[vorbis] Tag changes

[Jonathan Walther]

On Mon, Apr 08, 2002 at 01:54:02PM -0400, Ben Pearre wrote:
>what I'm listening to.  Not all people will like the format I choose,
>however, so I'm trying to ensure that enough information exists so
>that you know what you're listening to.  Or do you advocate making all

I agree with you.

>4: Tuba mirum
>1: Requiem
>3: Dies irae
>2: Kyrie

This seems to me like the best solution.  And as David Gasaway pointed
out, we already specify that the DATE tag should be in ISO format.  So
why not specify the PART tag similarly?

>should be human-readable, but don't mention machine-readability.  I
>propose that since these files can only be played by machines, and
>since the tags are already awfully close to being machine-readable,
>the information contained in them should be machine-readable.

You are right, and the format you proposed does nothing to make the tag
UN-readable by a human being.

>> The PARTNAME tag already adds some complexity by the fact it can
>> occur more than once for a given track.
>Yes, I hadn't thought of that, and it's a good case for coupling the
>information (as in "${NUMBER}. ${NAME}").  As long as it's in the
>standard!  Make explicit that when order matters, NUMBER should be in

You got it!  That sounds very reasonable.  Based on your and David's
comments I have updated the page for the proposed standard.  Here is
the modified version (note I also modified the GENRE tag):

--------- from the standard ---------
PART
a division within a work; eg, a movement of a symphony. Some tracks
contain several parts. Use a single PART tag for a each part contained
in a track. Where the ordering of the parts in a piece of music is
important, and where the ability to have them sorted automatically by
software is wanted, the format of the PART tag should be ". " where is a
decimal number, followed by a period, then a space, then whatever you
want to consider as the name of the part. eg, PART="10. Oh sole mio",
PART="3. Andante con allegro"

GENRE
this tag is on probation. if noone speaks up for it, it will go away. do
people really want to know if a track is considered classical, punk,
ska, or reggae? it's presence won't help locate an Ogg in an external
database, nor does it help a record company make money. so it only
remains to be seen if it fulfills goal #1: be able to know what you are
listening to.
--------- from the standard ---------

>The question is: does it matter in what order the tracks are played?
>If so, you need a way for the computer to put them in that order.  If
>not, then you don't.  If you sometimes do, then you can use the
>ordering standard when it's needed.

>Any software.  Querying the database to determine what to name your
>files when you rip them, allowing you to rename the files...

I agree.  Did I post to this mailing list my Ogg scripts to rename an
Ogg based solely on the contents of its tags?

>> Is there a reason to switch from TITLE to TRACKTITLE?
>I thought TITLE was the name of a piece, for multipart pieces.
>"TITLE=Pictures at an Exhibition" or some such...?  I had more in mind
>_adding_ TRACKTITLE, but David Gasaway convinced me that it should be
>PARTTITLE instead...

Ah.  Well obviously PARTTITLE is the superior solution to TRACKTITLE.
I'm just wondering, are there any situations that TITLE and PART between
them don't cover?  If so, then we could add a tracktitle.  It seems to
me that in every CD I've ever seen, the title of a track is the same as
what would either go in the TITLE tag, or in the PART tag.  In cases
where the CD itself is "the work" and you would ordinarily use TITLE, we
have the ALBUM tag, so the meaning of the TITLE tag becomes what the
PART tag would have been...

Cheers!

Jonathan


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