I'd love a PC program that was similar to Mac ITunes where you could browse by classification system, rather then by tag data. Determine classifications by these systems: all tracks, by folder, according to tag data (artist, mood, tempo, situation, year, song, album, etc), "Reverse Fuzzy Logic Music Genres" (somewhere else in halfbakery), color association, where played (studio, live, unplugged, radio, demo tape), by mathematical sorting (according to music theory - if possible), or user created classification (if ultra organized). You could delete any classification system if you never used it. You would save or auto save your new classifications and the way your files were sorted to a .ini file.
Any files containing the words: and, &, feat., featuring, remix, would be considered for duplication with a rename (shortcut rearranging the order of artists)
Plugins for automated tagging and classification would appear on a bar that read left to right while classifications would read up to down.
Real folders in your operating system structure might also be created in your inbox to help you organize the tags on your files. When files were dragged into these folders they would automatically change the tags according to the preferences you made in XP Tunes.
I'm hoping that my music manager MusicMatch will adopt this.-- dreamquixote, Aug 25 2002 The Green Book (Songs by Subject) http://www.musicboo...com/books/pdr01.htmRelated tangent: The standard reference for music arranged by subject. An oddball aside: when I was a young girl, I met the author of this book, Jeff Green, before he had compiled this book. I remember him as an outgoing and energetic person. He told me that he was creating a book about music and asked me a lot of questions about songs. Little did I know (or did he, for that matter) that the work was to become famous--at least within music circles. [bristolz, Aug 25 2002] MAD MPEG Audio Decoder (not related to topic) http://www.mars.org/home/rob/proj/mpeg/For anyone interested [wan-fu, Aug 25 2002] dreamquixote's bookmarks... http://www.mybookma...public/dreamquixoteUse the link button, that's what it's for. [yamahito, Aug 26 2002] Kazaa (lite) http://www.kazaalite.comNot as good as Napster or audiogalaxy were, unfortunately, but it's the best I've found. [-alx, Aug 30 2002] This is nice. A big job. (+)-- bristolz, Aug 25 2002 UnaBabba, I don't quite understand what you wrote in the brackets. Perhaps your insinuating that I don't listen to songs in their entirety or that I steal more music then I download?
The reason that I am submitting so much to the computer section here is because I can't program and I really don't have an interest in being a programmer. My understanding is that people could steal the ideas for free and actualize them, thus making the site useful rather then masturbatory.-- dreamquixote, Aug 25 2002 Also.... you seem to be filled with knowledge and maybe links? Are you a member of anything like www.mybookmarks.com. I'd love to see your links. If you care I have mine shared here: www.mybookmarks.com/public/dreamquixote-- dreamquixote, Aug 25 2002 Oh, I don't think it's a criticism of your idea at all. [Unabubba] is just bemoaning the fact that most MP3 music doesn't sound so good because it is encoded at too low a rate. Your response, however, seems a little sharp.-- bristolz, Aug 25 2002 [dreamquixote] Croissant.
[UnaBubba] have you ever tried using the MAD decoder for mp3s? Sometimes, people feel the audio quality of mp3s is not great because of poor decoding. Of course, if you're listening to something encoding at 128 kbps, you're probably SOL. At the same time, people's hearing and perception differ greatly (some people prefer mono to stereo and some prefer tubes, etc.) and I can see where you're coming from.-- wan-fu, Aug 25 2002 UB, fret not, lad, about mp3s and the ensuing downfall of society feared. See, the format is worth exactly what just about everyone who has any mp3 files paid for them.
(Exception to above: those who have created mp3s from their own CDs. In which case I must ask, what the hell for?)
Brings me to point 2: consumer advice question. I've been out of the mp3 yanking loop for a bit now. So mp3 geeks, who's the current golden boy of illegal mp3 file trading softwares? I want free, fast, lots to choose from, and no bastard spyware crap to remove. I'm yearning for the glory days of Napster, yes. Last I used was Audio Galaxy Satellite and they were succumbing to pressure then.
I don't feel bad about pulling down illegal files, because I'm one of those people the RIAA refuses to believe exist. I use mp3s to find out if I want to buy the damn CD, precisely for the audio quality reasons mentioned by UB.
