What is 'Release Date' all about?

[Terry Pinnell]

I've just downloaded and installed a WMP 'Decades Auto Playlist Pack',
which I found linked here
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/mp10/getmore/plugins.aspx
The download is
http://download.microsoft.com/downl...4-834c-0adeb267b25b/decades_autoplaylists.exe

I opened one of these playlists in WMP9, and was pleased to see a
selection of tracks from my music collection from that decade.

But there was no 'Year' column for me to check that it was accurate.
So I used the facility to add more columns. I was surprised to find
that there *was* no 'Year' field in the list of 46 fields ('frames'?)
I was offered. (I've listed them here in alphabetical order:

Acquisition Time, Album, Album Artist, Artist, Bit Rate, Category,
Composer, Conductor, Content Provider, Copyright, Creation Date,
Custom 1, Custom 2, Data Provider, File Name, Genre, Group
Description, Key, Label, Language, Last Played Time, Length, Media,
Media Info, Mood, Parental Rating, Period, Play Count, Play Count
Afternoon, Play Count Evening, Play Count Morning, Play Count Night,
Play Count Weekday, Play Count Weekend, Protected, Provider Rating,
Rating, Recording Date, Release Date, Size, Style, Subtitle, Title,
Track, Type, Writer.)

So instead I added Release Date, and found that every entry did indeed
fall into its appropriate decade.

I've since been given a link to the definition of Release Date
http://www.id3.org/id3v2.3.0.html#sec4.2.1
"TORY
The 'Original release year' frame is intended for the year when
the original recording, if for example the music in the file
should be a cover of a previously released song, was released. The
field is formatted as in the "TYER" frame."

I translate that ugly sentence as:
The 'Original release year' frame is the year of the *original*
recording. For example, it might be used if the music in the file was
another cover of a previously released song.

I've never been aware of the Release Date tag before. But presumably
these tracks on my HD must have this tag completed, and this
'automatic playlist' utilised it to select the tracks.

Yet, on the basis of the above definition, I'd have expected to see
*other* entries based on
those of my tracks which have the Year tag completed (either instead
of or in addition to the Release Date). And I'd also expect to see
some of these Release Dates in the *previous* decade (e.g. an original
release in 1969, with a new 'cover' in 1970 or later). But I've
examined every decade and none of the entries fall outside the
respective decade.

Is this Release Date used widely, or just in WMP? Is it used
incorrectly, as it appears to be here, as just an equivalent for
'Year'? Any insights into all this would be very welcome please.

 

[Terry Pinnell]

No one with any thoughts on this please?

 

[\Oz Pete\]

Terry,
You seem to have quite a number of questions here, however these are some
observatons from my experience. It seems that "Date Released" in WMP is
equivalent to "Year Released" or just "Year" in other applications (I have
MusicMatch and iTunes). WMP provides limited facilities for tag
creation/editing which it
seems does not extend to the year, however when you create mp3 or wma files,
the year is usually downloaded from the on-line database that the
application uses.
The problem I have found with this is that album details
are used, and in the case of a compilation album, the release year is the
date the compilation was made, not the original song's year of origin.
Furthermore it seems that technical requirements for tagging files may not
necessarily be followed in an application such as WMP. Fortunately, you can
edit the entries in libary view by right clicking on the year, and then
clickin edit. If music files are created by another application such as
MusicMatch, it seems that the data in the equivalent column is usually
transferred to the "Release Date"column when you open the file in WMP. I
guess all this leave some questions unanswered in regard to some of the
techical aspects.

 

[Terry Pinnell]

Terry,
You seem to have quite a number of questions here, however these are some
observatons from my experience. It seems that "Date Released" in WMP is
equivalent to "Year Released" or just "Year" in other applications (I have
MusicMatch and iTunes). WMP provides limited facilities for tag
creation/editing which it
seems does not extend to the year, however when you create mp3 or wma files,
the year is usually downloaded from the on-line database that the
application uses.
The problem I have found with this is that album details
are used, and in the case of a compilation album, the release year is the
date the compilation was made, not the original song's year of origin.
Furthermore it seems that technical requirements for tagging files may not
necessarily be followed in an application such as WMP. Fortunately, you can
edit the entries in libary view by right clicking on the year, and then
clickin edit. If music files are created by another application such as
MusicMatch, it seems that the data in the equivalent column is usually
transferred to the "Release Date"column when you open the file in WMP. I
guess all this leave some questions unanswered in regard to some of the
techical aspects.

Many thanks, that's helpful. My interim conclusion is that the whole
scene is something of an inconsistent mess! Your comments reinforce my
limited experience that there seems no attempt at rigour by software
developers in the way these tags are created and edited (or even
named).

What would help would be some reliable music database that anyone
could access online, which would show *all* the information available
about a track, including Release Date and Year as defined in the ID
v1/v2 tag definitions. Then at least there would be some 'yardstick'
against which to assess the accuracy of your own track data, whatever
its source. In time maybe you could then come to rely on certain
programs to get it automatically, and avoid others which screw it up
or call it by the wrong name.