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#98 New metadata block for Lyrics
Unless I am mistaken... there seems no standard for embedding lyrics within flac files.
I've read through the format specification and I feel that a lyric metadata block would be a reasonable addition. There is a PICTURE metablock already defined, so why not a lyric block.
Obviously that would require adding support for it further down the line in applications... but once it's there people will use it.
there is a de facto standard for the LYRICS tag.
a structured lyrics block is a much bigger project
The Lyrics Tag is an ID3 Tag, not part of the FLAC standard and not supposed to be used, as stated here:
http://flac.sourceforge.net/faq.html#general__tagging
The Vorbis Comment (aka FLAC Tags) are cited here:
http://www.xiph.org/vorbis/doc/v-comment.html
There is no Vorbis Lyric Tag.
I accept a fully set out standard isn't a five minute job. I suppose I'd like a beginning. Initially, why not just define a new metadata block to hold a text file - exactly as someone has already done to the picture block (to hold arbitrary data).
Adding time-stamps (syncing playback and lyrics is a problem for the audio application), repeatable chorus sections and other fancy stuff could be done as well I suppose.
I just like having everything in the one file, makes managing music collections easier.
Oh, and thanks for reading my request.
what I meant by 'de facto' is that most apps are currently just putting a text file in the LYRICS tag now, which is fine, no need for a new block type.
Oh, mis-understood your comment.
Still, my personal feeling is that the current lyrics tag approach isn't the best. I can see why you're resistant to making it a new block - coding it up, defining a standard, getting applications further down stream to begin using it. That's a lot of time and effort that I'm sure could be better spent.
Looking at the ID3 page:
http://www.id3.org/Lyrics3v2
it seems somehow unsatisfactory.
Thanks for the replies though.
I might think about it some more by myself if that's alright (sort of a weekend project I can work on, though given bits'n'peices it could never happen).
Just to mention this again... I know it's a low priority, but thank you for keeping it as an open request.
At the moment, there are two options for flac files:
metaflac --set-tag-from-file="LYRICS=filename.lrc"
or
using FlacFile (the website doesn't work at the time I write this, but I have the source code) to place arbitray files in a metablock - which can be text files.
The first I do not like... not least because having the lyrics in a vorbis comment tag is against the purpose of the tags, they are supposed to be short. The second I like... and still think this is the way to go, perhaps include in the main flac code.
Just to round this discussion up, I've been following the process of including lyrics in ogg vorbis files, there conclusion seems to be using the Kate Codec to add a new stream to the ogg file:
http://code.google.com/p/libkate/wiki/CreatingKateStreams
This is more advanced than what I was proposing... the lyric file format allows time stamps, and will be a concurrent stream - not simply a text file embedded in the ogg metadata.
(Unless I mis-understand, flac can be put in an ogg container... so will Kate work with flac? Even if it does, it isn't a pure flac solution).
Really love the work people do on flac... and all open source projects, much appreciated.