
soundKonverter is a frontend to various audio converters.

The key features are:
- Audio conversion
- ReplayGain calculation
- CD ripping

Reading and writing tags and covers is supported for many formats, so they are preserved when converting files.

The following backends and formats are supported:

Encoders/Decoders:
                Encode:                                                 Decode:
faac            (aac,m4a)                                               (aac,m4a)
ffmpeg          (ogg vorbis,mp3,flac,wma,aac,m4a,ac3,alac,mp2,amr nb)   (ogg vorbis,mp3,flac,wma,aac,ac3,alac,mp2,sad,als,amr nb,amr wb,ape,speex,m4a,mp1,musepack,shorten,tta,wavpack,ra,3gp,rm,avi,mkv,ogv,mpeg,mov,mp4,flv,wmv,rv)
flac            (flac)                                                  (flac)
lame            (mp3)                                                   (mp2,mp3)
mplayer                                                                 (ogg vorbis,mp3,flac,wma,aac,ac3,alac,mp2,sad,als,amr nb,amr wb,ape,speex,m4a,mp1,musepack,shorten,tta,wavpack,ra,3gp,rm,avi,mkv,ogv,mpeg,mov,mp4,flv,wmv,rv)
neroaac         (m4a)                                                   (m4a)
timidity                                                                (midi,mod)
fluidsynth                                                              (midi,mod)
vorbistools     (ogg vorbis)                                            (ogg vorbis)
twolame         (mp2)
musepack        (musepack)                                              (musepack)
flake           (flac)
mac             (ape)                                                   (ape)
shorten         (shorten)                                               (shorten)
wavpack         (wavpack)                                               (wavpack)
ttaenc          (tta)                                                   (tta)
opustools       (opus)                                                  (opus)
speex           (speex)                                                 (speex)
sox             (ogg vorbis,mp3,flac,mp2,8svx,aiff,amr nb,amr wb)       (ogg vorbis,mp3,flac,mp2,8svx,aiff,amr nb,amr wb)

Filters:
sox             (sample rate, sample size, channels, normalize, bass, treble)

ReplayGain calculators:
aacgain         (aac,mp3)
metaflac        (flac)
mp3gain         (mp3)
vorbisgain      (ogg vorbis)
wvgain          (wavpack)
mpcgain         (musepack)

CD rippers:
cdparanoia

If you try to convert a file that is not supported, soundKonverter will tell you which backend you need to install.

soundKonverter has nothing to do with the soundconverter project, the very similar name is just an unfortunate coincident.

Websites: https://github.com/HessiJames/soundkonverter
          http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=29024



Feature list:
=============
- Convert audio files between many formats
- Change sample rate and sample size during conversion
- Apply effects like normalize during conversion
- Convert the audio stream from video files to audio files
- Convert multiple files at once
- Calculate ReplayGain for many formats
- ReplayGain tool for calculating and removing ReplayGain tags
- Calculate ReplayGain for multiple files or file stets at once
- Conversion and ReplayGain calculation is very scalable, the conversion of 100000 files or more is not a problem
- Copy tags and covers when converting files (note: for ogg/METADATA_BLOCK_PICTURE, flac and asf/wma files, taglib 1.7 or higher is needed)
- Rip multiple audio CDs at once
- Retrieve audio CD information from CDDB and MusicBrainz
- Easy to use, just choose a file format and a quality level
- Detailed control, if you want to choose the conversion settings in more detail, simply switch to the "detailed" tab
- Manage your preferred conversion options with profiles
- Contextual help, e.g. if you don't know what the speex format is, just click on the "info" button next to it.
  Or if you want to add a file that isn't supported, soundKonverter will tell you how to enable the format if possible.
- Possibility to configure which backend shall be used for which codec - or let soundKonverter optimize that for you.
  Every time you install or remove backends soundKonverter will suggest optimizations if possible.
- Possibility to integrate soundKonverter in other applications or scripts by using its command line interface



Installation:
=============
This section describes install soundKonverter from its sources.
If you prefer to use precompiled packages have a look at the corresponding section below.

First you should make sure that all dependencies are installed.
soundKonverter will need the following packages to compile:
kde development packages version 4.4 or higher
taglib development package version 1.4 or higher
cdparanoia development package
libkcddb (sometimes kdemultimedia) development package
gettext-tools
cmake
All dependencies - and whether they are fulfilled - should be shown when running cmake.

Then open a console and change to the soundKonverter source directory and execute the following commands:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=`kde4-config --prefix` ..
make
sudo make install

In order to compile soundKonverter with debug information the commands will look like this:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=`kde4-config --prefix` -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=debugfull ..
make
sudo make install

Note: `kde4-config --prefix` should return the installation path of kde. On some systems you might need to use kde-config.
Or you can just define a path by yourself, "/usr" will be fine for most systems.

