Re(2): [ANN] Mac OS X Metadata Petition
Re(2): [ANN] Mac OS X Metadata Petition
- Subject: Re(2): [ANN] Mac OS X Metadata Petition
- From: Rainer Brockerhoff <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2001 13:30:31 -0200
From: Jens Bauer <email@hidden>
Subject: Re(2): [ANN] Mac OS X Metadata Petition
Imagine you have a mp3 player on Windows and a mp3 player on Mac.
Both have the ability to have playlists with folders in them.
Now, you add your folder by dragging it from the disk into the playlist
window.
You arrange your folders and music files. You save the playlist and
quit the player.
Now, you go to your file browser (Eg. Finder on the Mac), and change
the name of the
folder surrounding your mp3 folder.
You start your mp3 player again, and what happens ?
Windows: You will have to arrange *all* your mp3 files again
Mac: the playlist loads and works like it used to.
This is because files and folders on the Mac are not based upon text paths,
and that is one of the things I love most about the Mac.
I think you should say "that is one of the things I love most about HFS"...
And may I point out that taking advantage of this HFS feature is the
exclusive responsibility of the developer (of the MP3 player)? And of
course, this has nothing to do with metadata at all!
The developer can store the playlist with alias info or with paths.
If you store paths, the playlist will break if files are moved. If
you store aliases, it won't. Even in earlier versions of Mac OS you
had both options.
It's just that in earlier versions, getting a full file path wasn't
as easy as it is in Mac OS X. Also, the few programs that tried
storing paths in playlists and the like somehow found little user
acceptance :-). And yes, there were some!
--
Rainer Brockerhoff <email@hidden>
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
"Originality is the art of concealing your sources."
http://www.brockerhoff.net/ (updated Dec. 2001)