import mp3 files from a CD directly, convert them and export them to hard disk.
But Audacity wants to export in a new folder "cleaned" in the original folder. That does not work with a CD
How can I change this?

[Gale Andrews]

I don't understand "That does not work with a CD". Do you mean you are trying to burn an MP3 CD?

Audacity does not burn CD's, so what exactly is the problem with the "cleaned" folder? Just open your CD burning software (Windows Media Player, iTunes or whatever) and drag the files in from the "cleaned" folder. In Windows Media Player you may have to drag the files into the Media Player Library or into a playlist, then drag from there into a burn list.

Tell the software to burn a data CD or MP3 CD. Note that a standalone CD player won't play such a CD.

If there is some other problem with "cleaned" you would have to modify the Audacity source code and recompile it if you don't want Chains to export to a "cleaned" folder. Or don't use Chains.

Gale

[DVDdoug]

I want to import mp3 files from a CD directly, convert them and export them to hard disk.

Audio CDs use a special format. They don't contain regular "computer files" and Audacity cannot open the audio files on a CD.

You can extract the audio and copy it to your hard disc with CD Ripping Software. I've used Exact Audio Copy for a long time, but (like Audacity) you have to download and install the LAME MP3 encoder separately. Lately, I've been using CueRipper, which is easier to install & set-up, but I've had trouble with a few CDs.

Windows Media Player and iTunes can also rip CDs, but you may have to use use Audacity if you want to make an MP3.

HydrogenAudio also has a List Of CD Ripping Applications.

[kozikowski]

I think everyone missed the point.
The goal is to read MP3 work from a CD without Audacity trying to write back to the CD in the "cleaned" folder, which it clearly can't do.

Koz

[Gale Andrews]

I think everyone missed the point.
The goal is to read MP3 work from a CD without Audacity trying to write back to the CD in the "cleaned" folder, which it clearly can't do.

Aha. Thanks, Koz, so the problem is the OP gets "can't open target file for writing".

If you only wanted one file on the CD, you could cheat the "system" by first importing a file from the location you wanted to write to, then import the file from the CD, then apply the Chain to the project. This would work because the "cleaned" location when applying the Chain to the project is the location the first file was imported from.

For what you want to do, you would have to drag all the files off the CD onto your hard drive, then apply the Chain to the files on your hard drive (or don't use a Chain, as I said). If not using a Chain you can import the files from the CD, do what processing you want, then File > Export Multiple....

What conversion do you want to do? Any rewriting of the MP3's will degrade them.

Do you want to "vote" for a method to choose the location of the "cleaned" folder?


Gale

[kozikowski]

Do you want to "vote" for a method to choose the location of the "cleaned" folder?

+1

As one of those semi-hidden, rarely used options. Certainly, default, normal use should continue to create a "cleaned" folder obvious and immediately to hand.

Koz

[Edgar]

Do you want to "vote" for a method to choose the location of the "cleaned" folder?

+1

The code for this is fairly simple. Designing the GUI needs a bit of thought. I think that a new button on the "Apply Chain" dialog would do the trick - maybe make two rows - put the "apply to..." buttons on the top and the new "Pick destination folder" button & the "Cancel" button on the bottom.

My clients have asked that I reverse the concept of the "Cleaned" folder - they want the originals moved to a new "originals" folder and the processed files to exist in place of those originals. I have also implemented the ("advertised" though missing) feature of applying to audio files listed in a text file. Since these may be in multiple folders I would need to reconsider my design to allow for default behavior (putting the processed file & the original in the same parent folder having a "cleaned" sub-folder) and allowing a specified destination for the processed file.

[Gale Andrews]

So I will move this to "Adding Features". I counted the two votes so far and I'll add mine.


Gale

[Gale Andrews]

I have also implemented the ("advertised" though missing) feature of applying to audio files listed in a text file.

So it seems it can import files from different directories listed in the LOF file, but it merely imports them all into the same project window then exports the mix into a "cleaned" folder in the directory the first file in the list comes from. It does actually work for one file.

Any other issues?


Gale

[Edgar]

I have also implemented the ("advertised" though missing) feature of applying to audio files listed in a text file.

So it seems it can import files from different directories listed in the LOF file, but it merely imports them all into the same project window then exports the mix into a "cleaned" folder in the directory the first file in the list comes from. It does actually work for one file.

Any other issues?

If we want to talk about this subject it might make sense to split it off into a new topic - maybe even on the elves forum to begin with.

It was years ago when someone asked me to work on this (pre-Audacity 2.0). As I recall, at that time, I found that the code was stubbed off and only accidentally functioned (when it did - as you point out, only for one file - and, because of a bug in Windows wxWidgets which I helped get fixed because of this, even on a single file, had a fair chance of failing to open the text file if it contained Unicode text). Even worse, when it did fail it did so silently without telling the user that it had failed.

What do you mean by "LOF file"? "List of files in basic text format", I am assuming - that's what I'm talking about. Again, as I recall, pre-Audacity 2.0 it only read only one line from the file - it did not have any kind of "for each" line statement in the code.

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