For installing soundKonverter to your home directory see Building Amarok Locally at: http://amarok.kde.org/wiki/2.0_Development_HowTo



Un-Installation:
================
For uninstalling soundKonverter, open a console and change to the soundKonverter build directory.
(If you followed the instructions above it's the directory named "build" in the soundKonverter source directory.)
Then execute one of the following commands:

sudo make uninstall
or
sudo xargs rm < install_manifest.txt

In order to remove the soundKonverter configuration and kde integration, run the following commands:

rm `kde4-config --localprefix`share/config/soundkonverterrc
rm -r `kde4-config --localprefix`share/apps/soundkonverter
rm `kde4-config --localprefix`share/kde4/services/ServiceMenus/add_replaygain_with_soundkonverter.desktop
rm `kde4-config --localprefix`share/kde4/services/ServiceMenus/convert_with_soundkonverter.desktop

this will - depending on the location of your local kde directory - result in something like:

rm ~/.kde4/share/config/soundkonverterrc
rm -r ~/.kde4/share/apps/soundkonverter
rm ~/.kde4/share/kde4/services/ServiceMenus/add_replaygain_with_soundkonverter.desktop
rm ~/.kde4/share/kde4/services/ServiceMenus/convert_with_soundkonverter.desktop



Precompiled packages:
=====================
You can find soundKonverter packages for various distributions with a nice download interface and some instructions at:
http://software.opensuse.org/download.html?project=home:HessiJames&package=soundkonverter

openSUSE users should either add the following installation source to yast: http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/HessiJames/<suse version>
eg.: http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/HessiJames/openSUSE_12.2 for openSUSE 12.2.
Or add the KDE:Extra repository (includes a lot more KDE applications).
eg.: http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/KDE:/Extra/openSUSE_12.2 for openSUSE 12.2
More information about openSUSE KDE repositories: http://en.opensuse.org/KDE_repositories

Ubuntu/Debian Packages are also available at http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/HessiJames
The packages in the xUbuntu repositories are suitable for Ubuntu as well as for all its derivatives (like Kubuntu).
Quick installation guide:
Open the application launcher, start a terminal and enter the following commands (each line is one command, execute them by hitting [enter]):
sudo -i
wget http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:HessiJames/xUbuntu_12.04/Release.key
apt-key add - < Release.key
rm Release.key
echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:HessiJames/xUbuntu_12.04/ /' >> /etc/apt/sources.list
apt-get update
apt-get install soundkonverter

Packages for distributions other than openSUSE and Ubuntu are not tested, so please tell me if something is wrong with them.
If your distribution is not listed here, you should start an internet search, there might be precompiled packages for your distribution provided by somebody else.
But make sure the source is trustworthy of course...!



Git repository:
===============
For everybody who is interested, there is a git repository at https://github.com/HessiJames/soundkonverter
In order to obtain the source code from the git repository you need to install "git" and execute the following commands:

initialize local git repository:

git clone git://github.com/HessiJames/soundkonverter.git

update repository:

git pull



Reporting bugs - please report every bug you find, that's the only way I can fix it:
====================================================================================
You can either leave a comment at http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=29024
or write me a mail to hessijames@gmail.com
but the best way is to create a bug report/ask a question at https://bugs.launchpad.net/soundkonverter

Some tips for creating a useful bug report:

Include the version number of soundKonverter you are using:
Click "Help" in the menu bar and select "About soundKonverter...", a new window will open and the version number will be shown at the top.

If you have problems converting a file, please follow these steps:
1. Try to convert the file.
2. Then open the "Log Viewer" by clicking on "Conversion" in the menu bar and selecting "View logs...".
The Log Viewer will now open in a new window.
3. By default the Log Viewer will show the log of the soundKonverter application, sending me this log won't hurt.
4. But the more important log is the log for the file you just tried to convert in step 1. To see that log, click on the combo box (drop down box) at the top of the Log Viewer window and select the file.
5. To save a log to a file, click on the "Save to file..." button on the bottom of the Log Viewer.
6. Attach latter or both log files to your bug report.

In case soundKonverter crashes and you can't save the conversion log file, you can make soundKonverter write log files directly to the hard drive. (disabled by default for performance reasons.)
You can find this option in the advanced tab of the configuration dialog.

In case of a crash:
After soundKonverter has crashed a new window should appear. It's KDE's crash handler and it has two tabs.
Click on the tab "Developer information" and wait a few seconds until the crash has been analyzed.
You will see three stars at the top right corner indicating how useful the crash report is.
If all three stars are filled your crash report is very useful otherwise it might not help.
If you don't have three filled stars you can install some additional developer information.
a) If you are running openSUSE you can install soundKonverter via the open build service.
   It is available at the KDE:Extra and the home:HessiJames repositories. In addition to the soundkonverter package these repositories also contain
   a soundkonverter-debuginfo package which you have to install. It contains additional developer information.
   After installing the soundkonverter-debuginfo package you can go back to the crash handler window and click on the "reload" button.
   All these steps should actually happen automatically after hitting the "install missting debug symbols" button.
b) If you have installed soundKonverter from its sources you will have to compile it with debug information enabled. Have a look at the "Installation" section above.
   After you installed soundKonverter with debug information enabled you will have to close the crash handler window and try to reproduce the crash.
c) If you are running an operating system other than openSUSE and have installed soundKonverter via a software repository chances are you can simply click on the "install missing debug symbols" button
   and the additional developer information get installed automatically. But I haven't tested it.
In order to reproduce a crash try doing the exact same thing you did when the crash occurred.
If you managed to get a useful crash report you can either directly send it to me by clicking on the "Report problems or wishes" button
or even better you can copy the generated information and create a new bug report at https://bugs.launchpad.net/soundkonverter and paste them there.



Participating:
==============
Translations:
If you would like to translate soundKonverter to your native language you can request a new translation at https://www.transifex.net/projects/p/soundkonverter

Patches:
You can very easily fork the current code with github. You can then work in your forked version and request a pull.
Have a look at: https://github.com/HessiJames/soundkonverter
