Search for mp3 by bitrate?

comet

Is it possible in Windows XP to do a search for *.mp3 with the condition for example bitrate < 128 Kbps? I know you can do searches based on file size. If not does anyone know of a handy application that will allow me do this. I want to identify and weed out low bitrate mp3 files on my PC.

aidan_walsh

Not with the Find Files and .., but hopefully this will be one of the changes that will be available in the (hopefully) more meta-data intensive WinFS.

Mutant_Fruit

Of course, WinFS won't actually be released with Win64 or whatever they're calling it nowadays. It was dumped so they could make the deadline

snappieT

Hating saying this, but let Windows Media Player do a search.

You can then see a list in order of bitrate, and delete directly (ensure you choose delete file, rather than delete library entry)

~snapscan

Explosive_Cornflake

Short answer no, but with the media library in winamp 5 you could.
Just hit the ML button, click the labrary button in the bottom left.
Hit new view, then advanced editor.

"You can enable more powerful views using the custom query language.

The basic format is:

<field> <comparison> [value] [<logic operator> <field> <comparison> [value] [...]]

Field names:
TYPE: 0 for audio files, 1 for video files
FILENAME: Full filename (including path)
LENGTH: Length, in seconds (or hh:mm:ss)
ARTIST: Artist
ALBUM: Album
TITLE: Title
TRACKNO: Track number of file
GENRE: Genre
YEAR: Year
COMMENT: Comment
FILESIZE: File size, in kilobytes
FILEDATE: Last known file date/time on disk
LASTUPD: Date/time of file imported to library or modified in library
LASTPLAY: Date/time of last play
RATING: Rating value (1-5, or 0 or empty for unrated)
PLAYCOUNT: Number of plays
BITRATE: Bitrate (in KBPS)

Comparison operators:
'=': String or integer equals value
'!=': String or integer does not equal value
'<': String or integer is less than value
'>': String or integer is greater than value
'<=': String or integer is less than or equal to value
'>=': String or integer is greater than or equal to value
HAS: String contains value
NOTHAS: String does not contain value
LIKE: String is similar to value ("the" and whitespace are ignored)
BEGINS: String begins with value
ENDS: String ends with value
ISEMPTY: (no comparison value required) TRUE if <field> is empty
ISNOTEMPTY: (no comparison value required) TRUE if <field> is not empty

Values:
"strings with spaces" or strings_without_spaces
integers can be "32" or just 32
integers for LENGTH can be a plain integer (seconds), or mm:ss or hh:mm:ss
date/timestamps should be [datetime data], which can be either an absolute
or relative time. i.e.: [3 weeks ago], [18:15], [05/30/2003],
[yesterday noon], [3 days ago 5 pm], [now], [5 mn before may 30th], etc.

Logic operators:
&&, &, or AND: boolean AND two comparisons
||, |, or OR: boolean OR two comparisons
!, or NOT: prefix this to an expression for the boolean NOT of that expression

Examples:
all video files: type = 1
audio by Air longer than 4 minutes: type = 0 & artist = "air" & length > 4:00
all files on drive C: filename BEGINS C:
high rated items that haven't been played lately: rating > 3 & lastplay < [1 week ago]
newly added items that haven't been played yet: lastupd >= [yesterday] & playcount > 0

Note that you can also use this syntax in the search field of views. Simply prefix
a ? or 'query:' to your search string"

So something like BITRATE <= 128 should do.

comet

Ok thanks guys, windows media player or winamp is the way to go so

Goldstein

Yes, there's an easy way in Windows:

Do a search of your music directory/hard drive for *.mp3, for example. When the results come up, right-click on the headings (the gray heading immediately above the first result where it says name, in folder etc). Check "bit rate", then click on the bit rate heading to list by low / high.

Easiest way of maintaining a real time list of them is iTunes,

File - New Smart Playlist
Select in the dropdowns: bit rate, less than, 128
OK

Media Player should be able to do it aswell, albeit via a more tedious method, but just checking there, actually it can't do it at all due to the ommision of the "less than" criteria option.

comet

Goldstein wrote:

Yes, there's an easy way in Windows:

Do a search of your music directory/hard drive for *.mp3, for example. When the results come up, right-click on the headings (the gray heading immediately above the first result where it says name, in folder etc). Check "bit rate", then click on the bit rate heading to list by low / high.

Oh right, i should have thought of that! thanks.