[vorbis] Time for Vorbis File 1.1? (was Vorbis Comment question)

[David K. Gasaway]

Carsten Haese wrote:

> 1) Because Monty says so.

Monty says very little on the subject. :)

> 2) To make backwards compatibility with older players and forward
> compatibility with newer players easier.

Ah.  I need to clarify.  I don't believe that Vorbis comments should be 
changed to support binary data, or otherwise break compatibility.  I 
simply propose they might be reclassified as "metadata," while the 
format remains the same.

> Keep in mind that tags are ultimately designed to be displayed verbatim
> to the user. If you have arbitrary (possibly binary) metadata stored in
> a tag, you have to know which tags are being (ab-)used for this, and
> strip them away before sending the file to an older player that doesn't
> know about these Extra Special Metadata Tags.

On the other hand, a metadata format that allows metadata format allows 
arbitrary data is subject to the abuse of developers.  I can imagine all 
the binary garbage an application might add to the metadata - 
unknowingly, since the players ignore the unrecognized tags or the 
unrecognized metadata formats.

With Vorbis comments, as you say, I expect to see the data verbatim from 
every application (almost - I don't mind that a player skips the 
replaygain tags).  I like this feature.

Another thing: I'm not quite keen on the idea of having a profusion of 
metadata formats.  It seems only likely to cause confusion and headache. 
  As in "I like this handheld player.  Does it support metadata format 
ABC?  Nope, only XYZ.  Well, I guess I'll convert all my metadata from 
ABC to XYZ or find another player!"  As if ID3v1 vs. ID3v2 isn't bad 
enough... ;)

<p>
-- 
-:-:- David K. Gasaway
-:-:- XNS  : =David K Gasaway
-:-:- Email: dave at gasaway.org
-:-:- Web  : dave.gasaway.org

--- >8 ----
List archives:  http://www.xiph.org/archives/
Ogg project homepage: http://www.xiph.org/ogg/
To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to 'vorbis-request at xiph.org'
containing only the word 'unsubscribe' in the body.  No subject is needed.
Unsubscribe messages sent to the list will be ignored/filtered.