ATF: Stop spreading FUD about other media players

[Peter C. Ndikuwera]

IMO "Advanced Tracking Features" is a more accurate name.

Peter

On 7/21/06, Jeff Mitchell <kde-dev at emailgoeshere.com> wrote:
>
> Here's an absolutely hilarious email from some guy who is in love with
> Quod
> Libet and who clearly has no clue what ATF actually does.  I put some
> responses below since he indirectly makes some good points, although I
> don't
> think I'll waste my time forwarding them to him and having to deal with
> moronic responses.  I love his footnotes.
>
> ----------  Forwarded Message  ----------
>
> Subject: ATF: Stop spreading FUD about other media players
> Date: Thursday 20 July 2006 21:26
> From: Joe Wreschnig <piman at sacredchao.net>
> To: kde-dev at emailgoeshere.com
> Cc: Quod Libet list <quodlibet at lists.sacredchao.net>
>
> I read
> http://amarok.kde.org/amarokwiki/index.php/Advanced_Tag_Features_(ATF) a
> few weeks ago when it came up on the TagLib list and didn't really think
> much of it, since there's no useful information there.
>
> I read it again today, and it says
>
>   Great! Which media players have this type of functionality?
>     Amarok.
>
>
>   ...which ones don't?
>     iTunes, Winamp, XMMS, Banshee, Rhythmbox, JuK, Winamp, Foobar,
>     MusicMatch, Quod Libet, LSongs..."
>
> Now, please improve Amarok if you like it. I have no problem with that;
> improved software benefits everyone.
>
> However,
>
> 1) Quod Libet has been saving ratings and play counts - the library data
> people care about - in Ogg, FLAC, and MP3 files since September 2005.[0]
> We've also done it in a cross-library fashion, storing the data in the
> files themselves, either using the metadata designed for it (POPM in
> MP3) or custom, documented, easily-parsable values.[1] So, frankly,
> you're lying, and went out of your way specifically to lie about QL.[2]
>
> 2) For all your hype and excitement, it would be really nice if you
> could document how to access that functionality, so other players
> *could* support it. Right now it's somewhere between "vague" and
> "worthless".
>
> 3) Your proposal, while it might be useful, has nothing to do with
> tagging. Amarok still lacks advanced tagging features, especially
> compared to Quod Libet, but even compared to most other tag editors.
> Maybe "tracking" would be a better word.
>
> [0]
>
> http://www.sacredchao.net/quodlibet/browser/trunk/quodlibet/formats/_vorbis
> .
> py?rev=1774 [1]
> http://www.sacredchao.net/quodlibet/wiki/Specs/VorbisComments
> [2]
>
> http://amarok.kde.org/amarokwiki/index.php?title=Advanced_Tag_Features_%28AT
> F%29&diff=9411&oldid=9372 --
> Joe Wreschnig <piman at sacredchao.net>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------
>
> However, a quick reply to his points as they affect Amarok:
>
> 1) Seems QL saves statistics/rating information in the files themselves.
> Maybe
> that's a good idea for us?  It would stop any "ah, crap, someone made a
> mistake and now I just lost all my stats!" problems.  Unfortunately for
> him,
> since ATF has solely to do with using UIDs and functionality that comes
> from
> them, I'm a) not lying and b) didn't specifically target QL, since I
> listed
> pretty much every player.  He's just a defensive prick.
>
> 2)  Seems like he has never looked at the ID3v2 specification.  Oh
> well.  I
> guess this is too hard (from the ATF Wiki page):
>
> Many of the most common digital audio formats, such as MP3...have a
> metadata
> field that can be used to store a unique identifier (UID). In fact, ID3v2
> has
> an explicit field precisely for this functionality...
>
> 3)  It's called "Advanced Tag Features" not "Advanced Tagging
> Features."  It
> never purports to have anything to do with tagging, only to use the tag to
> do
> advanced things.  Amarok already has decent tagging features to begin
> with,
> such as tagging multiple files and the like.  However, "Advanced Tracking
> Features" is a pretty good name too.  Anyone have a preference for that
> name?
>
> --Jeff
> _______________________________________________
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>



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