tdl

tdl is a rust implementation of the Python Script Tidal-Media-Downloader.

Overview

tdl offers significant performance improvements over the original python script by utilizing asynchronous multi-threaded concurrency.

How much more performant is it?

In basic testing on my laptop without any CPU/Disk contention, tdl can typically complete the same download tasks in half the time, and 3-4x less cpu time.

tdl: 1.44s user 2.02s system 36% cpu 9.480 total

tidal-dl:4.20s user 4.22s system 43% cpu 19.434 total

In situations where there is CPU contention, or very high network throughput this difference can be as high as 20x-50x.

Usage

Getting Started

To setup an auth token, run the below command, and log in via the link output to the terminal

tdl login

To get the possible parameters for any command or sub command, run:

tdl --help
tdl get --help

Get

Get a single item

tdl get <URL>
tdl get https://tidal.com/browse/album/129835816

Get multiple items

tdl get <URL1> <URL2> 
tdl get https://tidal.com/browse/album/129835816 https://tidal.com/browse/album/147102710  

Autocomplete

tdl will generate an autocompletion file for various shells, that can be output to the proper autocomplete directory on your system

Example:

tdl autocomplete -s zsh > $FPATH/tdl.zsh

Config Setup

Configs are stored in ~/.config/tdl/config.toml, and will auto-generate with the default settings when the executable is ran.

download_paths

The download_paths section in config is used to decide where files will be placed in the file system.

base_path will expand env variables along with shell accelerators such as ~. This is the parent folder all files will be placed under.

Each of the following keys will create a nested folder structure in the following template: {base_path}/{artist}/{album}/{track}

Examples:

[download_paths]
base_path = '$HOME/Music'
artist = '{artist_name}'
album = '{album_name} [{album_id}] [{album_release_year}]'
track = '{track_num} - {track_name} - {track_volume}'

Resulting Naming path: /Users/username/Music/100 gecs/1000 gecs [129835816] [2019]/1 - 745 sticky - 1.flac

You can also specify any token under any key so long as it's not a child. A track will be able to use any key from the album or artist. However an album won't be able to use a track key.

Keys can also be left blank to skip folder creation.

[download_paths]
base_path = '$HOME/Music'
artist = ''
album = '{artist_name} - {album_name} [{album_id}] [{album_release_year}]'
track = '[{track_num}] - {artist_name} - {track_name} - {track_volume}'

Resulting Naming path: /Users/username/Music/100 gecs - 1000 gecs [129835816] [2019]/[1] - 100 gecs - 745 sticky - 1.flac

Available Keys:

Artist:

Token	Description	Example
{artist_name}	Artist Name	100 Gecs
{artist_id}	Unique ID from Tidal	10828611

Album:

Token	Description	Example
{album_name}	Album Title	1000 Gecs
{album_id}	Unique ID from Tidal	192059802
{album_duration}	Duration in seconds of Album	3000
{album_tracks}	Number of tracks in Album	17
{album_explicit}	Shortcode if album is explicit, empty if false	E
{album_quality}	String literal of audio_quality	HI_RES
{album_release}	YYYY-MM-DD string of album release date	2020-07-05
{album_release_year}	YYYY string of album release	2020

Track:

Token	Description	Example
{track_id}	Unique ID from Tidal	129835817
{track_name}	Name of Track	745 Sticky
{track_duration}	Track Duration in Seconds	120
{track_num}	Number track appears on album	7
{track_volume}	Volume number of track, if album includes multiple discs	1
{track_isrc}	International Standard Recording Code of track	DEZ750500205
{track_explicit}	Shortcode if album is explicit, empty if false	E
{track_quality}	String literal of audio_quality	HI_RES

audio_quality

• audio_quality
  • Quality of downloaded tracks
  • Default:
    • HI_RES
  • Accepted Values:
    • HI_RES
      • (24bit/96kHz MQA encoded FLAC)
    • LOSSLESS
      • (1411kbps|16bit/44.1kHz FLAC/ALAC)
    • HIGH
      • (320kbps AAC)
    • LOW
      • (96kbps AAC)

Concurrency

• downloads
  • Number of concurrent downloads. Not recommended to set higher than 8.
  • Default:
    • 3
  • Accepted Values:
    • 1..10

download_cover

• download_cover
  • Download a cover.jpg in an album folder
  • Default:
    • true
  • Accepted Values:
  • true
  • false

Progress

• show_progress

  • Displays a progress bar when downloading files
  • Default:
    • true
  • Accepted Values:
  • true
  • false

• progress_refresh_rate

  • Refresh rate in hz of the progress bar, if show_progress is set to true. Reduce this for lower CPU usage.
  • Default:
    • 5
  • Accepted values:
    • 1..255