2 replies to this topic

[suitkite]

Hello !

Big newb here. And ambitious. I'm willing to enter in a domain of computers sciences that I've totally no idea where to start. I do have extremelly little experience in C++, going to start Java this summer, started using Ubuntu this week, and I know the difference between a bit and a byte.

I might not ask all the detailed questions at first, so the main thing I'm looking for (for now) is documentation and sources of information (I've just read a bunch of stuffs on wiki, but that's all).


What I want to do :

- Learn how music files are structured (especially MP3 since that's what I want to work with - but might require overall knowledge)
- Learn to edit the data that isn't music, but information (called metadata I believe). I'm not talking about changing the artist's name in iTunes, but I want to completely change those data as I wish, work with the file structure, for an entirely personal purpose. So I assume I'll have to look deeper into what each bit is for, etc. etc. But I have time to learn.

Any thing that can get me further in my project is greatly appreciated !
Thanks you

[Reedbeta]

Well, first of all, DevMaster is a game development forum, and your question doesn't seem to be game-related at all. So there might be another forum out there that's better suited for your questions.

That being said, if you're looking to learn programming, it's pretty much the same starting point. I usually recommend starting with Python, but Java is fine too. IMHO, it's a good idea to learn core programming skills in one of those "managed" languages, where you don't have to worry too much about low-level details like memory allocation, before tackling C++, where you *do* have to worry about those details.

As for MP3s, if you just want to edit metadata programmatically, you can look at http://www.id3.org/ for the details of the format. You can edit the metadata without needing to know anything about the audio format. Processing the audio data itself will be harder because MP3 uses a sophisticated, compressed audio format. If you are interested in audio processing you might want to start with WAV files, as the audio is uncompressed and therefore much simpler to work with. You can find details of the format online. You'll need to learn to use the I/O libraries of whatever language you choose in order to get data in and out of these files.

[suitkite]

Sorry, I just google'd "audio programming forum" and I'm asking on several forums

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Alright thanks, I'll already take a look at that. More replies are still welcome ! bookmarked this page.