Hello, this is some rather long mail that aims to discuss about the idea to add support for handling audio files in Shotwell. This might sound as an inappropriate (or better: crazy) feature request for a photo manager application but I will try to explain why this makes more sense to me than just stick to using Rhythmbox (or some other music manager).
It's important to point out that audio != music. I own a digital audio recording device called "Tascam DR-07" [1]. This is some handheld device which is a bit larger than a mobile phone and allows you to capture audio data in digital format. The data is stored on those common flash memory cards. In my case I am using it to capture e.g. the first spoken words of my children, funny minutes while playing Taboo with friends, some service or prayer at the church. In the last two or three years these kind of devices have become more and more popular (see [2]). For organizing the recorded audio files I have not yet found an appropriate application. Common music managers allow you to play the recorded files, of course, but apply the usual Artist/Album/Track model. In this case the more relevant information would be: - date and time of the recording - event name (birthday, Christmas, holidays, ...) - location of the event - persons audible in the recording This is similar with the typical metadata when managing photos. Indeed it would be great to manage both, captured images and captured audio files of a single event within the same software. I really prefer Shotwell for managing my photo images and would like to use it for my recorded audio, too. The import workflow (transfer files from attached device or memory card to HDD), the management of files (using date, location and tags) and the export are very similar. Actually as similar support for video files is currently in progress I think that extending support towards audio files in a future version would not be a too far away. It would be some courageous feature, if that is the right word, something that has not been tried before. Finally my main question is not if *you* will add support for audio recordings in Shotwell but rather if you would accept patches that implement this feature. Not sure if I will get an initial test version up and running soon, though. Maybe there are other developers that are interested in working on this feature, too? Regards, Tobias Links: [1] http://tascam.com/product/dr-07/ [2] Examples of portable recording devices: http://tascam.com/applications/home_recording/handheld_recorder/ http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/h1/ http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/h2/ http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/h4n/ http://www.olympus.co.uk/consumer/2581_18551.htm http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666016155 _______________________________________________ Shotwell mailing list [email protected] http://lists.yorba.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/shotwell
