The SDS Audio player presents both audio files and playlists of audio files. The two cases have slightly different display rules. Playlists are discussed first in this document.
What do we mean by 'playlist'?
A playlist is an XML file that contains descriptive and structural metadata about streaming audio delivered from DRS. Streaming audio represented by an audio playlist can contain one or more audio files or/and one or more segments from the same audio file.The XML files use the AES-60 specification and are deposited in the DRS as part of Text Objects. There is more information on creating and depositing playlists in the Creating Text Objects section of the DRS BatchBuilder Guide
Playlist of audio files
Menu Bar - The top section with branding that has links to a brief citation - Cite - and Help
Metadata Pane - The box that contains information about the entire playlist and information about the currently playing track
Playlist information - The top section of the Metadata Pane that displays data pulled from the non-track specific section of the playlist. Duration information is always displayed and calculated from track information, but the other fields come from the Title, Creator, Publisher, and Identifier fields in the playlist file.
Current track information - The bottom section of the Metadata Pane under the 'Now playing...' heading. The display includes the Title of the current track as well as a listing of Creators and Contributors pulled from the playlist information for the current track.
Audio playback controls - The box above the Track listings that has standard audio controls: Play/Pause; Go back 10 seconds; Time in current track; slide bar to skip to a different time in the track; total length of track in minutes and seconds (from 'duration' in playlist); skip to end of track; volume controls.
Track listings - The Title, Creator and Contributor for each track in the playlist. Each track has a separate darkly shaded box. When the box is clicked, that track starts playing automatically.
SDS Menu Bar
"Cite - Opens window with descriptive information about the playlist from DRS WebAdmin.
Related Links - This option is not currently enabled.
Help - Opens link to SDS Help page in a new browser window.
Cite window from SDS Menu
SDS Playlist information in Metadata Pane
The Playlist information in the Metadata Pane is pulled from the playlist file deposited in DRS. Specifically, the fields, other than 'Duration', are pulled from the section of the AES-60 XML (playlist) file before the first '<part>' tag.
AES-60 defined elements that are available for display in the SDS Metadata pane:
- Title
- Creator
- Publisher
- Identifier
Other AES-60 defined elements that are not currently available for display in the SDS Metadata pane:
- Subject
- Description
- Contributor
- Date
- Type/Genre
- Rights
Things to note about information in the SDS Metadata pane:
- Title will display as ‘null’ if it is not in the playlist file
- Creator, Publisher and Title are presented without a field label
- Identifier is presented with the field label ‘Identifier:’
- Creator will appear in the display only if Publisher OR Identifier (or both) are not present
- Creator and Publisher can have Role type labels that display after the term in parenthesis - like (Author)
- Duration is calculated from track information
- Current track information is displayed below the ‘Now playing…’ label, and includes the Title, Creator, and Contributor information displayed in the track listing in its entirety
- Current track information inserts a line break between the track Title and the Creator & Contributor information
Basic outline of SDS Metadata pane:
Identifier: [ID value] - if defined [Creator value(s)] ( [Role type label] ) - if defined and displayed [Title value] - if defined or 'null' if not defined Duration: [length of audio in MM:SS.XXX] [Publisher value(s)] ( [Role type label] ) - if defined
Now playing.... [Current track information] |
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Examples of Playlists with different data and displays:
- Identifier, Creator, Title
- Identifier, Creator, Title, Publisher
- Creator, Title, Publisher
- Title, Creator
- Creator only
- Multiple creators with separate tags in playlist file
Example 1: Identifier, Creator, Title
| Playlist information display | AES-60 XML Snippet |
 | <coreMetadata><title><dc:title>Poetry Reading - E.E. Cummings</dc:title></title><creator><contactDetails><name><name>E.E. Cummings</name></name></contactDetails><role typeLabel="Author"/></creator><identifier typeLabel="localIdentifier"><dc:identifier>PS3505U334C52x1953</dc:identifier></identifier> |
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Example 2: Identifier, Creator [not visible], Title, Duration, Publisher
| Playlist information display | AES-60 XML Snippet |
 | <coreMetadata><title><dc:title>Poetry Reading - E.E. Cummings</dc:title></title><creator><contactDetails><name><name>E.E. Cummings</name></name></contactDetails><role typeLabel="Author"/></creator><publisher><contactDetails><name><name>Woodberry Poetry Room</name></name></contactDetails></publisher><identifier typeLabel="localIdentifier"><dc:identifier>PS3505U334C52x1953</dc:identifier></identifier> |
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