Syncing UMS devices: A Proposal

[Jeff Mitchell]

On 01/22/2010 02:33 AM, Bart Cerneels wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 22, 2010 at 02:16, Casey Link <unnamedrambler at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Here at Camp KDE Jeff and I have worked out a way to provide syncing
>> support for UMS devices. It's a somewhat complicated process (many use
>> cases) so we've written up a little design document outlining our
>> thoughts on how to provide this feature.
>>
>> Read the little intro of the document to understand what-the-hell I'm
>> talking about her and why we need to add this feature.
>>
>> Document: http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AaFXNPFUj-7qZGZqbmNwOXdfMTBnZmYzanJjcQ&hl=en
>>
>> Casey Link
> 
> Alejandro and I have considered the optional addition of an SQL
> database to UMS as a way to improve both scanning speed of large
> collection and extra features, like rating and score.
> 
> We planned to store this database on the UMS filesystem itself to make
> it physically portable. Imagine the use case of moving between home
> and work computer. We can use mysqle or resurrect sqlite, which I
> think is better suited for this specific use.

I've considered this before extensively, and ultimately rejected it.

It will create an enormous amount of extra work to put a database on
there and keep it properly synced. It's prone to user error (people not
realizing what it is and deleting it), wipes/cleans of the device, and
so on.

You won't even need this shortly, when we implement the FMPS spec for
ratings and playcounts -- that's part of the motivation for creation of
the spec in the first place. Better to use the tags in the files
themselves, especially when implemented in a cross-player way.

--Jeff

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