CH99-01: Intro To pygame (Audio-Music)

🎮 Mini Lesson: Introduction to Pygame – Playing Audio 🎮

Here's Some Setup We Need to Do

You will need to download WAV or MP3 Files for this lesson!! Go forth and search the internet!

You will need these 2 lines of code! This makes sure that your python file runs wherever you saved it. So, save python file and sounds to a directory, and they should all run perfectly fine!

import os

os.chdir(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))

Adjusting VS Code Settings

Additional Change To VS Code

STEP 1:
- Open VS Code.
STEP 2:
- Press Ctrl + , (that’s Control + Comma) to open the Settings UI
  - - - Make sure to Press these all at once
- OR click on File > Preferences > Settings (Windows)
  - - - OR Code > Preferences > Settings (Mac)

Step 3:

Enable "Execute in File Dir"
You’ll see this setting:
- - Python > Terminal: Execute In File Dir
  - Check the box ✅
    - This ensures when you run a Python file, the terminal's working directory is automatically changed to the folder where the file is saved.

Objective and Introduction

This lesson introduces Pygame, a beginner-friendly Python library used to create games, multimedia applications, and interactive programs.

We're going to cover:

✅ What Pygame is and why it is useful
✅ Install and set up Pygame
✅ Create a menu system that lets them choose a theme song to play
✅ Use basic error checking to ensure smooth user input

👾 What is Pygame?

Pygame is a library that helps Python programmers create games, animations, and multimedia applications.
It makes it easy to:
- - ✔ Display graphics (e.g., images, shapes, animations)
  - ✔ Play sounds and music 🎵
  - ✔ Capture keyboard and mouse input 🎮
  - ✔ Create interactive programs

💡 Why use Pygame?

- - It’s easy to learn
  - It’s used in real game development
  - It lets you experiment with programming in a fun way

🌟 First Pygame Feature: Playing Audio

🎮 Intro to Pygame: Let’s Play Some Tunes! 🎵

Before diving into visual game development, we’ll start with something simpler but just as fun—sound!
In this mini-lesson, we’ll use Pygame to create a simple theme song player. The program will display a menu of songs, let the user choose one, and play the corresponding track. 🎶
This hands-on intro will help us learn Pygame step by step, setting the stage for more interactive projects in the future. 🚀

🎵 What Audio Files Can Pygame Play?

Pygame can reliably play the following formats:
- - - WAV (.wav) – Uncompressed, high-quality, but large file size
    - MP3 (.mp3) – Compressed, small file size, but may not work on all systems
    - OGG (.ogg) – Similar to MP3, open-source, and better supported in Pygame
    - FLAC (.flac) – High-quality, lossless audio (not always needed for games)
    - MIDI (.mid) – Simple, small-size instrumental music files
LIMITATIONS:
- - - MP3 files can sometimes have issues depending on the system, so if playback fails, try converting the file to OGG or WAV.
    - WAV files are large because they are uncompressed, so they are great for short sounds but not ideal for background music.
    - MIDI files don’t contain real audio, just instructions for playing notes (like a digital piano).

🌟 Pygame - Let's Play Some Music!

For this task, we're going to look at playing music (slightly longer files) using pygame. This is going to be different than quick sound effects, which we'll look at later. And, remember, we're on day 1, so only looking at the BASICS! There is a LOT more to playing audio/sound using Pygame!!

Setup: Installing Pygame

Before coding, we need to install Pygame.
Run this in Terminal (Mac/Linux) or Command Prompt (Windows)
If installed correctly, no errors will appear.

🎛 Let's INITIALIZE the Pygame Mixer?

The Pygame mixer is a built-in sound and music manager that allows us to play, stop, and control audio files in Python programs.
Think of it like a DJ mixing board:
- - ✔ It loads sound files (like MP3s or WAVs)
  - ✔ It plays, pauses, and stops songs
  - ✔ It adjusts volume and loops audio

Here's How To Set Up The Pygame Mixer:

pygame.mixer.init() – Sets Up the Mixer
- Before playing any sounds, we must initialize the mixer. This prepares Pygame to handle audio. Think of this like you're turning on a music player, before hitting play

Here's How To Set Up The Pygame Mixer:

pygame.mixer.music.load(filename) – Loads a Song
- We have to give a location for the file, or for now, PLACE IT IN THE SAME DIRECTORY as the PYTHON FILE

🔊 LOAD the Sound File into Memory

We then need to load the song using a built in method
This puts the file into memory
- - Remember, we're not streaming this like on YouTube, we have to load it before we can play!

