> Hi Alex--
> Excellent idea as long as its simple to do. We could flag "grouping"
> to expand into more fields that nature recordists could attempt to
> standardize and use "comments" or another field for another expansion
> set. Know anyone "looking" for such a project? ;-)
>
> We also have the .wav files/iTunes ID3 tag incompatibility to work
> out towards the "free and cross-platform" goals. Anyone with iTunes
> on PC, can you add a tag to a.wav file? If not, can you try changing
> your Preferences ->Advanced -> Export default format to AIFF(?) and
> convert a .wav to aiff and then see if you can tag it? Rob D.
> --
>
Rob,
it appears I was too rash. I just checked again, and it seems that
iTunes uses its own (proprietary) format to save its library. The XML
file is merely exported every time the library changes, but it is not
used by iTunes. In plain English: you can access all iTunes data
without opening iTunes, but you won't be able to change anything.
Would make sense from Apple's point of view given their efforts in
keeping their own applications closed.
However, the XML file could still be used to initially parse the
library and extract useful information.
As for the metadata in .wav and .aif files: I wouldn't use the chunks
to store important data; although they shouldn't according to the
specs, some applications trash all (non-compulsory) metadata they
don't recognize when they save a file (for example after an edit)
instead of passing them on.
Alex
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