The basic problem is that tunes are submitted to The Session on a first come, first served basis. Duplicate tune submissions aren't allowed.
Now, what that means is that the first version of a tune that's submitted (even if it's not necessarily the best version) gets more prominence than variations posted in the comments.
My initial solution to this problem was to offer up a way for people to submit their versions of tunes by clicking on a "do you know another setting of this tune?" link.
From the feedback I received, it became clear that this solution wasn't ideal. It also became clear that the comments were working far better than I realised: if someone has an alternate setting of a tune, they can post it in the comments along with any other relevant info (like where they got the tune).
Inspired by a casual remark by Jack Gilder, I started working on a new solution:
What if, when you downloaded the ABC for a tune or added a tune to your tunebook, the comments would automatically be scanned to find alternate settings?
It took a bit of work and it doesn't work perfectly but I've hammered it into some kind of workable shape.
Enough talk. Let's look at an example. Slainte recently added his version of The Pigtown Fling. Here's how the downloaded ABC file looks:
As you can see, it's a bit of a fudge in that I use the "W:" header which is actually intended for song lyrics. But I found that any other headers (like "S:" or "Z:") threw up errors in my choice of ABC software (BarFly).
Anyway, I hope you find the new feature useful. Speaking from personal experience, I find it quite handy. Take a look at my tunebook:
"The T: field can also be used within a tune to name parts of a tune - in this case it should come before any key or meter changes."
I know we're not talking actual _parts_ of a tune, but it seems like a better idea than to use W:. It also looks much better when run through abcm2ps. I don't know about other software, though... Just a thought.
Of course nothing beats actually reading through the comments (they really give life to the tunes) but at least all the variations get equal airplay now.
One problem: now when I download, the file appears with a .php extension rather than a .abc extension, which I then have to change manually to get Barfly to open the file. I assume this can be fixed easily.
If you click on the "Download ABC" link from a tune (rather than the links I pasted above) then the filename will be the name of the tune with the extension .abc.
I guess you can just edit the file and keep the versions you want and then rename the file. I was originally imagining a download button in the comments where the particular version was contributed, but this will work too I suppose.
This is great Jeremy, now whenever I want to learn a tune here I can just print out a whole load of variations in abc and it's nice and quick and clean. Cheers!
It's still not working for me. I tried both Pigeon on the Gate and Fisher's, going to the tune page, using the Download tab, and clicking the Download ABC button. I tried it a bunch of times, and always got files called download.php, download2.php, download3.php, etc.
Gary, I just tested using IE5.2 on Mac OS 10.3. Although it refered to the file as "download.php" throughout the download process (when it was asking what I wanted to do with the file), once it was downloaded, the file was named after the tune with the .abc extension.
I can't figure out why the same thing wouldn't happen for you. It could be a browser issue, but then I would expect to be able to duplicate the problem.
Could you do me a favour and see if the same thing happens when you use Safari? Thanks.
I just tried it with Safari. The abc file (with alternate tune versions) appeared in the browser window, but was not downloaded to a named file at all (Safari is set to save downloaded files in a folder called Web Downloads). When I choose Save As..., it suggests
.abc as the filename.
New: expanded ABC downloads
New: expanded ABC downloads
This is my second attempt to improve the tunes section of this site. My first (abortive) attempt is documented here:
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display.php/3788
The basic problem is that tunes are submitted to The Session on a first come, first served basis. Duplicate tune submissions aren't allowed.
Now, what that means is that the first version of a tune that's submitted (even if it's not necessarily the best version) gets more prominence than variations posted in the comments.
My initial solution to this problem was to offer up a way for people to submit their versions of tunes by clicking on a "do you know another setting of this tune?" link.
From the feedback I received, it became clear that this solution wasn't ideal. It also became clear that the comments were working far better than I realised: if someone has an alternate setting of a tune, they can post it in the comments along with any other relevant info (like where they got the tune).
Inspired by a casual remark by Jack Gilder, I started working on a new solution:
What if, when you downloaded the ABC for a tune or added a tune to your tunebook, the comments would automatically be scanned to find alternate settings?
It took a bit of work and it doesn't work perfectly but I've hammered it into some kind of workable shape.
Enough talk. Let's look at an example. Slainte recently added his version of The Pigtown Fling. Here's how the downloaded ABC file looks:
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/scripts/download.php?tune_id=80
As you can see, it's a bit of a fudge in that I use the "W:" header which is actually intended for song lyrics. But I found that any other headers (like "S:" or "Z:") threw up errors in my choice of ABC software (BarFly).
