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Re: arsclist Cataloging
At 05:08 PM 12/13/2002 -0500, stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Since I'm in the midst of similar discussions both on 78-L and off-list with
several people, let me make some general comments (which can then be
discussed):
1) Basically, there are two separate (related to some extent, but not
identical) two types of discographic databases, as well as two subtypes of the
second...
a) A discographic information archive. This is a database containing all, or
as much as possible, information about a given set of records ("set" can
include every known record). This could consist of a table (or set of related
tables) which contain fields sufficient to cover every possible aspect of the
phonorecords in question, leaving it up to the user to select the desired
fields
he/she/it needed to look at. Note that this does not represent, and
therefore needs no one-to-one relation to, an actual set of individual
phonorecords that exists anywhere; what is being archived is data, not
recordings. Since this data can come from published sources as well as
actual phonorecords, data records may be incomplete and the accuracy of
the data cannot be guaranteed. This type of archive can be used to answer
questions such as "Did <company> ever issue <song>?"
or "What is on <label><number>?"
I've been off-and-on following this discussion.
It seems to me that the ultimate, (and often surprisingly accurate)
implementation of this is the CDDB which is linked to many software CD
players. http://www.gracenote.com/ This mostly a user-input database.
Of course, while this would seem like a useful source of info for the
underlying LPs that have been re-released on CD, the track order and
content often changes. In digging through the discography of even one
artist, it can get confusing! For example, a few (I forget the details) of
the first four Joan Baez releases had at least one different cut on the
mono vs. the stereo release of the same title. Both ended up being released
on the second CD, although not always on the first CD reissue.
Another very useful (and copyrighted) source of information is the All
Music Guide that purports (with many errors, I sadly must admit) to catalog
every record/CD that was ever issued. http://www.allmusic.com/
Heck, they even have their records in MARC format--here's one that is on my
label http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=SEARCH&sql=V468812
and here is the underlying vinyl for the above CD-re-release
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=SEARCH&sql=V413551
I think there are other private databases (Schwann Catalog?) that also
contain a host of this information--if it has been preserved.
While the idea of cataloging from the ground up is intriguing, cataloging
from existing assets (OK "repurposing") is generally more cost effective.
I'm sure many of these databases lack complete information, but that could
be filled in on an as-needed basis.
One of the reasons I published Judy Collins's complete discography on my
Web site (and I do understand the magnitude of the task considering how
long it took me to research TWO artists--Collins and Baez) was that there
was no other resource that had as much depth as what I had amassed--even
the artist's own Web site!
Sorry if I missed the MARK :-) of this discussion.
Also, if (a) is available and known accurate with unique identifiers on
each record, then (bx) could merely be a series of pointers into (a) with a
shelf ID code.
Cheers,
Richard
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