DOS DIR and length

My mp3 music files include a length which is the playing time in minutes and
seconds. I have a simple .bat file to direct the output of DIR to a file. I
input this to a Excel spread sheet to make a track list. I would like to get
the length so the spread sheet would include the lenght, then I could sum the
total time.
How do I get DOS DIR to include the lenght field?
Thanks
--
Frank C
Dell Inspiron 530S
Win Vista Ultimate 64 bit SP1
Dell studio laptop
Win Vista Ultimate 64 bit SP1
HP Photosmart D7260

Frank C <> wrote:

>My mp3 music files include a length which is the playing time in minutes and
>seconds. I have a simple .bat file to direct the output of DIR to a file. I
>input this to a Excel spread sheet to make a track list. I would like to get
>the length so the spread sheet would include the lenght, then I could sum the
>total time.
>How do I get DOS DIR to include the length field?

AFAIK, you don't. The "dir" command can retrieve file attributes that
are stored in the directory entry: hidden, system, archive, read-only.
Getting the time from an mp3 file involves reading the file and
parsing the contents. That's beyond dir's capabilities.

--
Tim Slattery
MS MVP(Shell/User)

http://members.cox.net/slatteryt

On Tue, 12 May 2009 12:19:23 -0400, Tim Slattery <>
wrote:

>AFAIK, you don't. The "dir" command can retrieve file attributes that
>are stored in the directory entry: hidden, system, archive, read-only.
>Getting the time from an mp3 file involves reading the file and
>parsing the contents. That's beyond dir's capabilities.

You can approximate it by calculating against the file size parameter.
Run a few MP3's, average the time they take vs size, set up a
calculation in the spreadsheet.

"+Bob+" <> wrote in message
news...
> On Tue, 12 May 2009 12:19:23 -0400, Tim Slattery <>
> wrote:
>
>>AFAIK, you don't. The "dir" command can retrieve file attributes that
>>are stored in the directory entry: hidden, system, archive, read-only.
>>Getting the time from an mp3 file involves reading the file and
>>parsing the contents. That's beyond dir's capabilities.
>
> You can approximate it by calculating against the file size parameter.
> Run a few MP3's, average the time they take vs size, set up a
> calculation in the spreadsheet.
>

And this will only be valid if all the MP3s were ripped at the same bitrate

--

Mike Brannigan