portable_audio_player.filepath_format gone?

[Gabriel Burt]

On 6/7/06, James Stembridge <jstembridge at gmail.com> wrote:
> Looking at current spec in CVS it would appear that the
> filepath_format has been removed from the portable_audio player
> namespace. Could I ask the reasoning behind this?

I suggested it be removed because I didn't know of any player that
required such a specific directory structure.  As it stands, the spec
now allows for multiple sub directories to be specified as music
folders.  The problem with specifying where the Artist or Album should
be in the structure is not all audio files come from an album.

> The reason I ask is that the audio player I have (a Sony Ericsson
> W800i Walkman phone) requires that the files are placed in an
> Artist/Album/Track folder hierarchy in order for the player navigation
> to work correctly.

What happens when you don't put them exactly in that format?  What if
you have audio files in Podcasts/NPR/*.mp3?  The idea was to leave the
exact path structure up to the software you are using, while
supporting devices that only allow certain depths to their
hierarchies.  Assuming that a device is not listed in the HAL fdi
entry as having a limited depth, most software would probably use
Artist/Album/Track when appropriate.  If you think this is not
sufficient to support the W800i, let's certainly keep discussing it.

Thanks,

Gabriel