🎛 Let's PLAY the File!

pygame.mixer.music.play() – Plays the Loaded Song
- Once the song is loaded into memory, we can play it.
- This starts playing the loaded track from the beginning

4️⃣ pygame.mixer.music.stop() – Stops the Music
- This immediately stops any music playing.

🎛 Can We STOP the music?

A Quick Summary of What We Use in this program

Try Writing Some Basic Code and Make a Song Play!

Remember, you need to download a song first! Look online, there are a lot of mp3 sites which you can access and download. Make sure it's APPROPRIATE!

pygame.mixer.music methods

Notes on Rankings:

Top Tier (1-5):

play(), load(), stop(), set_volume(), get_volume()
These are the bread-and-butter methods.
Almost every Pygame project with music uses these for basic playback control and volume adjustment.

Mid Tier (6-9):

pause(), unpause(), fadeout(), get_busy()
Common in interactive apps (e.g., games with pause menus or smooth audio transitions) but less universal than the top five.

Lower Tier (10-15):

queue(), get_pos(), rewind(), set_endevent(), set_pos(), get_endevent() are less frequently used.
They’re for specific needs like playlists, precise timing, or event handling, which aren’t always required in simple projects.

Usage Context

Setup:

load() is always paired with play() to start music.

Control:

stop(), pause(), unpause(), and fadeout() manage playback state with set_volume() tweaking the experience.

Info/Event:

get_busy(), get_pos(), set_endevent(), etc., are for advanced control or synchronization, less common in beginner projects.

Do We Still Need Exception Handling?

Pygame will generate it's own set of errors called pygame.error

Setup Errors:

Methods that prepare audio playback, prone to file or system errors, requiring try/except.

Control Errors:

Playback and adjustment methods, where pygame.error is common due to mixer state, and ValueError for bad arguments

Info/Advanced Errors:

Info: Safe methods returning data, typically not needing exception handling.
Advanced: Specialized methods with similar error risks to Setup, needing try/except for robustness

Bonus Information - Try This??

Do You Want your Music to Keep Playing?

Remember, when you play a song, if the program ends, the music will stop!
If you want it to keep going, and finish, before the program ends, you need:

while pygame.mixer.music.get_busy(): pygame.time.Clock().tick(10)

Retro TV Time Machine - Theme Song Jukebox

"Grab yer bell-bottoms and teased hair, coders, ‘cause we’re hoppin’ into the Retro TV Time Machine Jukebox! This ain’t no boring playlist—it’s a blast from the past with at least 8 iconic TV theme songs!!

Your mission: build a menu that lets me pick a tune and crank it up through me time-warped speakers! When I select a song, it plays—smooth as a vinyl record.

But if I’m ready to zap back to the menu, hittin’ ENTER better stop that groove pronto, or I’ll be stuck in the ‘80s forever! Oh, and if the files go missin’ or the sound glitches, don’t let this machine crash—handle it like a pro!"

Requirements

Menu:
- - Display a numbered list of at least 8 TV theme songs (e.g., 1. "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," 2. "Friends," etc.).
Selection:
- - User enters a number to play the corresponding song using pygame.mixer.music.
Stop:
- - Pressing ENTER stops the current song and returns to the menu.
Error Handling: Use try/except to catch:
- - pygame.error (e.g., mixer not initialized, invalid file).
  - FileNotFoundError (e.g., missing audio file)
  - Display a funny retro-themed error message (e.g., "Whoa, dude, that tape’s totally busted!").
Files:
- - All MP3s/WAVs (e.g., fresh_prince.mp3, friends.mp3) must be in the same directory as the script.

BONUS:

Make the Jukebox Menu Awesome...
Fade In: Add a 500ms fade-in (play(fade_ms=500)) when starting the song for a cool effect.
Busy Check: Use get_busy() to warn if a song’s already playing

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