Code Challenge 56 – Calculate the Duration of a Directory of Audio Files

There is an immense amount to be learned simply by tinkering with things. – Henry Ford

Hey Pythonistas,

It’s time for another code challenge! This week we’re asking you to work with directory, files and audio meta data!

The Challenge

Write a script that receives a directory name and retrieves all mp3 (or mp4 or m4a) files. It then sums up the durations of each file and prints them in a nice table with a total duration.

This could look like the following:

    $ module_duration.py ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Manu Chao/Manu Chao - Esperanza/
    Manu Chao - Bixo.m4a                    : 112
    Manu Chao - Denia.m4a                   : 279
    Manu Chao - El Dorrado 1997.m4a         : 89
    Manu Chao - Homens.m4a                  : 198
    Manu Chao - Infinita Tristeza.m4a       : 236
    Manu Chao - La Chinita.m4a              : 93
    Manu Chao - La Marea.m4a                : 136
    Manu Chao - La Primavera.m4a            : 112
    Manu Chao - La Vacaloca.m4a             : 143
    Manu Chao - Le Rendez Vous.m4a          : 116
    Manu Chao - Me Gustas Tu.m4a            : 240
    Manu Chao - Merry Blues.m4a             : 216
    Manu Chao - Mi Vida.m4a                 : 152
    Manu Chao - Mr Bobby.m4a                : 229
    Manu Chao - Papito.m4a                  : 171
    Manu Chao - Promiscuity.m4a             : 96
    Manu Chao - Trapped by Love.m4a         : 114
    --------------------------------------------------
    Total                                   : 0:45:32

What will you learn?

Why do we think this is cool? There are a couple of subtasks here:

1. You learn how to do a common sysadmin task of listing files in a directory (check out the os, glob and pathlib modules).

2. You learn how to convert and calculate mm:ss (minutes/seconds) timings, which will hone your datetime skills.

3. Check out the Cheese Shop for packages that can read mp3 / mp4 meta data or use an external tool like FFmpeg which gives you the opportunity to play with subprocess:

   The subprocess module allows you to spawn new processes, connect to their input/output/error pipes, and obtain their return codes. – docs

Good luck and have fun!

PyBites Community

A few more things before we take off:

• Do you want to discuss this challenge and share your Pythonic journey with other passionate Pythonistas? Confirm your email on our platform then request access to our Slack via settings.

• PyBites is here to challenge you because becoming a better Pythonista requires practice, a lot of it. For any feedback, issues or ideas use GH Issues, tweet us or ping us on our Slack.

>>> from pybites import Bob, Julian

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