Talk:Editing FAQ
RE: Merging releases
The editing FAQ says releases should be merged if:
the number of tracks is the same the track titles are the same track lengths within 2 secs
What about barcodes, publisher, packaging, release date, and format?
From Freenode chat Sat Jun 25 12:27PM EST: <gpeterso> The editing FAQ says releases should be merged if: # tracks same, track titles same, and track lengths within 2 secs. What about barcodes, publisher, packaging release date? <warp> gpeterso: oooh, sounds like that FAQ is outdated
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<warp> gpeterso: where did you read that? <gpeterso> http://musicbrainz.org/doc/Editing_FAQ#There_are_two_or_more_releases_with_the_same_titles.2C_should_I_merge_them.3F <gpeterso> warp: http://musicbrainz.org/doc/Editing_FAQ#There_are_two_or_more_releases_with_the_same_titles.2C_should_I_merge_them.3F <warp> last changed in 2009. yes, that FAQ has clearly not been updated with the changes for the NGS release <gpeterso> warp: I am about to add a Discussion on the Editing FAQ on the wiki to that effect. Is that the best thing to do? Which criteria is worth another release? Barcode, publisher, packaging, or release date? <warp> gpeterso: all of those <Mineo> + format <gpeterso> warp, Mineo: So, what to do? I don't know who you are, you don't know who I am... Just that we are all interested for some reason. Is there some official party that should rule on this? <gpeterso> warp, Mineo: I can cut and paste this into the discussion page, but there's no discussion going on there. Should I actually edit the wiki? This seems a little, off-the-cuff for an official change. <warp> gpeterso: the StyleCouncil may be the closest thing to an official party in this case. though technically they only govern Official Style guidelines on the wiki. <warp> gpeterso: I'm not sure what the new text would say, otherwise I would edit it properly right now. <gpeterso> warp: Turns out I don't even have permission to leave a comment. <warp> gpeterso: I plan to discuss this with nikki, perhaps we can come up with a new text between the two of us. otherwise we'll ask the style mailing-list. <warp> gpeterso: obviously if you have a suggestion for the text feel free to suggest it on the discussion page. <gpeterso> warp: Can't - don't have password. <warp> gpeterso: hm?, anyone can edit the wiki <warp> gpeterso: the password should be printed in the password box (unless you're using opera, where it gets cut off). <gpeterso> warp/Mineo: I asked because someone voted down my merge. I've now spoken to two others besides that person and met with unanimous opinion that they are right. If consensus counts for anything, I should cancel my merge. <gpeterso> warp: oh, OK, I'm in. I guess I'll edit the actual faq to include the following: <gpeterso> "Different bar-codes, publishers, packaging, release dates, and formats may be sufficient reasons NOT to merge." <warp> ok <gpeterso> warp: that way rules lawyers like me will be more amenable to doing the right thing. <gpeterso> Thanks, warp. <gpeterso> warp: So, to play devil's advocate for one more minute, the release in question looks like a redistribution of an earlier release - same material, distributed again. That seems very, well, "same" to me. Why should Musicbrainz want to call that, "different?" <gpeterso> warp: Why should a mere barcode block a merge? As a consumer of the CD, it seems otherwise identical to me. <gpeterso> warp/Mineo: Oh, we forgot to mention distributors. The release in question has a different distributor. <reosarevok> gpeterso: now we can say they are different releases, but they share the musical content <reosarevok> So nothing is actually lost <reosarevok> While the difference is captured
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<yindesu> When you merge releases does it merge the recordings as well? <reosarevok> (also, in some cases things like cover artists, designers etc will change even though the musical content is the same) <reosarevok> IIRC the method is called "Merge mediums and recordings" <reosarevok> So I'd expect it to <yindesu> alright <yindesu> I'm completely fed up with the broken Edit Medium system <gpeterso> reosarevok: so you would merge them if the musical content is the same? <yindesu> i'm going to start adding new releases instead of editing tracklists <reosarevok> gpeterso: no <reosarevok> I'd merge their recordings :) <yindesu> 56 failed edits because of this is getting dumb. <yindesu> (and more coming) <gpeterso> reosarevok: you lost me. <reosarevok> Different releases can share recordings <yindesu> another question since we're talking about recordings <gpeterso> reosarevok: You can do that? Merge a recording without merging a release? <reosarevok> (the entities which indicate a single, well, recording (+mixing/mastering, in theory) of a song) <yindesu> should Recordings with different volume levels be merged? (If the audio is pretty much identical if you apply the appropriate replaygain level) <reosarevok> gpeterso: Yes you can :) <yindesu> I'm not sure where the mastering/etc engineer relationships go <yindesu> if recordings which aren't 100% identical (besides silence blocks) are merged <reosarevok> yindesu: I know nothing about volume levels so I can't say… let's see what people who do say :) <yindesu> kepstin entered an edit to merge 2 such recoredings a while ago, i didn't say anything b/c i wasn't thinking about engineer relationships <gpeterso> yindesu: Interesting question - presumably the one with higher gain (without distortion) actually captures more data (more dynamic range). <reosarevok> I imagine it might be hard, even if was desirable (which I'm not sure), to keep them separate, as most people won't really have an easy way of checking it <bitmap> yindesu: I've seen v�olume levels often vary between different releases of CDs (even when they're not marketed as remastered), but I definitely still merge them <reosarevok> So unless the engineer was different and the relationship was present, someone would probably merge them anyway <bitmap> otherwise we'd have a ridiculous amount of duplicate recordings with no benefit <gpeterso> I need to go very shortly, but I'm going to paste the rest of this into the Edit page on the wiki before I do. <derwin> I say if the record comapny is pretending it's the same.. it's the same..
