Synchronize¶

The albums sync command will copy some or all of the configured music library to another location. Only files that have been updated are copied. This enables updating portable collections and digital audio players as long as they can be accessed by the operating system like a regular storage device.

Only music files that albums knows about are copied. If there are other files in the library album directory, including images, sync ignores them!

Use a collection¶

albums can associate specific albums with "collection" tags (see Usage). A collection could define a subset of the library to copy to a digital audio player, phone or memory card. The command albums -m collection=top100 sync <destination> would copy all albums in the "top100" collection to the destination.

Sync and delete¶

If albums are removed from the collection, or folders/files are renamed, running another sync to the same destination could leave unwanted or duplicate files. Alternatively, with the --delete option, albums will delete every file in the destination that is not being synced! This is good if the destination is, for example, a folder on a memory card for a digital audio player, which doesn't contain any other data, and albums sync will manage everything there.

Sync Destination¶

Rather than specify the path each time, you can configure one or more "sync destinations" in the albums config menu. This also allows configuring additional advanced options for the sync:

Basic Option	Description
`collection`	The albums collection to filter by for sync
`path_root`	The destination path where files will be copied
`relpath_template_artist`	Template for album folder name (albums with artist)
`relpath_template_compilation`	Template for album folder name (compilations)

If relpath_template_artist or relpath_template_compilation are blank (default), artist albums and compilations will be organized just the same way they are in the library.

Transcoder Options¶

Warning

If transcoder options are enabled, the transcoder cache created by albums can consume a very large amount of disk space. See options below.

By default, sync copies audio files from the library to the destination. But if it is configured with a sync destination, albums can also convert audio files to a format that is suitable for the destination as needed. Using these options enables transcoding.

Transcoded files will be tagged with basic tags and pictures as supported by albums. Not all tags from source files are copied to the transcoded files.

Transcoder Option	Description
`allow_file_types`	List of allowed audio file types - if other, transcode album
`max_kbps`	Maximum bitrate, kbps - if higher (album average), transcode album
`max_sample_rate`	Maximum sample rate, Hz - if higher (any track), transcode album
`max_bits_per_sample`	Maximum bits per sample - if higher (any track), transcode album
`convert_file_type`	Transcode output file type: `mp3`, `m4a` (aac) or `flac`
`convert_bitrate`	Transcode output bitrate: `vbr` or a fixed kbps (`flac` has none)

vbr is only offered for mp3 (~192 kbps); m4a uses fixed bitrates. Transcoded output is at most 16-bit and stereo, and the sample rate is capped at max_sample_rate if set. All supported source formats can be transcoded, but only mp3, m4a and flac are output types - for example, ogg vorbis albums can be transcoded to mp3, but ogg output is not available.

Transcoder Cache¶

When the transcoder is used, all converted files are stored in the "transcoder cache" before copying. By default this cache is in the user data directory. The transcoder cache size limit is set to 16 gigabytes by default. This is a soft limit, applied only before and after sync. Older caches are removed, but the most recently used per-format cache is retained regardless of size.

The transcoder cache location and soft limit are set in albums config.