A guided tour through ID3 esoterica
This week we turn the mics on ourselves, kind of. Lars Wikman joins the show to give us a guided tour through ID3 esoterica and the shiny new open source Elixir library he developed for us. We talk about what ID3 is, its many versions, what it aims to be and what it could have been, how our library project got started, all the unique features and failed dreams of the ID3v2 spec, how ID3v2 and Podcasting 2.0 are solving the problem differently, and how all of this maps back to us giving you (our listeners) a better experience while listening to our shows.
This week we turn the mics on ourselves, kind of. Lars Wikman joins the show to give us a guided tour through ID3 esoterica and the shiny new open source Elixir library he developed for us. We talk about what ID3 is, its many versions, what it aims to be and what it could have been, how our library project got started, all the unique features and failed dreams of the ID3v2 spec, how ID3v2 and Podcasting 2.0 are solving the problem differently, and how all of this maps back to us giving you (our listeners) a better experience while listening to our shows.
Changelog++ members get a bonus 14 minutes at the end of this episode and zero ads. Join today!
Sponsors:
- InfluxData – The time series platform for building and operating time series applications — InfluxDB empowers developers to build IoT, analytics, and monitoring software. It’s purpose-built to handle massive volumes and countless sources of time-stamped data produced by sensors, applications, and infrastructure. Learn more at influxdata.com/changelog
- Sentry – Working code means happy customers. That’s exactly why teams choose Sentry. From error tracking to performance monitoring, Sentry helps teams see what actually matters, resolve problems quicker, and learn continuously about their applications - from the frontend to the backend. Use the code
CHANGELOGand get the team plan free for three months. - Fly.io – Deploy your apps and databases close to your users. In minutes you can run your Ruby, Go, Node, Deno, Python, or Elixir app (and databases!) all over the world. No ops required. Learn more at fly.io/changelog and check out the speedrun in their docs.
- Fastly – Our bandwidth partner. Fastly powers fast, secure, and scalable digital experiences. Move beyond your content delivery network to their powerful edge cloud platform. Learn more at fastly.com
Featuring:
- Lars Wikman – Twitter, GitHub, Website
- Adam Stacoviak – Mastodon, Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn, Website
- Jerod Santo – Mastodon, Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn
Show Notes:
- A new chapter for Changelog podcasts (our shows have chapters baked in now, whoop whoop!)
- thechangelog/id3vx
- Id3vx – a library for parsing and encoding ID3 tags
- Ship It! #70: Kaizen! Four PRs, one big feature
- Folyo
Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!
Timestamps:
(00:00) - This week on The Changelog
(01:05) - Sponsor: InfluxData
(02:06) - Start the show!
(02:26) - Welcome Lars, tell us about Id3vx
(04:44) - What ID3v2 could have been
(09:52) - We have instant access to seemingly infinite music
(12:20) - Ok, let's talk ID3v1
(13:33) - Why was ID3v1 at the end of the file?!
(15:00) - How this project got started
(20:20) - A fly on the spec writers' wall
(29:08) - Sponsor: Sentry
(30:02) - Speculating on where this spec could take mp3's
(31:59) - Can mp3's deliver something else entirely?
(36:31) - We don't think about the files anymore
(41:34) - There's NFT vibes going on here
(45:07) - An mp3 player that supports every rediculous frame
(47:23) - Is this the best place for THIS data?
(49:56) - Is this a culmination of failed dreams?
(57:34) - Sponsor: Fly.io
(59:46) - ID3v2 and Podcasting 2.0
(1:10:16) - Thanks Lars plus some feedback
(1:14:11) - Where will the Id3vx library live?
(1:14:54) - What's left to cover?
(1:17:18) - Chapters help us call out bonus content for ++ subscribers
(1:19:06) - Hire Lars and team!
(1:20:21) - Closing out the show
(1:20:58) - Outro