Customizing an SDS Audio Playlist

Owned by Paul Aloisio
Last updated: Jan 28, 2019 by Julie Wetherill

The SDS Audio player can present both audio files and playlists of audio files.  The two cases have slightly different display rules. Playlists are discussed 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

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

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 the element 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 the Publisher OR Identifier elements (or both) are NOT present
  • Creator and Publisher can have Role type labels that display after the term in parenthesis - like (Author)
  • Duration value is calculated from data in 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 has 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]

 

Examples of Playlists with different data and displays:

  1. Identifier, Creator, Title
  2. Identifier, Creator, Title, Publisher
  3. Creator, Title, Publisher
  4. Title, Creator
  5. Creator only
  6. Multiple creators with separate tags in playlist file

 

Example 1: Identifier, Creator, Title, Duration

Playlist information displayAES-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>

 

Example 2: Identifier, Creator [not visible], Title, Duration, Publisher

Playlist information displayAES-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>

 

 

Example 3: Creator, Title, Duration, Publisher

Playlist information displayAES-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>

 

Example 4: Creator, Title, and Duration

Playlist information displayAES-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>

 

Example 5: Creator and Duration only - Title value displays as 'null'

Playlist information displayAES-60 XML Snippet
    <coreMetadata>
        <creator>
            <contactDetails>
                <name>
                    <name>E.E. Cummings</name>
                </name>
            </contactDetails>
            <role typeLabel="Author"/>
        </creator>

 

Example 6: Multiple creators with separate tags in playlist file - each with Author label

Playlist information displayAES-60 XML Snippet
 
    <coreMetadata>
        <title>
            <dc:title>BOSTON ORIGINALS (March 7, 2017)</dc:title>
        </title>
        <creator>
            <contactDetails>
                <name>
                    <name>Oni Buchanan</name>
                </name>
            </contactDetails>
            <role typeLabel="Author" />
        </creator>
        <creator>
            <contactDetails>
                <name>
                    <name>Jim Dunn</name>
                </name>
            </contactDetails>
            <role typeLabel="Author" />
        </creator>
        <creator>
            <contactDetails>
                <name>
                    <name>Boyd Nielson &amp; Natalie Shapero</name>
                </name>
            </contactDetails>
            <role typeLabel="Author" />
        </creator>
        <creator>
            <contactDetails>
                <name>
                    <name>Joshua Bennett</name>
                </name>
            </contactDetails>
            <role typeLabel="Author" />
        </creator>
        <creator>
            <contactDetails>
                <name>
                    <name>David Blair</name>
                </name>
            </contactDetails>
            <role typeLabel="Author" />
        </creator>
        <identifier typeLabel="localIdentifier">
            <dc:identifier>015012182</dc:identifier>
        </identifier>

 

SDS playlist information in track listings section

As described in the “Create and deposit audio playlists as text objects” page in the Batch Builder Guide, information for each individual track is stored in <part> ... </part> sections in the AES-60 file.

 

 

SDS track listings and audio controlsSDS Current track information in Metadata Pane

 

AES-60 defined elements that are available for display in the SDS track listing:

  • Title
  • Creator
  • Contributor

Other AES-60 defined elements that are not currently available for display in the SDS track listing:

  • Description
  • Date
  • Rights

AES-60 defined elements that provide information for Audio playback

  • Identifier - URN of audio file to play for a particular track
  • Format - Contains start time in audio track and duration

Things to note about information in the SDS Track listings section:

  • Creator and Contributor can be used multiple times per track with different data
  • Creator and Contributor elements can be qualified with Role type labels
  • Creator and Contributor information is displayed immediately after the title in a track listing.
  • Role type labels for Creators and Contributors appear before actual names with an added colon – like ‘Author:’
  • There is a break between each track in the listing, and each track listing has a background color slightly darker than the overall background

 

Each track in the AES-60 file (‘part’ element) is displayed in the track listing in this order without any line breaks:

[Title information]

[Creator Role type label (if present):] [Creator Name]; [additional creators];

[Contributor Role type label (if present):] [Contributor Name]; [additional contributors]

 

 

Track listing displayAES-60 XML snippet for first track
        <part>
            <title>
                <dc:title>1. &lt;-- that number is a part of the title. There is no automatic numbering of the tracks.  Also, you can include HTML references in the titles, but you have to encode them.  Ever wonder how long titles can be?  This seems like a good Introduction.</dc:title>
            </title>
            <creator>
                <contactDetails>
                    <name>
                        <name>Oni Buchanan</name>
                    </name>
                </contactDetails>
                <role typeLabel="Author" />
            </creator>
            <creator>
                <contactDetails>
                    <name>
                        <name>Jim Dunn</name>
                    </name>
                </contactDetails>
                <role typeLabel="Adapter" />
            </creator>
            <creator>
                <contactDetails>
                    <name>
                        <name>J.S. Bachenspiel</name>
                    </name>
                </contactDetails>
                <role typeLabel="Interviewer" />
            </creator>
            <contributor>
                <contactDetails>
                    <name>
                        <name>Christina Davis</name>
                    </name>
                </contactDetails>
                <role typeLabel="Speaker" />
            </contributor>
            <contributor>
                <contactDetails>
                    <name>
                        <name>Roy Blunt</name>
                    </name>
                </contactDetails>
                <role typeLabel="Commentator" />
            </contributor>
            <contributor>
                <contactDetails>
                    <name>
                        <name>Sally Mae</name>
                    </name>
                </contactDetails>
                <role typeLabel="Director" />
            </contributor>
            <format>
                <start>
                    <editUnitNumber editRate="44100" factorNumerator="1" factorDenominator="1">0</editUnitNumber>
                </start>
                <duration>
                    <editUnitNumber editRate="44100" factorNumerator="1" factorDenominator="1">7011899</editUnitNumber>
                </duration>
            </format>
            <identifier>
                <dc:identifier>urn-3:HUL.OIS:701467</dc:identifier>
            </identifier>
        </part>