This seems poorly introduced. What is a "cassette"? What's the point of it all?
I shouldn't have to read the spec to figure out that it's like an epub, but for music (aac, with optional flac and wav support) instead of html. Along with some extra metadata features that mimic the experience of cassette players.
Because it's pointlessly incompatible. You can do the exact same thing purely in the application, leaving the file format the same. Why do you hate interoperability?
The same could be said of a word document, vs a text file with markdown.
The same could also be said of an .mkv file, vs a directory with an .avi, subtitle files for each language, and suggested fonts.
Or a macOS application bundle, vs an installer program that decompresses a binary and numerous resources across the file system and sets values in a system registry describing their locations.
It's not wrong, but it misses the value that can be found in a container format. Sure, I could make a digital mixtape by dropping audio files in a folder with a .m3u playlist etc. But being able to package audio with album art and metadata in a single open file format actually strikes me as incredibly useful.
This seems poorly introduced. What is a "cassette"? What's the point of it all?
I shouldn't have to read the spec to figure out that it's like an epub, but for music (aac, with optional flac and wav support) instead of html. Along with some extra metadata features that mimic the experience of cassette players.
Erm, it's a wav file with extra steps?
What am I missing?
Edit: https://www.otape.org/spec/#73-codecs sorry, it's an mp4 audio file with extra steps...
> What am I missing?
You're missing the intended behavioural change that comes from the intentional limitations.
Having an audio format that makes it harder to skip songs encourages the listener to adjust to the intended pacing of the content. That's the point.
Why do you hate fun?
Because it's pointlessly incompatible. You can do the exact same thing purely in the application, leaving the file format the same. Why do you hate interoperability?
The same could be said of a word document, vs a text file with markdown.
The same could also be said of an .mkv file, vs a directory with an .avi, subtitle files for each language, and suggested fonts.
Or a macOS application bundle, vs an installer program that decompresses a binary and numerous resources across the file system and sets values in a system registry describing their locations.
It's not wrong, but it misses the value that can be found in a container format. Sure, I could make a digital mixtape by dropping audio files in a folder with a .m3u playlist etc. But being able to package audio with album art and metadata in a single open file format actually strikes me as incredibly useful.
I'd love to see this take off.
What makes it not interoperable?
Can I rewind these with a pen?
All I can say is amazing!