.ogg and Windows stubbornness

[tpprynn]

Having gotten more wrapped up in Linux than I could afford, sidelining the writing of a novel among other things, a realistic and once central project for me, I am for between eighteen months and three years back using Windows on both my computers. In spirit, after three years of it, I'm very much a Linux and Open Source man and in part as a reminder to myself I began copying all my .ogg files into Windows 7. I'm fussy about sound and pleased with the quality of 320k/Grade 9 ogg files and having chosen the 'middle way' instead of wma or mp3.

These files will play of course after installing the xiph.org codecs, but Windows prior to the involvement of Media Player, or even Foobar 2000 which I'm using instead, doesn't 'like' certain file names/lengths/characters. I should expect it of course but it does seem petty of Microsoft not to be ogg- and flac-friendly. They don't have to create elaborate facilities for using the filetypes, and perhaps are economically bound not to, though there mp3 is in Media Player as an option when ripping CDs despite the fact that it will mean its own codec is often foregone. But they could build in the tiny bit of code that would recognise oggified music pasted in from an external hard drive. An example if needed is an otherwise short song-title with something as simple as a question mark in the title. MS might beg to differ, or maybe the xiph.org people would too, but I think of this as a bug.

I expect over the next couple of months I will be reminded of plenty of things that annoy like this, though overall Windows suits me for the time being - a very low maintenance net nanny, K9, is a new and welcome luxury for me as of yesterday - but I'm hoping that KDE or Gnome 3 will come to look PC World showroom-friendly and function unobtrusively by the end of this relatively brief period of my using almost no forums and googling no issues.

(This is just a bit of chat. It's not my intention to 'solve' the filename issue, and especially not in a Linux forum, but a solution would be nice all the same if there's something simple I've missed!)

[Anakinholland]

hi tpprynn,

What kind of issues with filenames do you encounter? Personally I try to stay away from stuff like ' " ( ) ` as much as possible (also in combination with letters, so no Ç è ĩ ø for instance) as any given OS might run into problems at some point. I stick to regular letters and underscores as much as possible, it's a habit.

Regarding ogg and flac, I've been using AIMP2 for many years now, I think ever since Winamp 5 was released, and I love it.

That being said, I'm not too sure you mean the same as I do? Are you truely speaking about the filename of files, or about the fileTAG which is garbled?

off-topic: MS has never played nice with other codecs than their own. Ever since they released .wmv and .wma they almost couldn't care less about others.

Regards,

Anakin

[xenopeek]

Yeah, Windows can be stubborn with things like that The most annoying thing in Windows I find that you can not rename a file while it is open. On Linux it works just fine *grumble* and I keep doing this at my Windows machine at work

As for filename issue, I need my music to also play on my Windows machine at work. I always use Ex Falso to edit my music tags, and it has a nice feature of renaming your music files based on the tags and to keep the resulting filename Windows compatible. Very hand, and it replaces incompatible characters with an underscore.

I also frequently archive files, and need to be able to recover these on a Windows machine (just in case). Before I do any archiving, I check that the filenames have no Windows incompatible characters, and no diacritics (as with gzip I've run into frequent issues where it couldn't extract files with diacritics for some reason). You can do so easily for the active folder and all sub-folders with (no result means all files are good):

Code: Select all

find . -name "*[^a-zA-Z0-9_\-\ \.\(\)\,\']*"

[aes2011]

...
I also frequently archive files, and need to be able to recover these on a Windows machine (just in case). Before I do any archiving, I check that the filenames have no Windows incompatible characters, and no diacritics (as with gzip I've run into frequent issues where it couldn't extract files with diacritics for some reason). You can do so easily for the active folder and all sub-folders with (no result means all files are good):

Code: Select all

find . -name "*[^a-zA-Z0-9_\-\ \.\(\)\,\']*"

Good stuff! Your code will come in handy for those who have to go between the two OSes.

[linuxviolin]

I've been using AIMP2

Yes, use AIMP2 or 3 (there is a beta version for AIMP3 for download on the site at http://www.aimp2.us/download.php. I have no problem with it, it works quite well) Foobar sucks.

[tpprynn]

How strange, I'd never heard of AIMP2, and I have used WinAmp - had to abandon it because their dated-looking logo icon makes me feel nauseous. But yes, I can't use Foobar anymore because it keeps dropping milliseconds of music a couple of times per song, which when you've got a new laptop is quite anxiety-making.

I'm not sure I understand the problem I had with the ogg files, I only know that Windows too often griped. I could intervene and alter titles but I'm someone who is driven mad by labour-saving devices that take over our lives - texting may yet be the death of me (albeit after a Bowling For Columbine-like spree). Editing tags and stuff does sound a hassle that I can't afford at the moment, but Ex Falso does sound genius. I'm going to stick with 320k mp3 files for now, ripped in WMP, as horrifyingly conservative as that sounds even to me. As I always say, this doesn't make me a drone or a passive consumer, I've got very involved creative outlets and I jut need my computers as hassle-free tools. Having said this, my most recent installation of Windows 7 has ironically enough for me not gone as well as it could, all sorts of delays opening programs and for clicking on icons to respond, but I'll get that solved elsewhere... I saw an old Sharp word processor in a shop yesterday that I used to own. I wanted to cuddle it and cry all over it. Although it was sh*t also.

Anyway, thanks for not accusing me of trolling. As I say, I'm with you in spirit.