[Solved] "mpg321 --loop -1 FILE" - no infinite loop - Why?

[Rava]

System Porteus 5.0
mpg321 1.29.3

It states via mpg321 --longhelp

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--loop <n>    loop track(s) <n> times, < 0 means infinite loop (not with --random!)

As far as my brain understand that, this

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mpg321 --loop -1 FILENAME

should get mpg321 to loop FILENAME infinite since I followed what it said via its --longhelp ( and "-1" is "<0", yes? ) - but it is not. The file is played exactly once and then mpg321 exits.

Why? Is my brain in the wrong or is what mpg321 --longhelp states incorrect?

[donald]

mpg321 1.29.3-- where did you get that from?
I think you mean mpg123 - mpg123-1.29.3-x86_64-1.txz at slackware
and if so mpg123 --loop -1 bb.mp3 plays and plays and plays....
but I have (right now) version mpg123 1.23.4....

[Rava]

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guest@rava:/$ file /usr/bin/mpg123
/usr/bin/mpg123: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, interpreter /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2, stripped
guest@rava:/$ file /usr/bin/mpg321
/usr/bin/mpg321: symbolic link to mpg123

Seems it is the same binary, but it behaves erratically when called as "mpg321". Weird. well, whatever, problem solved. I shall call it from henceforth only as mpg123.
Thanks.

Added in 5 minutes 7 seconds:
Fun fact:

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mpg123 --loop -1 /mnt/sda4/sound/notification_-15dB.mp3

is like a non-stop popping of chewing-gum bubbles sound. Almost machine-gun-like repetitive sound.

(you need the notification_-15dB.mp3 for that to work)

Added in 1 minute 17 seconds:

but I have (right now) version mpg123 1.23.4....

For some reason, in Porteus 5.0.1 the mpg123 version is still 1.29.3 ???

[donald]

For some reason, in Porteus 5.0.1 the mpg123 version is still 1.29.3 ???

Yep
Slackware64 15.0 = mpg123-1.29.3-x86_64-1.txz
Slackware64 current = mpg123-1.32.3-x86_64-1.txz

[Rava]

Slackware64 15.0 = mpg123-1.29.3-x86_64-1.txz
Slackware64 current = mpg123-1.32.3-x86_64-1.txz

Is there real improvement between these versions so upgrading makes sense?

[donald]

Is there real improvement between these versions so upgrading makes sense?

https://www.mpg123.de/

[Rava]

^

2023-10-02 thomas: Releasing mpg123 version 1.32.3:
[…]
This finally is, hopefully, the release to replace 1.31.x. This was a rough ride due to largefile API/ABI stuff being just … horror. I really, really, hope that I won't have to rework that another time.

Sounds like some improvement (and hard work for the maintainer)
Thanks donald for the heads up.

[Rava]

Update
I just now tried pressing the "v" key when playing some file via

mpg123 *

(and not via mpg321 since for reasons unknown that is just a symlink to mpg123 but the application misbehaves when being addressed so, see the issue with non working loop above) without knowing that this exists as "verbose" key, I just presumed will do so.
And look what it does.

Without it all it said was this during playing of a file

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Terminal control enabled, press 'h' for listing of keys and functions.

Playing MPEG stream 1 of 8: 01 Track 01.mp3 ...

MPEG 1.0 L III cbr192 44100 stereo

Title:   Track 01
Comment: 1

and when a file was finished this

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[0:51] Decoding of 01 Track 01.mp3 finished.

But during playing of file 3 of 8 from "./*" I pressed "v" and this was displayed at the bottom where usually an empty line would be:

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_ 0999+0787  00:26.09+00:20.56 --- 100=100 192 kb/s  627 B acc    0 clip p+0.00

(unless you press one of the keys for "pause", then there would be

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 Stopped.  

displayed)

Dunno what the 0999+0787 part is about.
The 00:26.09+00:20.56 is: Current position in played file / remaining time of same file.

And what you cannot see via a simply copying of the text output and putting it into a [ code ] snippet:
the whole line is displayed inverted from the beginning (left) and non-inverted at the end (right) proportional towards the position.
Have a real screenshot as well since I cannot display the inverted / non-inverted state via a simple [ code ] snippet:


I like what mpg123 does when you press "v" - and when you press "v" 3 more times it stops displaying the detailed output at the bottom. Dunno why you have to press "v" 3 more times for it to stop being verbose; its output looks the same, but maybe it would change the verbosity of the above part

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Title:   Track 01
Comment: 1

when displaying a new played file?

Anyhow, Rava is a happy camper once more exploring a CLI (command line interpreter) / terminal program and what they can do without the need of having a bloated GUI version of that program as added frontend.