I'm talking about distinct attributes, one or more of which can be associated with each song as keywords, that can then be searched in combination. Unless there's some feature I'm not aware of, the genre tag can't do this, it can only hold one "value." The keyword system I'm talking about would be a set of attributes associated with each song. This would allow filtering based on characteristics of a song, not just one single field.

Here's an example. With my Empeg right now, I could create a playlist for all my instrumentals. And a playlist for all my slow songs. And a playlist for all my songs from British artists. But what if I want to hear the slow instrumentals from British artists? This would be a "union" operation on playlists, sort of, but it is better thought of (and implemented) as attributes of each song. Now for each "attribute" I can use them alone, or in combination. The OR would allow me to say "give me all the British songs, instrumentals, and slow songs in my collection."

Depending on one's taste, one can set up keywords for topics of songs (cars, women, weapons of mass destruction,) or any of the things I mentioned in my first post (tempo, instrumentation, something about the artist...) Then you could combine them for union or intersection operations to get exactly the songs you want to hear.

So, I don't think the Genre tag is sufficient. This keyword system would allow an arbitrary number of attributes to be associated with each tune. Genre is just one.

I wanted to get some feedback before I posted this in the wish list forum officially, but I guess it should have just gone there to begin with. I'll re-post if this sounds like something someone other than me wants. :)



-Tony
MkII #554

Edited by yn0t_ on 01/04/01 02:08 AM.