[ogg-dev] The use for an XML based metadata format

[Ralph Giles]

On Sun, Sep 16, 2007 at 09:54:10PM -0700, David K. Gasaway wrote:

> In my opinion, for this purpose it would be more appropriate to store 
> the data separate from the audio files -- perhaps another file in the 
> directory, or in a database.

These applications are complementary. Many music players do have their 
own database, and it makes sense to keep metadata there, if only as a
cache. It is also to have metadata in the file itself, so that when it
is moved, copied, posted for download by others, or just indexed by
another music player instance it is easily available.

In the other direction many music players use central databases to 
obtain metadata in the first place. Entering metadata is tedious;
the role of software should be to minimize the number of times this
needs to be done and mediate smoothly between all the places it is
stored.

 -r