Re: [Rhythmbox-devel] Feature request for Rhythmbox

[Bastien Nocera <hadess hadess net>]

On Tue, 2008-05-27 at 18:17 -0600, Michael Burkhart wrote:
>         ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>         From: Gilles Dartiguelongue <gilles dartiguelongue esiee org>
>         
>         afaik, rhythmbox gets its data from musicbrainz which is a
>         coherent/consistent/user reviewed database. If your CD is
>         badly
>         recognised I suggest you subscribe there and start editing.
> 
> Okay, that's another CD database, one that I wasn't previously aware
> of.  I'm already familiar with FreeDB and CDDB/Gracenote.  Some things
> to consider, though, is that the CD-text can repeat (it's only an
> eight-digit Hex number, IIRC), causing discs with widely differing
> content showing up in each other's content/song listing.  This isn't a
> bug within Musicbrainz, FreeDB, CDDB/Gracenote or any other disc
> indexing repository, it's just the reality of CD indexing.  What I'm
> asking for (still) is that when there are multiple possible listings
> for a CD-text, I would like to have a choice of which content list to
> use (or choose none at all).

Please actually lookup technical details when discussing technical
details. FreeDB and CDDB use the same method to identify discs,
Musicbrainz doesn't.

Short version of the disc ID:
http://musicbrainz.org/doc/DiscID
http://musicbrainz.org/doc/DiscIDCalculation

For FreeDB:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDDB#Example_calculation_of_a_CDDB1_.28FreeDB.29_disc_ID

There are fewer clashes with Musicbrainz, and even in that case, there
is a dialogue presenting users with the different choices in that case.

> Since you brought it up, most CD ripping software I've used in the
> past allows me to create a content listing for a disc, and upload that
> list directly to a disc indexing repository.  I don't think it should
> be necessary for me to subscribe to Musicbrainz, (re)enter the content
> list, and hope that Rhythmbox picks it up next time I insert the disc.

If you're the first person to enter the data, your entry will appear
instantly. I regularly add new discs in Musicbrainz, when I add the free
CD coming with Mixmag to my collection. I click reload once the data is
submit, and there it is in the correct format.

Note that Musicbrainz' data submission process is more thorough than
FreeDB's and CDDB's, and includes artist references, and clear styles
depending on the "language" of the CD, number of artists performing a
track, etc.

See:
http://musicbrainz.org/doc/StyleGuideline

You can see my stats here:
http://musicbrainz.org/show/user/?userid=116161
for a small proof (and you can see my edits if you have an account)

>         > 2.  Easily select bitrate.  I appreciate that you support
>         multiple
>         > file types, but I like to rip audiobooks at a different
>         bitrate than
>         > music.
>         
>         that can be changed in preferences.
> 
> Yes, I know about Preferences.  I refer to the first word I used in
> the request: Easily.  Like from a drop-down list in the main
> interface.  Preferences can still be used to edit the list.

The current audio profiles code sucks. Hopefully somebody will step up
to clear this mess. Aaron still owes me that...

>         > 3.  Easily select the folder hierarchy.  I like to save
>         differently
>         > depending on the type of CD I'm ripping.  For example, I
>         like to
>         > bundle Audiobooks, group artists, and list compilation CDs
>         by album
>         > title.
>         
>         I'm sure multiple library's would help here. In the meantime I
>         guess
>         there is nothing much to do but to use an external ripper.
>         Soundjuicer
>         which is the default gnome ripper does a good job when you're
>         doing
>         things outside of rhythmbox.
> 
> External ripper... interesting.  Kind of defeats using Rhythmbox at
> all, doesn't it?
> Ubuntu 8.04 installs Rhythmbox by default.  I've used SoundJuicer and
> Grip.  I was hoping for better.

Sound-juicer and Rhythmbox use the same code for ripping, and setting up
where to rip, so using sound-juicer won't help. As for separating
audiobooks, it should be fairly easy to setup a separate option for it
(MB even catalogues audiobooks differently, just as it does interviews,
spoken word, etc.:
http://musicbrainz.org/doc/Database
)

I'd like to see what exactly you require in terms of importing, which
programs actually implement it (and more specifically, how they
implement it without becoming unworkable).

>         From: "Joel Dimbernat" <joel dimbernat gmail com>
>         
>         Maybe it could use profiles. I explain:
>         In the preferences window, you define encoding bitrate and
>         folder for music and for audiobooks.
>         When you put the cd in and choose to rip it, you're asked if
>         it's an audiobook or music, and rhythmbox encodes it as its
>         best.
>          
>         Maybe even rhythmbox can guess whether it's an audiobook or an
>         album by itself. I dunno much about audio books, but I guess
>         it's single track so we could assume that single track cds are
>         audiobooks. It's maybe in the tags that you get from
>         musicbrainz.
> 
> I'm familiar with Preferences (as indicated above).  I'd still like a
> simple/easy way to select bitrate, etc.  Maybe a Profiles
> configuration within Preferences (bitrate, folder hierarchy, filetype,
> etc.), and a drop-down list from the main interface to choose a
> Profile...
> 
> What you're suggesting sounds nice, but way beyond my programming
> skills.  That's why I brought this to the forum in the first place.

It's not a forum, it's a mailing-list. And you don't need to reply to
people just because they replied to you when it doesn't bring anything
new. And if you do choose to do so anyway, please answer in another
e-mail. It breaks conversation threads otherwise.

Cheers