2016-12-11, 22:53
Thanks for your useful insights.
For me, portability isn't much of an issue. The browsing advantage of customizing my 15,000 song audio library outweighs the limitation when I use a different Kodi engine. I envision that each audio file name connects into a library dataset composed of the ID3tags associated with that file and any other custom tags I create. The database may also have custom 'domains', such as 'harmonica' which contain pointers to audio files. Porting this info to a different Kodi engine can be done via an XML or other (csv) export/import mechanism. If I connect one of my 256G USB audio sticks to a friend's Kodi player I envision the system may allow me to import the associated library file.
Portability to other players could be more of an issue, but if the library export (xml, csv or whatever) format is clear than any other player could include a similar export/import mechanism.
It would be nice if part or all of it could be included as a string in the audio ID3/Vorbis structure. Currently I see the Comments field as candidate: it has 30 characters in its simplest form and usually is blank. A hashtag-string sequence (#harmonica) could be inserted into this field allowing sophisticated media players to include the comments field to filter and sort information, somewhat similar to what you do when you tag your video uploads in Youtube. A search engine will do the rest.
The graphic approach is key. On my tablet and smartphone I can create multiple screens each providing a group of apps that I'd like to use together (e.g. a travel screen with maps, hotel booking info, language apps, etc.). Why not do the same for audio, so a screen for piano music, one for 20th century compositions, one for jazz, etc. Within each screen I'd like to move albums/songs (album art) around so I could start with 1930's jazz on the left side and contemporary jazz on the right side: an audio gallery.
We're almost in 2017: It takes me just a few seconds to find pictures of my favorite pet in my image library (with whatever tags I created stored in exif) but that for audio files this is limited to a bunch of text in fixed fields.
I'm sure we can do better than that?
For me, portability isn't much of an issue. The browsing advantage of customizing my 15,000 song audio library outweighs the limitation when I use a different Kodi engine. I envision that each audio file name connects into a library dataset composed of the ID3tags associated with that file and any other custom tags I create. The database may also have custom 'domains', such as 'harmonica' which contain pointers to audio files. Porting this info to a different Kodi engine can be done via an XML or other (csv) export/import mechanism. If I connect one of my 256G USB audio sticks to a friend's Kodi player I envision the system may allow me to import the associated library file.
Portability to other players could be more of an issue, but if the library export (xml, csv or whatever) format is clear than any other player could include a similar export/import mechanism.
It would be nice if part or all of it could be included as a string in the audio ID3/Vorbis structure. Currently I see the Comments field as candidate: it has 30 characters in its simplest form and usually is blank. A hashtag-string sequence (#harmonica) could be inserted into this field allowing sophisticated media players to include the comments field to filter and sort information, somewhat similar to what you do when you tag your video uploads in Youtube. A search engine will do the rest.
The graphic approach is key. On my tablet and smartphone I can create multiple screens each providing a group of apps that I'd like to use together (e.g. a travel screen with maps, hotel booking info, language apps, etc.). Why not do the same for audio, so a screen for piano music, one for 20th century compositions, one for jazz, etc. Within each screen I'd like to move albums/songs (album art) around so I could start with 1930's jazz on the left side and contemporary jazz on the right side: an audio gallery.
We're almost in 2017: It takes me just a few seconds to find pictures of my favorite pet in my image library (with whatever tags I created stored in exif) but that for audio files this is limited to a bunch of text in fixed fields.
I'm sure we can do better than that?
