diff --git a/sound-collage.cabal b/sound-collage.cabal
--- a/sound-collage.cabal
+++ b/sound-collage.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:           sound-collage
-Version:        0.0
+Version:        0.1
 License:        BSD3
 License-File:   LICENSE
 Author:         Henning Thielemann <haskell@henning-thielemann.de>
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 Build-Type:     Simple
 
 Source-Repository this
-  Tag:         0.0
+  Tag:         0.1
   Type:        darcs
   Location:    http://code.haskell.org/~thielema/sound-collage/
 
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
     soxlib >=0.0.1 && <0.1,
     sample-frame >=0.0 && <0.1,
     numeric-prelude >=0.4.1 && <0.5,
+    optparse-applicative >=0.11 && <0.12,
     filepath >=1.3 && <1.4,
     temporary >=1.1 && <1.3,
     directory >=1.1 && <1.3,
@@ -41,4 +42,6 @@
   GHC-Options:    -Wall
   Hs-source-dirs: src
   Main-Is:        Main.hs
-  Other-Modules:  SoundCollage
+  Other-Modules:
+    SoundCollage
+    Option
diff --git a/src/Main.hs b/src/Main.hs
--- a/src/Main.hs
+++ b/src/Main.hs
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 module Main where
 
 import qualified SoundCollage
+import qualified Option
+import qualified Options.Applicative as OP
 
 import qualified System.Exit as Exit
 import qualified System.IO as IO
-import System.Environment (getArgs, )
 import System.FilePath ((</>), )
 import System.IO.Temp (withSystemTempDirectory, )
 
@@ -14,29 +15,39 @@
    IO.hPutStrLn IO.stderr msg
    Exit.exitFailure
 
+setChunkSize :: Int -> SoundCollage.Parameters -> SoundCollage.Parameters
+setChunkSize chunkSize params =
+   params {
+      SoundCollage.paramShift =
+         div chunkSize (SoundCollage.paramOverlap params)
+   }
+
+makeParams :: Maybe Int -> SoundCollage.Parameters
+makeParams maybeChunkSize =
+   maybe
+      SoundCollage.defltParams
+      (flip setChunkSize SoundCollage.defltParams)
+      maybeChunkSize
+
 main :: IO ()
 main = do
-   args <- getArgs
-   case args of
-      [] -> exitFailureMsg "action, source and destination missing"
-      [_] -> exitFailureMsg "source and destination missing"
-      [_,_] -> exitFailureMsg "destination missing"
-      ["--decompose", src, dst] ->
-         SoundCollage.runDecompose SoundCollage.defltParams src dst
-      ["--compose", src, dst] ->
-         SoundCollage.runCompose SoundCollage.defltParams src dst
-      ["--associate", pool, src, dst] ->
-         SoundCollage.runAssociate SoundCollage.defltParams pool src dst
-      [pool, src, dst] ->
+   Option.Cons maybeChunkSize action src dst <- OP.execParser Option.info
+   case action of
+      Option.Decompose ->
+         SoundCollage.runDecompose (makeParams maybeChunkSize) src dst
+      Option.Compose ->
+         SoundCollage.runCompose (makeParams maybeChunkSize) src dst
+      Option.Associate pool ->
+         SoundCollage.runAssociate (makeParams maybeChunkSize) pool src dst
+      Option.Batch pool ->
          withSystemTempDirectory "sound-chunks" $ \chunkDir ->
          withSystemTempDirectory "sound-collage" $ \collDir -> do
-            chunkSize <- SoundCollage.chunkSizeFromPool pool
-            let params =
-                  SoundCollage.defltParams {
-                     SoundCollage.paramShift =
-                        div chunkSize
-                           (SoundCollage.paramOverlap SoundCollage.defltParams)
-                  }
+            chunkSize <-
+               maybe
+                  (SoundCollage.chunkSizeFromPool pool)
+                  return
+                  maybeChunkSize
+            let params = setChunkSize chunkSize SoundCollage.defltParams
             putStrLn $ "determined chunk size: " ++ show chunkSize
             putStrLn $ "decompose to " ++ chunkDir
             SoundCollage.runDecompose params src
@@ -45,4 +56,3 @@
             SoundCollage.runAssociate params pool chunkDir collDir
             putStrLn "compose"
             SoundCollage.runCompose params collDir dst
-      _ -> exitFailureMsg "too many arguments"
diff --git a/src/Option.hs b/src/Option.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Option.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+module Option where
+
+import qualified Options.Applicative as OP
+import Options.Applicative
+          (Parser, long, help, flag', metavar, strOption, option, strArgument, )
+
+import Control.Applicative (pure, (<*>), (<|>), (<$>), )
+import Data.Monoid ((<>), )
+
+
+data Action =
+     Decompose
+   | Compose
+   | Associate FilePath
+   | Batch FilePath
+   deriving (Show)
+
+data T =
+   Cons {
+      chunkSize :: Maybe Int,
+      action :: Action,
+      src, dst :: FilePath
+   }
+   deriving (Show)
+
+
+parseAction :: Parser Action
+parseAction =
+   (flag' Decompose
+        ( long "decompose"
+       <> help "Chop audio file in chunks and add them to the pool" ))
+   <|>
+   (Associate <$>
+    strOption
+        ( long "associate"
+       <> metavar "POOL"
+       <> help "Associate chunks with chunks from the pool" ))
+   <|>
+   (flag' Compose
+        ( long "compose"
+       <> help "Compose audio file from selected pool chunks" ))
+   <|>
+   (Batch <$>
+    strArgument
+        ( metavar "POOL"
+       <> help "Automatically perform 'decompose', 'associate', 'compose'" ))
+
+parseAll :: Parser T
+parseAll =
+   pure Cons
+    <*> option (fmap Just OP.auto)
+           ( OP.value Nothing
+          <> long "chunksize"
+          <> metavar "NUMSAMPLES"
+          <> help "size of decomposed chunks" )
+    <*> parseAction
+    <*> strArgument ( metavar "SRC" )
+    <*> strArgument ( metavar "DST" )
+
+
+info :: OP.ParserInfo T
+info =
+   OP.info (OP.helper <*> parseAll)
+       ( OP.fullDesc
+      <> OP.progDesc "Approximate an audio file by a collection of chunks" )