Release Format
Description
This field describes which medium a Release is distributed on. Normally a release will be distributed on multiple media with different ReleaseCatalogNumbers and BarCodes; each should have a separate release event.
The values may be:
CD
DVD
SACD
DualDisc
LaserDisc
MiniDisc
Vinyl
Cassette
Cartridge (4/8-tracks)
Reel-to-reel
DAT
Digital Media
Other
Exhaustive list
Here's an attempt at listing some/most/all (?) known/existing audio physical support, and how we map them to our own list:
Purely audio physical supports
|
Name |
Date of creation |
Rarity |
Details |
Picture |
Map to |
|
1877 |
Very rare |
Mechanical analog; "hill-and-dale" grooves, vertical stylus motion |
|
Wax Cylinder |
|
|
1883 |
Very rare |
Mechanical digital |
|
Piano Roll |
|
|
1895 |
Common |
Mechanical analog; lateral grooves, horizontal stylus motion. The terms LP record (LP, 33, or 33-1/3 rpm record), EP, 16-2/3 rpm record (16), 45 rpm record (45), and 78 rpm record (78) refers to specific types of gramophone records |
|
Vinyl |
|
|
1898 |
Rare |
Analog; magnetization; no "bias" |
|
Other |
|
|
1930s |
Rare |
Analog; magnetization; "bias" dramatically increases linearity/fidelity |
|
Reel-to-reel |
|
|
Vinyl record / Quad Vinyl |
1948/1957/1971 |
Common |
Is a simple evolution of gramophone record: Analog, with preemphasis and other equalization techniques (LP, RIAA). Lateral grooves, horizontal stylus motion. Monaural were created in 1948, then stereo vinyl came later in 1957 and Quad in 1971: analog, with preemphasis and other equalization techniques. Combination lateral/vertical stylus motion with each channel encoded 45 degrees to the vertical. |
|
Vinyl |
|
4 tracks cartridge / 8 tracks cartridge / Quad 8 tracks |
1962/1965/1970 |
Rare? |
Analog, 1/4 inch wide tape, 3 3/4 inches/sec, endless loop cartridge. Quad: 4 Channel Stereo. |
|
4 Tracks/8 Tracks/Quad 8 |
|
1963 |
(still) common? |
Analog, with bias, preemphasis, 1/8 inch wide tape, 17/8 inches/sec. 1970: introduced Dolby noise reduction. |
|
Audio cassette |
|
|
1969 |
Rare |
Analog, 1/8 inch wide tape, mostly mono, some stereo. 2.4 cm/s or 1.2 cm/s. |
|
Audio cassette |
|
|
? |
Very rare? |
This is not in itself a physical format (may be performed on a variety of equipments, from tape based equipment to digital equipment and hard disks). Likely to be only available in studios, as professional equipments. |
|
Other |
|
|
1976 |
Rare |
A short lived cassette format. |
|
Audio cassette |
|
|
1982 |
Widely spread |
PCM, Avaialble in 120mm and 80mm formats. |
|
CD |
|
|
1987 |
Rare |
|
|
DAT |
|
|
1991 |
Common |
ATRAC |
|
Minidisc |
|
|
1992 |
Very rare |
|
|
Other? DAT? |
|
|
1992 |
Very rare |
DTS Audio |
|
CD |
|
|
1999 |
Rare? Common? |
|
|
DVD |
|
|
1999 |
Rare? Common? |
|
|
SACD |
Video and mixed physical supports
|
Name |
Date of creation |
Rarity |
Details |
Picture |
Map to |
|
1975 |
Common? |
'Dolby Stereo' cinema surround sound. |
|
Other |
|
|
1978 |
Rare? |
|
|
Laserdisc |
|
|
1997 |
Widely spread |
|
|
DVD |
|
|
2003 |
Common? |
An audio cd on one side (though not redbook), and a dvd on the other side |
|
Dualdisc |
|
|
2005 |
Rare? |
|
|
? |
|
|
2006 |
Rare? |
|
|
? |
Partial list of digital audio formats
1985 Sound Designer (by Digidesign)
1992 WAVEform (WAV)
1995 MP3
(*) Rarity is just a rough indication of availability as consumer products - values are: "Very Rare", "Rare", "Common", "Widely spread"
More information
The original ticket that led to our implementation is 2565
Mailing list discussion is
![[WWW]](http://wiki.musicbrainz.org/-/musicbrainz/img/moin-www.png)
here Wikipedia has a list of Audio Formats
Discogs has its own list in their
Submission Guidelines
CategoryRelease CategoryTerminology
|
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