Merge pull request #2576 from smlx/gapless-mp3

Document gapless mp3 encoding.

docs/plugins/convert.rst

@@ -140,3 +140,52 @@ and the given command is used for all conversions.
     convert:
         command: ffmpeg -i $source -y -vn -aq 2 $dest
         extension: mp3
+
+
+Gapless MP3 encoding
+````````````````````
+
+Due to limitations in the ``ffmpeg`` encoder, by default the ``convert`` plugin
+does not produce MP3s with accurate length tags (it does not write a LAME MP3
+info tag). This means that the MP3s are not "`gapless`_", and can result in
+noticeable gaps between tracks during playback.
+
+.. _gapless: http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Gapless_playback
+
+To work around this problem, you must use the `LAME`_ MP3 encoder, which will
+produce MP3s with accurate length tags.
+
+.. _LAME: http://lame.sourceforge.net/
+
+To do this on Linux, you need to install ``lame``, create a script (e.g.
+``/home/user/.config/beets/mp3.sh``) with the following contents, and make it
+executable.
+
+::
+
+    #!/bin/sh
+    ffmpeg -i "$1" -f wav - | lame -V 2 --noreplaygain - "$2"
+
+Then configure the ``convert`` plugin to use the script.
+
+::
+
+    convert:
+        command: /home/user/.config/beets/mp3.sh $source $dest
+        extension: mp3
+
+.. note::
+
+    In the script above, ``ffmpeg`` output format ``wav`` is used to produce an
+    accurate length header to pass to ``lame``.
+
+    ``--noreplaygain`` configures ``lame`` not to do ReplayGain analysis and
+    tagging itself, because it can only do a track level analysis. Instead, you
+    can use the beets ``replaygain`` plugin to analyse and add both Album and
+    Track ReplayGain tags.
+
+    See the ``lame`` `documentation`_ and the `HydrogenAudio wiki`_ for other
+    ``lame`` configuration options, and a thorough discussion of MP3 encoding.
+
+.. _documentation: http://lame.sourceforge.net/using.php
+.. _HydrogenAudio wiki: http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=LAME