Vorbis comments with multiple ARTIST tags

[SidneyFu]

At present, Rockbox does not handle Vorbis comments that contain "multiple" instances of any tag; whether it be ARTIST, COMPOSER, whatever. So, for example, if you have three ARTIST tags for a file, only the last one will be parsed. This has implications for both the database and the way songs are displayed in the WPS.

Now, I know what you're thinking: Why not just put all the artists in one tag? Because that's not the proper convention. Besides, there are numerous benefits and potential benefits from using the suggested Vorbis tagging infrastructure.

I'm only a novice coder, so I'm somewhat overwhelmed by what needs to be done to implement this in Rockbox. Hence, I'm hoping to encourage someone who is capable and desires this capability also to undertake the task.

[Llorean]

Remember, these devices have very limited resources. You can't just assume tags can be infinite in number and prepare to deal with any quantity of them. The cleanest solution will probably continue to be to simply use the first artist tag found.


As a side note, you didn't need to put the word "multiple" in quotes. You only need to do that when you're actually quoting something, or to indicate a non-standard use of the word, such as when you're being ironic. As you actually wanted multiple instances of the tag using them that way just creates the potential for confusion. In this case context was certainly enough, but it may not always be so please don't use quotation marks simply as a means of emphasis.

[SidneyFu]

Firstly, Rockbox doesn't actually use the first ARTIST tag found, but the last one (which in and of itself is a problem because the last artist listed is usually just a featured artist or something). However, all instances of the ARTIST tag are read; it just so happens that the foremost ones are discarded. In fact, as far as I can tell, all tags within a Vorbis header are read--whether standard or not--before they are appropriately categorized (or not).

Ideally, it would be nice to have Rockbox handle any and all types of tags. But I agree with you that there is no clean way of doing this at the moment (particularly given the program's ID3 underpinnings). However, this does not mean that information has to be discarded. In the lowly case of the ARTIST tag, for example, I don't see why multiple instances can't be concatenated into a list of artists on the fly. That way, the original tagging structure would be preserved and information about the track would not be left out.

Personally, I'd be more than happy if I could just dump the comment header of a track right onto the WPS. I could care less about an elegant solution. I just want to be able to see all the metadata I have stored with every track.

I'll stop rambling now...

[saratoga]

Ideally, it would be nice to have Rockbox handle any and all types of tags. But I agree with you that there is no clean way of doing this at the moment (particularly given the program's ID3 underpinnings). However, this does not mean that information has to be discarded. In the lowly case of the ARTIST tag, for example, I don't see why multiple instances can't be concatenated into a list of artists on the fly. That way, the original tagging structure would be preserved and information about the track would not be left out.

I'd probably commit a patch like that if it was well implemented and reasonably efficient.