Hey, thanks for the ideas. After I make sure my initial setup works well within MediaMonkey and Mp3tag (the apps I'm using to create and manage my library), I should test out an initial sampling against iTunes, winamp, and amarok - so that I cover the popular apps and also prove I can migrate to a v2.4 environment.<br><br>I really appreciate your suggestions. I can use all the help I can get.<br><br>Gratefully,<br>John<br><br><b><i>Ben Bennett <fiji@ayup.limey.net></i></b> wrote:<blockquote class="replbq" style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> Yeah, it is a maze of twisty passages, all alike ;-)<br><br>My rule of thumb is to try iTunes to see what they do (although their<br>2.4 implementation has some nasty bugs), and test that against winamp<br>for 2.3 support and amarok (which uses a newer fancy id3 2.4 library).<br><br>As long as you are willing to use a subset of the spec, and don't<br>stray too far into
the wilds, things will go well.<br><br> -ben<br><br>On Tue, Mar 06, 2007 at 08:55:44AM -0800, John Slane wrote:<br>> Thanks very much for your patient and thorough answers. You have cleared up most of the confusion I had, and I feel ready to design a way to fit my metadata into ID3v2.3 tags that will be handled by a majority of apps.<br>> <br>> I must say, this task was more complex than I expected, given the nonuniform way that the ID3 tags are exploited by various apps. Without your help, I would have little confidence in proceeding. <br>> <br>> Thanks, again, for taking the time to help me out.<br>> <br>> Ben Bennett <fiji@ayup.limey.net> wrote: On Tue, Mar 06, 2007 at 05:42:23AM -0800, John Slane wrote:<br>> ...<br>> > The various music-management software I am using (MediaMonkey,<br>> > Mp3tag, etc.) are writing alphanumeric (English words) data to this<br>> > type (Genre) frame. So I would like to clarify a few
things.<br>> > <br>> > (1) Is a TCON frame really supposed to contain a numeric string? If<br>> > so, what is the definition of a "numeric string"? <br>> <br>> <br>> The 2.3 version of TCON is a mess. 2.4 made some changes, but it is<br>> still a bit tricky.<br>> <br>> It should not contain just a numeric string.<br>> <br>> The format is optional parenthesized genre reference e.g.: (4)<br>> Then an optional textual refinement e.g.: Eurodisco<br>> <br>> There can be multiple references in the frame, and there are rules for<br>> escaping (s. There is no mention of multiple refinements, I would<br>> assume only one, and at the end of the string.<br>> <br>> You can also make references to RX for remix and CR for cover.<br>> <br>> So these are legal strings:<br>> (4)<br>> (4)Euro Disco<br>> Euro Disco<br>> (21)(4)(RX)Euro Disco<br>> <br>> <br>> > (2) If I have English words in
a TCON frame<br>> > e.g. TCON = Soul R&B Motown<br>> > will that cause a problem with any apps down the road?<br>> <br>> I think that is the safest and sanest thing to do. I would not use<br>> the references stuff. iTunes puts just bare text in the frame and<br>> does not handle lists. And since iTunes is widely used, I would<br>> assume other software tries to read their tags.<br>> <br>> <br>> > (3) If alphanumeric words are allowed, what is the best way to<br>> > delimit multiple values in the frame? Are there any characters -<br>> > delimiters or otherwise - that should be avoided in a TCON frame?<br>> <br>> I do not think you can... the frame can not be repeated, and there is<br>> no identification of a list separator in that frame. The only<br>> possible thing would be to do:<br>> (4)Euro Disco(32)Duck Themed<br>> <br>> But I bet that is not well supported.<br>> <br>> However, you
can indicate multiple genres through textual convention:<br>> Euro Disco; Duck Theme<br>> Euro Disco -- Duck Theme<br>> Euro Disco / Duck Theme<br>> <br>> Just pick what you think is most visually correct.<br>> <br>> 2.4 has proviisions for multiple values (using NUL as a separator).<br>> But I think most software just shows the first value and ignores the<br>> rest.<br>> <br>> <br>> > So far, I have experimented with simply adding the multiple genres<br>> > as a text string delimited only with spaces (as in the earlier<br>> > example). This seems to work OK for now, since I typically am<br>> > searching for files with TCON containing a certain substring. Is<br>> > this a robust use of the TCON frame? Are there rules/guidelines for<br>> > entering multiple values into a Text Information Frame? <br>> <br>> Discussed above.<br>> <br>> <br>> > One other question (which will show
off what a newbie I am):<br>> > <br>> > What is the essential difference(s) between Text Information Frames<br>> > (TALB, TBPM, ...) and Comments Frames. As best I can tell, a Text<br>> > Information Frame is to contain a single string of text, with no<br>> > carriage returns allowed. A Comments Frame can contain carriage<br>> > returns (newlines). Is that the essential difference?<br>> <br>> Not quite... the T*** frames indeed can only contain a single text<br>> string with no newlines, but COMM is more general than that. It is<br>> basically a way for people (or programs) to stick arbittrary data into<br>> the tag. iTunes uses COMM for their audio normalization flag among<br>> other things.<br>> <br>> I would not expect COMMs to show up in various programs<br>> consistently... But yes, the "actual text" field can contain<br>> newlines.<br>> <br>> <br>> > Also, is the USLT (Lyrics) frame
type basically the same as a COMM<br>> > frame, but simply with a specific purpose?<br>> <br>> Yes.<br>> <br>> -ben<br>> <br>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------<br>> To unsubscribe, e-mail: id3v2-unsubscribe@id3.org<br>> For additional commands, e-mail: id3v2-help@id3.org<br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> ---------------------------------<br>> Need a quick answer? Get one in minutes from people who know. Ask your question on Yahoo! Answers.<br><br>---------------------------------------------------------------------<br>To unsubscribe, e-mail: id3v2-unsubscribe@id3.org<br>For additional commands, e-mail: id3v2-help@id3.org<br><br></fiji@ayup.limey.net></blockquote><br><p>
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