As a person who uses Audacity for possibly unusual reasons, this might be the point I should explain my uses of it in greater depth.Gale Andrews wrote:You are very welcome to vote for any of:
1) probably won't happen .
- Opening files directly like a media player, perhaps with a waveform, but no editing possible.
- Reopened compressed projects store their PCM data in the Audacity temp folder. Only OGG files are in the _data folder for the compressed project. When you save the project, the OGG files are overwritten. When you close the project, the PCM data is deleted. Reopening that project repeats the process on first re-open, reading the OGG files and writing the PCM data for the imported OGG files to the temp folder.
- Reopened compressed projects store OGG files plus their PCM data in the _data folder for the compressed project, as now, but unused PCM data that was for Undo/Redo is deleted when you save the project (or perhaps when you close it). Reopening the project reads not from the OGG files but the PCM data.
3) should probably be done.
2) is probably more work than 3) but is closest to what you are asking for. I think at the moment 2) makes most sense. Otherwise you can't send identically named iterations of the same compressed project to others - to send version 2 of the compressed project to someone else containing only an OGG, you have to save it as a new compressed project.
Differently named iterations are a good practice for safety, but not so convenient.
The choice between 2) and 3) could be a preference, but probably not needed.
Gale
Originally, I used Audacity very simply, to import analogue vinyl and cassette tracks, remove any extraneous stuff at the start / end, and export the song as an AAC to iTunes, where I could apply equalising to my own taste. Then close the project without saving changes, as its work had been done.
More recently I have begun to use the software to create evidence in an anti-piracy case : there are supposed cover ('tribute') versions of songs available for download purchases online. However, the people responsible have used original recordings in some cases, rather than the cover versions they are claimed to be. I am compiling proof of this by importing the original track (Beatles, Stones, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Bob Dylan, The Smiths, The Beach Boys ... yes, really! among others), then the supposed cover version. I synchronise the two waveforms, then play them. Apart from a bit of 'phasing', they are quite clearly a single recording and the waveforms - apart from amplitude or tonal variations - are identical. (Very close 'genuine' cover versions are nevertheless obviously different in Audacity - the tempo varies slightly, which accumulates over the course of the song, and the vocals are never the same. The waveforms are similar, but not identical.)
To save all these projects would incur file sizes of around 100MB (or more) per song, which is excessive as each project consists of 2 imported MP3s no larger than around 5MB each. Discovering the 'Compressed Copy' option was a godsend to me, as it meant I could do 2 things : 1) export an AAC copy of the two tracks mixed down to one, demonstrating that in each case, the original recording had been used, and 2) keep the waveforms as extra evidence.
What completely threw me was that though I could achieve 1) and 2) and keep file sizes down, if I wanted to look at the waveforms again, suddenly there would be a large folder of PCM files, defeating the object of what I was using the Compressed Copy option for to begin with. I don't mind that Audacity must have the PCM data to work with, but it just seems common sense to me that it would be deleted again for Compressed Copy projects, and recreated anew (then deleted again) each time the project was reopened.
So my "vote" is as follows :
Not for 1., which I've never said I wanted - the fact that Audacity appears to play the Ogg Vorbis tracks but in fact doesn't, is unimportant to me. The tracks play, that's all that matters; it's just a matter of what happens to the PCM data after one closes the project.
Yes, I'd vote for 2. as it seems the commonsense solution for people who only want to work with a compressed project.
Not for 3., as storing the PCM data in the project _data folder defeats the whole purpose of having a Compressed Copy option to start with - surely people only use that option to reduce the size of projects? Storing a folder of PCM data AS WELL for each project, makes no sense that I can see.
Having a preference to choose between 2. and 3. WOULD actually be useful, but only if you think 3. is a workable option in the light of what I've said above.
(There is one further thing I don't know the answer to : you've talked a lot about the use of PCM data in Audacity's temp folder : does this temp folder get deleted when a project is closed? Or - if one has several projects - does it only hold the data for the project currently open? Can I manually delete that data if I can tack it down? Would that affect Audacity's ability to read Ogg Vorbis files, create a temporary set of PCM files, then delete them again?)
I'll keep the copy folder, but just trash its contents after each time I use it.
This isn't the first time users have reopened a compressed project and deleted the _data folder, thinking it superfluous whereas it's the OGG that's superfluous. Moreover the OGG doesn't change if you edit and resave the compressed project - drag it into Audacity after resave and it's the same as the OGG you started with