Anyway, I hope you find the new feature useful. Speaking from personal experience, I find it quite handy. Take a look at my tunebook:
http://www.thesession.org/members/download.php/tunebook.abc?member_id=1&sort=name
Quite a lot of those tunes have some great alternate settings submitted in the comments by Will Harmon, Gian Marco, et al.
Try it out for yourselves by downloading your own tunebooks and let me know how you find it.
# Posted on June 18th 2004 by Jeremy
Re: New: expanded ABC downloads
It's a great idea. Very nice! Thanks again for all the work!
About the header... How about T:? From http://www.gre.ac.uk/~c.walshaw/abc2mtex/abc.txt:
"The T: field can also be used within a tune to name parts of a tune - in this case it should come before any key or meter changes."
I know we're not talking actual _parts_ of a tune, but it seems like a better idea than to use W:. It also looks much better when run through abcm2ps. I don't know about other software, though... Just a thought.
# Posted on June 18th 2004 by Pontus Adefjord
Re: New: expanded ABC downloads
I could use "T:" but I'm not sure that that would work any better than "W:". After all, I don't *actually* want to change the title of the tune.
Although it does remind me of something else... I could use the "T:" header to add the aliases that appear in the "details" tab.
# Posted on June 18th 2004 by Jeremy
Re: New: expanded ABC downloads
It seems like a good idea - and it seems to work. I'd hate to think that Paddy Fahy's Pigeon on the Gate might go unnoticed.
# Posted on June 18th 2004 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: New: expanded ABC downloads
The Pigeon On The Gate is a pretty good example actually:
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/scripts/download.php?tune_id=517
Just look at all those variations.
Of course nothing beats actually reading through the comments (they really give life to the tunes) but at least all the variations get equal airplay now.
# Posted on June 18th 2004 by Jeremy
Re: New: expanded ABC downloads
One problem: now when I download, the file appears with a .php extension rather than a .abc extension, which I then have to change manually to get Barfly to open the file. I assume this can be fixed easily.
# Posted on June 18th 2004 by GaryAMartin
Re: New: expanded ABC downloads
PS Also, the filename is "download.php" rather than the more descriptive ".abc".
# Posted on June 18th 2004 by GaryAMartin
Re: New: expanded ABC downloads
If you click on the "Download ABC" link from a tune (rather than the links I pasted above) then the filename will be the name of the tune with the extension .abc.
# Posted on June 18th 2004 by Jeremy
Re: New: expanded ABC downloads
I guess you can just edit the file and keep the versions you want and then rename the file. I was originally imagining a download button in the comments where the particular version was contributed, but this will work too I suppose.
# Posted on June 18th 2004 by Phantom Button
Re: New: expanded ABC downloads
This is great Jeremy, now whenever I want to learn a tune here I can just print out a whole load of variations in abc and it's nice and quick and clean. Cheers!
# Posted on June 18th 2004 by Dr. Dow
Re: New: expanded ABC downloads
I've just tried it out and it finds the abc straight away. It's very clever!
# Posted on June 18th 2004 by Dr. Dow
Re: New: expanded ABC downloads
It's still not working for me. I tried both Pigeon on the Gate and Fisher's, going to the tune page, using the Download tab, and clicking the Download ABC button. I tried it a bunch of times, and always got files called download.php, download2.php, download3.php, etc.
It used to work as you described, Jeremy.
# Posted on June 19th 2004 by GaryAMartin
Re: New: expanded ABC downloads
What browser and operating system are you using Gary?
# Posted on June 19th 2004 by Jeremy
Re: New: expanded ABC downloads
Mac OS 10.3 with Internet Explorer 5.2. It was working a few weeks ago when I last tried it (though that might have been under OS 10.1.5).
# Posted on June 19th 2004 by GaryAMartin
Re: New: expanded ABC downloads
Gary, I just tested using IE5.2 on Mac OS 10.3. Although it refered to the file as "download.php" throughout the download process (when it was asking what I wanted to do with the file), once it was downloaded, the file was named after the tune with the .abc extension.
I can't figure out why the same thing wouldn't happen for you. It could be a browser issue, but then I would expect to be able to duplicate the problem.
Could you do me a favour and see if the same thing happens when you use Safari? Thanks.
# Posted on June 19th 2004 by Jeremy
Re: New: expanded ABC downloads
I just tried it with Safari. The abc file (with alternate tune versions) appeared in the browser window, but was not downloaded to a named file at all (Safari is set to save downloaded files in a folder called Web Downloads). When I choose Save As..., it suggests
.abc as the filename.
# Posted on June 20th 2004 by GaryAMartin
Re: New: expanded ABC downloads
Oops. Something got lost there. I meant: when I choose Save As..., it suggests tunetitle.abc as the filename.
# Posted on June 20th 2004 by GaryAMartin