From e21587eca6c8ac56c24929e5210f05da2ca8865d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Henry Webster Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2026 14:46:05 -0500 Subject: backfill blog posts --- posts/2026-02-21_data-entry.md | 47 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 47 insertions(+) create mode 100644 posts/2026-02-21_data-entry.md (limited to 'posts/2026-02-21_data-entry.md') diff --git a/posts/2026-02-21_data-entry.md b/posts/2026-02-21_data-entry.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4065c46 --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/2026-02-21_data-entry.md @@ -0,0 +1,47 @@ +title: The Joy of Data Entry +date: 2026-02-21 00:00 +--- +
+ The setup +
The setup
+
+ +I often feel like all crowd-sourced information is already on the internet. +Sure, there are people who edit Wikipedia furiously. +But that's not me. +At least, I _thought_ I would never have anything to offer. + +At the beginning of this cozy winter, I took on the task of ripping my household's CDs. +I'd wake up, put the next letter of an alphabetical stack on my desk, and methodically get to work. +My [ripper](https://github.com/poddmo/abcde) levereges the [MusicBrainz](https://musicbrainz.org/) database to look up CD information. +CDs don't have any metadata on the disk, so wonderful projects like MusicBrainz map raw discs with the artist, album name, track titles, and other metadata. + +Out of 257 albums, only eight where not on MusicBrainz! +To not break my flow, I set these in another pile as they came up to worry about later. +My initial idea was to enter in the information locally. +When I finished the rest of the albums though, I let these linger on the desk. + +It took me about a week of gazing at this pile's beady eyes before I relented. +I started poking around MusicBrainz for the first time to try to understand why it couldn't find my discs. +That's when I found out maybe everything _isn't_ on the internet. + +Most were missing disc IDs. +Easy fix. +Look up the release and submit the new ID from the disc. + +But how is Q-Tip not on here? +Turns out it's the [Korean version](https://musicbrainz.org/release/a90f31db-605f-4238-8585-ca57938bbdb4): scan the packaging, make a new release, done. + +[Etta James four disc set](https://musicbrainz.org/release/3d32ef0e-0353-4b96-a612-bea655664ac9): budget Euro label, copy over existing song info, verify with packaging, done. + +[Operatic two disc set](https://musicbrainz.org/release/e13ac9ab-5a91-4965-bb6b-e552581f300f): every accent and umlaut must be accounted for! Why is the name on the spine different than the name on the cover? + +[Stigma](https://musicbrainz.org/release/49aff8a8-9932-400a-a832-a86f8dea7d29): one of these [thrity Stigmas](https://musicbrainz.org/search?query=stigma&type=artist&limit=50&method=indexed) must be them. (They were not, I had to add [another one](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/638dd7c9-cfdd-42bb-9b90-4a4856bfa290).) + +It wasn't the most compelling way to spend my time off, but it was rewarding. +Beyond being able to correctly label my CDs, I had a blast building the collective conscience. +The physicality of finishing an album and taking another off the stack gave me fuel to continue. +Digging through booklets and entering in forms brought a sense of peace to me. + +My apprecition goes out to all the people who contribute to MusicBrainz and make my life easier. +Now I just have to get a scanner so I can upload these ablum covers... -- cgit v1.3