Note: This page is quite old and is likely out of date. My opinions may have also changed dramatically since this was written. It is here as a reference until I get around to updating it.

Installation

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$ sudo yum install python-pip chromaprint-tools -y
$ sudo pip-python install beets
$ sudo pip-python install pyacoustid
$ sudo pip-python install rgain
$ sudo pip-python install pylast

Configure "~/.beetsconfig" like so:

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[beets]
path_format: $artist/$album/$track - $title
import_copy: yes
import_write: yes
import_resume: ask
import_art: yes
import_quiet_fallback: skip
import_timid: no
ignore: .AppleDouble ._* *~ .DS_Store
threaded: yes
color: yes
plugins: chroma embedart lastgenre replaygain scrub

[paths]
default: $albumartist/$album/$track - $title
singleton: $artist/$title
comp: Compilations/$album/$track - $title

[replaygain]
overwrite: yes

Usage

The following command will import music from the given path and copy it into the directory specified in the configuration file.

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$ beet import /path/to/music

Adding the "-C" will do the same thing but will update the files in place rather than copying them elsewhere:

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$ beet import -C /path/to/music

And finally if you want the metadata to only exist in the database (not update the files) you can pass it the "-W" flag like so:

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$ beet import -W /path/to/music

The "-A" flag will import the music without checking the tags. And finally the "-q" will suppress the prompts and only import the files that have a 95% chance of matching.