[vorbis] Desirable Properties of a Real Metadata Format

[Christopher Granade]

Nathan I. Sharfi wrote:

> I suggest gzipped XML. Feel free to suggest something that isn't XML if you
> dislike it that much.
> 
> Anyhow, as a practical matter, Vorbis-style metadata lacks a Really Good Way
> to have the same data in multiple languages. Or at least a widely-agreed
> upon way. So, howzabout...
> 
> <data>
> <title xml:lang='en'>Mars, the Bringer of War</title>
> <title xml:lang='de'>Mars, der &#x00dc;berbringer des Krieges</title>
> <title xml:lang='fr'>Mars, qui apporte la guerre</title>
> </data>
> 
> It's not just this /The Planets/ album that does this;
> http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/chamberchoir has a number of weird things about its
> track titles, including "13. I Think Upon the Faithfull [sic] Day" and to a
> slightly lesser extent, "10. The Cherubimic [sic] Hymn". At least if the
> original names were in the file...well, that'd be nice. I guess.
> 
> Does anyone have any idea how to deal with track num, er, indices like "9a,
> 9b", &c.? The best I can suggest is sorting numerically (i.e., not
> lexicographically) and then allowing the inclusion of some sort of
> comparison function...
> 
> Ew.
On XML: I would recommend an XML-like format that doesn't include any 
root tags, so as to facilitate the cat file1.ogm >> file2.ogm 
functionality. Also, the metadata stream(s) would have to support 
multiple gzips, so as to prevent having to load too large of a cache and 
to allow for arbitrary splits. To the end of defining tags, I think of 
OGG largely for movies, and as such, one might envision the following 
entities:

<chaptermark />
<subtitle /> (could incorporate XHTML here, and even MathML if we were 
crazy enough... jk)
<subtitle forced="en, jp" /> <!-- forces under en and jp languages- use 
for pretend languages and such. -->
<oggmenu>
        <?ogg import-src="[url]" ?>
        <bgimg src="[url]" />
        <option src="[url]" href="[url]" />
        <option src="[url]" action="[script call]" />
</oggmenu>

Anyway, just a few thoughts...

-- 
Christopher Granade
   (cgranade at greens.org)
   Webmaster, Green Party of Alaska
   Secretary, RLC of Lathrop and Stevens Halls
   Secretary, RHA of UAF

<p>"Everyone has to find their own reason."
   -Cloud, Final Fantasy VII

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