Automatically Fix Song Metadata and Filenames on Linux with Beets

 🎵 Automatically Fix Song Metadata and Filenames on Linux with Beets

Tired of sorting through unknown MP3s with cryptic filenames like Track01.mp3? Sick of missing album info, incorrect genres, and zero cover art? Here's a clean way to batch-fix your music collection with open source tools — no manual editing required.


✅ What You’ll Use

beets — the core tool that organizes, renames, and tags your music by matching against the MusicBrainz database.

libchromaprint-tools — provides fpcalc, which generates audio fingerprints to identify unlabeled tracks.

ffmpeg (optional) — used by beets for transcoding or embedded cover art processing.


🔧 Installation

sudo apt update

sudo apt install beets libchromaprint-tools ffmpeg


🚀 One Command to Organize It All

beet import /path/to/your/music/

Beets will:

Fingerprint each file

Query MusicBrainz for metadata

Rename files (e.g., Artist - Title.mp3)

Write correct ID3/metadata tag

Optionally move files into organized folders


📁 Example Output

Your folder of:

Track01.mp3

Unknown123.mp3

…turns into:

/Music/The Cure/Disintegration/01 - Plainsong.mp3

/Music/Radiohead/Kid A/03 - How to Disappear Completely.mp3


⚙️ First-Time Setup

You’ll be prompted to create ~/.config/beets/config.yaml. Example starter config:

directory: ~/Music

import:

    move: yes

    write: yes

    autotag: yes

    quiet: no


🧠 Summary of Each Tool

beets: identifies, tags, renames, and organizes your music files using online metadata.

fpcalc (from libchromaprint-tools): generates audio fingerprints to identify songs with no metadata.

ffmpeg: supports embedded album art, conversion, and advanced audio manipulation.


Done. No more manual ID3 editing. Just run one command, go get coffee, and come back to a clean library.

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