MP3 File Naming Strategy
We have developed a consistent file naming convention for audio MP3 files available on Church sites for download. This will allow users to:
- Download audio files to a single directory without unintentionally overwriting.
- Quickly identify files in a list.
- Play files in the same order as in the original publication.
I have retracted the rest of this post, realizing that I posted the old standard. Please see my post Web Files Names for the current standard.
Thanks!
Wonderful News.
Is there thoughts about doing this for video as well or provide a podcast I can move the files to my ipod/pda?
Have you also developed standards for id3 tags in mp3s? That is what comes into play for me, not so much the filenames (although consistency there is nice too).
What about sharing this with the guys down at BYU who name the MP3s on the old speeches and devotional talks. They are all over the place on their naming.
It would also be great for General Conference addresses which also seem to be much too inconsistent.
GREAT ROLLOUT FOR THE NEW WEBSITE! Thank everyone in your department for the hard work. Give them all an extra weeks vacation or something!
Thank you so much for doing that. I was just about to type what Michael had just written. I agree with everything he just said.
What about the bitrate for the General Conference talks? I’ve noticed that the bitrate for the posted MP3 files has varied over the years.
Since GC talks are just the spoken word, they don’t need to be at 128 kb/s. Plus, higher bitrates make for bigger files when I try to copy them to my PDA. (I’ve had to get software to reduce it down.)
I’d suggest something lower (e.g. 48 or 96) or at least a lower bitrate option to make it more friendly to portable devices. Thanks!
I have other, general comments, but one about the MP3s in particular that’s proven very difficult for me as a Primary teacher: differentiating between the “with words” and “without words” versions. I have a filter in place on my download program, which keeps me from downloading “with words” files into my “without words” folder (I think it went something like /2/1/301.mp3 = hymnal, with words, page 301, while 2/2/301.mp3 = hymnal, without words, page 301.) Having “w” (or something) appended to the track number would be… nifty.
There was a secondary issue (every year the CSMP includes a selection from the Hymnal, and of course there’s no difference between the hymnal and CS names in the old version, and let’s just say that it took weeks to realize I’d overwritten a Primary song with a hymnal song last year.) but I think that issue is permanently fixed with this system.
All in all, I think this will be a serious improvement.
Hah! Just realized you already put the difference between words and music in the file names. Woohoo!
I am exercising all of my powers of restraint in not downloading the entire 2007 CSMP/Sharing Time file set again tonight.
Michael,
We will be sharing these new standards with the BYU folks next week. Then it’s up to them to implement them. If they get good feedback from users like you who want to see consistent standards, they’ll be more likely to implement them.
[...] This post describes the file naming convention for audio, video, PDF, PDA, and other files provided on Church Web sites for download. (Note: This post replaces my previous post MP3 File Naming Strategy.) [...]
[...] other files provided on Church Web sites for download. (Note: This post replaces my previous post MP3 File Naming Strategy.) (from [...]