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Re: Re: Metadata

Subject: Re: Re: Metadata
From: Lang Elliott <>
Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2004 14:04:45 -0500
Let's talk about file naming conventions.

There are so many different options. The big collections such as MLNS (Lab
or Ornithology) and BLB (Borror Lab of Bioacoutics) simply give each
recording a number based on when the recording was archived. That number is
tied to a relational database. Numbers can generally reflect when a
recording was made (=3D low numbers were made in the beginning of one's
recording  career, while the highest numbers are more recent recordings).
The advantage of using a simple numerical system is that filenames will
always be quite short. Who among us would ever exceed 99999 recordings in
their collection?

One can also name recordings by date. For instance, "950612_1" could mean
this is the first recording made in 1995 on May 12. The reason to place the
95 first is that if all recordings were stored in one place, they'd all lin=
e
up by date, which could be useful.

Another technique might be to use species codes, such as the accepted four
letter codes for birds. SCTA_1 would be recording number 1 for Scarlet
Tanager. The problem with using codes like this is that things get
complicated when one adds frogs, insects, and mammals. One can run into cod=
e
conflicts very easily.

In cases where one's recordings may end up in another collection, it might
be important to add a recordist identifier at the end, such as the followin=
g
for Lang Elliott: "950612_1_LE". But now we're running well beyond the
8-digit limit mentioned by Marty. But is the 8-digit limit important these
days?

Not worrying about the length of a file's name allows for an animals
complete common name to be used: "scarlet tanager_1". But this gets a littl=
e
unweildy at times: "Greater Angle-winged Katydid_1". The nice thing about
using a common name (or a scientific name) is that content is immediately
apparent from the file name itself.

But then what does one do with soundscapes, or mixed choruses? Maybe "mixed
chorus_1" or "soundscape_1".

What obvious options am I missing here?

Lang

I will try to get up to speed and then do a comparison and comment
back.
I have Cooledit Pro LE, Cooledit Pro, and Audition all running and
active within the house.  Yet I don't actually use them for initial
record in the field for laptop recording anymore because of the lack
of direct 24bit support, no ASIO drivers, 2.1 gig record limit, and
inefficient cpu use.  It is still very easy to use for stereo edit
and I like that.=20

The different versions of Cooledit don't all appear the same for
metadata but it could be that the functions all remain and are just
located in different places.  My hope is that Adobe will catchup and
continue the work on Audition.  They sent me a update question survey
last week that took about 15 mins to complete.

For me the fields are nice but not so important.  I feel that text
search engines are now good enough that if I can type paragraphs and
attach images that it would be good enough for a long term archive
and easy to search for.

I am using three+ file name conventions that should be rolled into
one.  So I am reviewing this with interest and find it very important
to understand the options well. Metadata at least is growing in scope
and not being ignored or discontinued.

Rich



--- In  Doug Von Gausig <>
wrote:
> At 10:15 AM 3/28/2004, you wrote:
>
> >Doug:
> >
> >I wonder if Adobe has dropped any of these useful functions in
their
> >Audition Software? For those who are confused about this, perhaps
I should
> >reiterate that Adobe bought out Syntrillium, so CoolEdit is no
longer
> >available. Now it is Adobe Audition.
>
> Yes, and I don't know if Audition retains the useful features. It
can be
> downloaded as a trial, but my trial version has expired, or I'd
check that out.
>
> Doug
>
> Doug Von Gausig
> Clarkdale, Arizona, USA
> Moderator
> Nature Recordists e-mail group
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naturerecordists
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



"Microphones are not ears,
Loudspeakers are not birds,
A listening room is not nature."
Klas Strandberg





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