Audiofile

I came back after a year and was delighted to find that the synced lyrics are now supported! I tried the latest build-957, and it seems that synced lyrics (LRC format) are supported in both external .lrc file and embedded ID3v2 tags (in USLT frame, and even the SYLT frame too). thanks again for adding synced lyrics, I know some other users have actually been waiting for this for years.

I actually mentioned the LRC format lyrics feature a couple of weeks ago (lyrics seems like a much requested feature). If I'm not mistaken, Max is also considering supporting LRC format synced lyrics embedded in the "lyrics tag" (e.g. USLT, SYLT, etc.)

I feel like most people who want synced lyrics simply want to understand the song rather than doing karaoke (unless they're listening to the off-vocal/karaoke version of that song), even streaming platforms (e.g. iTunes/Apple Music and Spotify) natively support synced lyrics nowadays, you can read more below: See time-synced lyrics in Apple Music Spotify's synchronized song lyrics are now available to everyone

I don't think that most songs "in the wild" are embedded with synced lyrics, as most people who want synced lyrics tend to use separate .lrc files instead. However, I still like Andre's point very much: being able to embed lyrics into the mp3 file makes your library cleaner and easier to manage (many players I mentioned earlier support embedded synced lyrics for that reason, I'm assuming). Unsynced lyrics in USLT frame is more common as it's already natively supported by many players: iTunes, MusicBee, MediaMonkey, Musicolet, JetAudio, foobar2000, etc. When you said "Fast check for LRC format is possible for any source of lyrics." did you mean that synced lyrics (in LRC format) will be able to auto-scroll regardless of which frame they're embedded in (e.g. USLT, SYLT, TXXX:LYRICS)? If you need, I can provide samples that have embedded synced lyrics in various ways to help you test the development, those are embedded using software (e.g. Minilyrics, MusicBee, Mp3tag, foobar2000, etc.) instead of "from the wild" though. Or perhaps you could also consider simply creating a few samples (with embedded lyrics) for testing and release the beta to let the users test it for you.

Hi Max, I was just curious to know if you plan to support "embedded LRC format lyrics in the USLT frame" while adding the lyrics support? After tons of research and testing I think this might be the best way to embed synced lyrics, and this way you can even view the lyrics in players (e.g. iTunes) that support unsynced lyrics (but not synced lyrics). I will quote my earlier reply below which compares various ways of embedding synced LRC lyrics.

That's probably the reason why most players prioritize .lrc file over embedded lyrics by default

[Split out from non-LRC related thread] Thanks for the detailed response, I've actually done tons of research and testing about embedding LRC lyrics (which is always synced) into mp3. Embedding LRC lyrics into USLT frame of ID3v2 tag does work for some players (e.g. MusicBee, foobar2000(with ESLyric / Lyrics Show Panel 3 plugin), WMP(with MiniLyrics), Musicolet, etc.), but it's still not as widely-supported as the seperate .lrc file, mainly because the USLT frame is technically intended for Unsychronised (instead of synced) Lyrics according to ID3v2 standard. In fact, besides embedding LRC lyrics into USLT frame, there're no better way of embedding LRC lyrics into mp3 (based on my research and testing) : The SYLT frame of ID3v2 tag is for synchronised lyrics, but it uses a different format than LRC, and support for SYLT frame is rare to find (the only program I know that supports SYLT are: MusicBee, MiniLyrics, JetAudio). You can create a custom TXXX frame (of ID3v2 tag) and name it "LYRICS", but support for that is also very rare (from what I know, only MusicBee, foobar2000(with ESLyric / Lyrics Show Panel 3 plugin), and WMP(with MiniLyrics) supports that). The Lyrics3v2 tag doesn't even support Unicode. Therefore, there're no standard and also widely-supported way of embedding LRC lyrics into mp3, the best I can do is importing it into an USLT frame, which is still not as standard as a seperate .lrc file. By the way, is support for embedded LRC format lyrics in the USLT frame a planned feature of Poweramp? (Max said "synced/non-synced lyrics + .lrc support" but I don't know if and how he plan to implement embedded synced lyrics, I hope it's the "embedded LRC format lyrics in the USLT frame" way which is probably the most common.)

Thanks for the referencing, it's good to know that the LRC lyrics is on the radar (I was surprised to see LRC lyrics was on the TODO list since 2011, it's really exciting to see him saying he will soon add it from 2021), btw it would be nice if Max could make it obvious that he's the developer for newcomers (perhaps specify in the signature like you did).

I can definitely imagine how you feel (imagine being those who have waited for about 10 years for this feature, almost since when Poweramp came out), I haven't seen the developer anywhere here so I wonder if the developer actually look at this forum (I only see the Administrators andrewilley, but he's not the developer). We can only wish the LRC lyrics will be given the attention it deserves someday.

Thanks for letting me know about the cache folder way. I keep the artwork as seperate files so that it can be managed/edited with ease when I need to. I guess I can manually embed the artwork for now then.

Thanks for the prompt response, I searched on the forum and realized this has been a much requested feature for around 10 years (since at least 2013), really hope to see the users' wish come true sometime soon. 😢 Edit: found a 2010 post requesting LRC support.

As the title says, .LRC lyrics is probably the most common way of synced lyrics, it's really useful for understanding the meaning of the song (e.g. when you aren't sure what's being sang (especially Hiphop), some of the .LRC lyrics are translated and thus helps you understand foreign songs too). Many music on Youtube contain synced lyrics (as subtitles of MV, or directly embedded into video, etc.) for good reasons. Currently I've tried the "Poweramp LRC Plugin on Google Play" but the experience is unfortunately not good (it creates an overlay on the entire Android screen instead of embedding itself to become part of Poweramp, this feels like a workaround instead of a solution). Many players support .LRC lyrics (Samsung Music, Musicolet, Oto Music, Retro Music Player, BlackPlayer, FiiO Music, Pulsar Music Player, etc.), so it's actually a very popular feature. Please kindly consider adding support for .LRC lyrics.

I understand that Poweramp supports external cover art, but it doesn't seem to allow using individual cover art for individual songs. For example, a song should be able to use an external cover art of the same file name (e.g. ABC.mp3 can use ABC.jpg in the same folder as its cover art, similar to how LRC lyrics (.lrc) is typically used, or how .mkv and .mka files are typically connected) Some other apps like foobar2000 and FiiO Music already support this feature. Please consider adding this feature, it's really useful for those who have songs from different albums in the same folder.