Can MMD files please store more CD info?

English Feature Requests
1

We will shortly be in a position where we will occasionally need to make detailed returns to our local (UK) music licensing organisations of all the music tracks we have played out.

Obviously we can use mAirList logs to help with this, but it would be very helpful if we could:
a) store some more info. in the MMD files (e.g. label, catalogue number of CD, track number, CD number if part of a set), and
b) be able to use % variables in mAirList logging to include this information in the log files.

The extra fields I would like to see added to MMD file (and hence the item Properties dialog in mAirList and mAirListTag) are:

Fields which can be imported from ID3 tags:
Year, Album name, Track number

New fields not (usually) present in ID3 tags:
Label (e.g. EMI, Geffen, etc.)
Media Type (e.g CD, LP, EP, 45rpm, etc.)
Catalogue Number (of the original commercial recording)
Media Set Number/Track Number (e.g. CD2/12 or 5 or 07)
(and yes I know I have duplicated Track number, but the ID3 Track number could be imported into this field instead)

Perhaps the Media Set Number (useful for multi-CD collections) should be a separate field; but after a lot of thought, I reckon the one field will suffice. Not everything comes from a multi-CD collection, and it would be a pain to have to enter 1 in every Media Set Number field!

As I said above, even better would be to have these new fields available as % variables when logging. My ideal log enties would read (for example, and using commas to represent tabs):

05:26:14,20/11/2006,START,Best Friends,Basia,London Warsaw New York,Epic,CD,463282 2,2 05:30:17,20/11/2006,STOP,Best Friends,Basia

Does all of that make sense? And would it be possible to implement this? It would be very easy to take log files like the one above and import them into (for example) Excel, to quickly and easily produce the sort of reports we will need to send to the licensing authorities. I’m sure Tony Wilding and Charlie Davy can both confirm the sort of balls-aching detail required here in the UK: correct, lads? :wink:

If it could be done, I think this would be a killer feature for any legitimate station! I’m sure there are similar ‘returns’ requirements in other countries, right Torben?

BFN
CAD

2

I agree… There are rather strict requirements for logging music details. In days of old, we had to do it by hand during the song! Having it logged for you, with all the publishing details and churned out to a CSV file would certainly make it an attractive feature.

3

Well, sounds like a good idea. However, fixing a set of important fields should be difficult. Next week, someone wants to store another kind of information, and then I need to add another field … Well, no, this shouldn’t be too static.

How about offering the possibility to maintain a custom set of arbitrary parameter/string value pairs per titel? Then you can enter whatever meta data you want. Of course, these values will be accessible from the logging facilities.

Torben

4

Ok, guys, I’ve had some time to spend this evening :slight_smile:

In version 1.5.46, you will find a new new tab “User Defined Data” in the Properties dialog with a simple grid in which you can enter arbitrary name/value pairs. These items are of course saved included in mAirLists’s XML data, so you can also create them manually or with a custom software or whatever. I won’t describe the XML block of this user defined data in detail here, just have a look inside the .mmd file.

In order to write a certain user defined value to the log file, you can use the new variable “%u”, followed by the variable name in braces. Example: Suppose that you have entered a pair with the name “Label” and the value “EMI”. Then you can access this value with %u{Label}.

I will upload the new version in a few minutes. Stay tuned.

Torben

5

Sheer genius, young man! If you are ever in Edinburgh, I definitely owe you an evening’s drinking! (Or whatever…?) Just let me know at least a week in advance.

BFN
CAD

6

Well, living in the age of low-cost airlines … I know that Germanwings offers flights from Cologne to EDI. I don’t how expensive or how frequently, but maybe I will take you up on that :wink: I’m sure my wife would love to visit Scotland …

Torben

7

A tad off-topic, but we do have a spare room here if you and your good lady wish to visit Linda and myself—or we can advise you of reasonable hotels here of you’d prefer. We will be visitng Alkmaar in the Netherlands from Thursday 7th to Monday 11th ourselves (here’s why: http://www.pinside.com, then click the link de Koog…).

OK, offer made, so…(!)

  1. User Defined Data should I think be named User Defined Properties (because they are, and because they are in a Properties dialog).

  2. UDPs (User Defined Properties) should also have a Configuration page, because while every station’s list of Properties will be different, a single station’s list will be fairly static, and pre-defined by the management. Therefore I think it needs to be done in a Config. page where the list of Names can be edited, using the same control as in the current Properties dialog, except that any Value defined in the Config. version of the control would be a default Value. For example, Media might have a default Value of CD.

  3. The control in the Item Properties would then display all these Names and any Values just like the existing ‘standard’ Properties ‘grid:’ that is, you can change the Values but not the Names; nor can you add new Names there.

Does all that make sense?

BFN
CAD

8

Any thoughts on my concept of a ‘default’ set of User Defined items set up in a new Configuration page?

The more I use the User Defined Data feature, the more I realise it would be very helpful when tagging a new track to have these ‘default’ items (and if any are specified in config., default values as well) pre-entered. This would prevent accidentally ‘missing out’ any UDD items when tagging a large number of tracks, and is especially important if these UDD items are written to the log file, and the log file is further processed in a spreadsheet which relies on all the UDD fields being present.

So having a UDD page in Config. like the existing UDD page in the Properties dialog, and altering the Item Properties dialog to pre-enter these Config. UDD items/values if there is no UDD present already, just about sums it all up. :slight_smile:

BFN
CAD

9

I certainly like the idea. However, I need to find a way to “properly” pass this list to the Properties dialog. Which is to say, without using global variables. Maybe too much work for the 2.0 deadline. I’m not quite sure.