Documentation

This program divides long MP3 files into shorter sections so they are easier to navigate. It’s primarily intended for audiobooks, but it can equally well split any speech file in MP3 format, such as podcasts or MP3 transcriptions of tapes or LP records. Audiobook Cutter cuts in a clean and fast way by using an automatic silence detection algorithm. Split points are placed in silent sections only and the original quality is preserved. You can tweak the result with several options.

Audiobook Cutter runs on Windows XP and Windows Vista. A minimum of 256 MB RAM is required.

Audiobook Cutter Pro customers are automatically informed about updates. All future updates are free.

First, you have to add all files of your audio book to the page “Audiobook MP3 files”. Add the files by clicking on the menu button Add. A file dialog allows you to choose one or more files. Another convenient option is to add files by dragging them into the file page. The file page lists now all files which should be sliced. Only MP3 files are supported.

You can set the track length to values starting from 15 seconds to 80 minutes with the track length slider. A track length of 10 minutes means that all tracks have a minimum duration of 10 minutes.

After you added all files of your audiobook to the file page, you are ready for splitting the book. Click on the menu button Split. Now you have to select the target folder of the new files. Afterwards the split process is started and it can be cancelled at any time by pressing “Cancel”. You will receive a message as soon as the audio book is cutted successfully. The new files are saved in the folder you selected.

There are several split presets available for specific use cases. Besides choosing a preset you are allowed to apply your own custom settings.

Long silent periods with medium noise level: Sections will be recognized as silent periods if they are long and have only medium noise.

Short silent periods with background noise: The silent periods don't have to be as long as in the audiobook preset and background noise is tolerated.

Without silence detection: In this preset the silence detection is disabled. The splitting is done according to the track length and all output files will get this duration. A cut might be in the middle of a word because it is independent of the silent periods.

Split at each pause: The track length is set to zero. This means your output files will be as short as possible. A cut will be placed whenever a silent period is discovered. This preset can be used to split in long silent sections between two chapters.

Choose this preset to adjust all options manually or to apply changes to the other presets. You will get the cleanest splits when choosing the lowest noise level and a long silence duration. In case the number of splits is too low you have to shorten the silent period and increase the noise level.

ID3 tags contain additional information about the MP3 file like album, title and author. The tags can be adapted in various ways on the ID3 Tag page. Album, author and comment are the same for all new files. The file consists of a base name and a continuous track number. That means the automatically created titles look like the following: “001 chapter”, “002 chapter”, “003 chapter” etc.

By default both tag version 1.1 and 2.3 are written. The title is based on the name of the first file in the audio file list. At the track name's beginning the current track number will be prepended. The album is also based on the first file in die audio file list. The author's name and the comment field remains empty.

• If the check box “Create ID3 Tags” is marked, ID3 tags will be written.
• In the choice box “Version” you can choose the version of the ID3 tags (version 1.1 or 2.3 or both).
• By deactivating the check box “Generate title name from name of audio file” you have the opportunity to provide your own title. Furthermore you can decide whether the continuous track number should be placed at the beginning or at the end of title name.
• The sames applies to the album name checkbox.
• You can enter an arbitrary text in the author and comment field.

Activate the check box “Save settings” to save all settings. ID3 tag options, source folder and target folder will be saved when the program is closed. At the next start of Audiobook Cutter these settings are restored.

If this checkbox is marked, all MP3 files of the audiobook are merged before the split. The result is that your output files are all of the same length even though the input files are small and of different length. Assuming you have several 3 minute podcasts, you can recombine them to tracks of 10 minutes.