Oh, and about the idea: fishbone for promoting the already rampant unnecessary categorization of music. The Abercrombie & Fitch generation have turned this into an art form. I wonder if Mr. Green's book contains 'wet and smooth progressive house".
It's all music. Labels are negative. It leads people to say "I don't like X" when in fact they don't like one or two examples of X.
(Spotted today at a music shop: A bluegrass tribute to Pink Floyd. I might grab it yet, but I want to hear some mp3s from it first.)-- waugsqueke, Aug 26 2002 Okay, so mp3s could be of better quality for people that have an ear for it. You all have convinced me that I am an idiot, I'll probably cut my toes off to spite my movement .
However, I'd like to hear more responces relating to musical orginzation and my wish for "XP Tunes."-- dreamquixote, Aug 26 2002 WinAmp 3 appears to have stolen part of the iTunes interface. As a Mac user, and somebody who prefers innovation over copying, i call this a bad thing. *sigh*-- sadie, Aug 30 2002 So, it's better to never adopt a good idea, [sadie] or, what is your point?-- bristolz, Aug 30 2002 I'm just slightly tired of being on the side of the fence that generates all the good ideas and doesn't get any of the credit (or money or popularity) for any of them. Before just taking somebody else's idea, you should try and use it as inspiration and see if you can come up with something original and possibly better.-- sadie, Aug 30 2002 Well, if you indeed had _all_ of the good ideas than you would also have all the credit, kudos, money, etc. that goes with that. Alas, Apple has consistently had bad ideas about how to get widespread adoption; from their "niche" mentality, to treating customers as second class citizens, to vastly overcharging for hardware, to making developers lives miserable by competing against them even when the market is tiny (or pretending not to by letting Claris compete), to shutting down the Mac clones licensing to . . . I mean, wow, they have been full of some really rotten business choices.
Admittedly, being the "idea" person is a cherry job but you have got to have good execution and follow through otherwise you will spend your time in relative obscurity.
[addendum]: I do very much want one the dual boxes with OS X and a copy of FinalCut Pro on it, though. My artist friend tells me to "wait for the G5."-- bristolz, Aug 30 2002 [Waugs] The big mover in mp3 trading at the mo is Kazaa, which also lets you trade other stuff like movies if you can spare the bandwidth. Download Kazaa lite (see link) which, unlike the official version, isn't loaded with spyware.-- -alx, Aug 30 2002 Thankee say, -a. I shall investigate.
I get a kick out of those Apple "Switch" commercials/ads. None of them mention the fact that the people in question would have had to purchase all new software at premium prices, insofar as Apple versions/functional equivalents were available.-- waugsqueke, Aug 31 2002 oof you boys are harsh on mp3's. First killer app we've had in a decade, and the digerati sneer at it. You can now say things like 'interrupt request' in public and not get stomped, for god's sake. mp3's dragged the ship in.-- General Washington, Aug 31 2002 Dear general... digital music had been around long before mp3. All that format did was compact the tunes small enough (by losing quality) so that they could be conveniently sucked down over the internet (the advent of which in the last ten years might be a slightly more 'killer' app, I think).-- waugsqueke, Aug 31 2002 I use mp3s like a radio station, only one which is far more likely to play music I like. They're also incredibly useful for tracking down stuff that you just can't buy even if you wanted. I can't say I buy more music because of mp3, but I certainly make better-informed purchases.-- -alx, Aug 31 2002 Oh, i gladly admit that Apple has made some incredibly bad business decisions, and that their elitist attitude hasn't helped (they are californian, after all). But it wouldn't have left them in quite such obscurity it has done if there wasn't somebody willing to take all their good ideas and make the money out of them. And don't say that there would always have been somebody, because most companies (Acorn? Be? OS/2?) are just as incompetent as Apple when it comes to claiming the market.
In an ideal world, the company or person that thinks of a good idea gets rewarded for it. Is that such a wrong thing to want?-- sadie, Sep 02 2002 Here is the thing, as I see it: Apple wanted to design really good software to their specifications, and computers to go with it. They acheived their goals.
Microsoft (for example) wanted to *sell* their software. They acheived their goals.
Why can't you just be content with that? ( ;op - takes me back to the old days, sadie..)-- yamahito, Sep 02 2002 random, halfbakery