Re: ASIN Clarification

> You disagree with my point that it's currently the practice, or you
> disagree with the practice itself?
>
> On Mon, 2009-04-20 at 21:31 +0100, Paul Jarvis wrote:
>> I disagree, all ASINs are valid (be it vinyl, cassette, CD, mp3)
>> provided they match the release (usually the barcode is the best way to
>> confirm this).  Obviously if there is no official Amazon listing then
>> there shouldn't be an ASIN, it's the same as with any other AR in the
>> database.  Personally, I believe cover art is fairly irrelevant to the
>> overall ASIN picture, and should be seen merely as an added benefit, not
>> the primary reason for adding them to releases.
>>
>> Paul C. Bryan wrote:
>> > Hi Christopher:
>> >
>> > As far as I know, an ASIN is valid to link to, as long as it correctly
>> > represents the release in MB. Some are better than others; ASIN w. cover
>> > art is currently preferable (per guidelines) over ASIN without.
>> >
>> > Personally, I think all ASINs for a release, be it vinyl, cassette, CD,
>> > SACD, whatever should ideally be linked, but the practice is not to link
>> > to all, so that we get the benefits of Amazon official cover art. In the
>> > future, when MB's ASIN/cover art handling is refined, hopefully we can
>> > do so.
>> >
>> > Paul
>> >
>> > On Mon, 2009-04-20 at 11:06 +0100, Christopher Key wrote:
>> >
>> >> Hello,
>> >>
>> >> I'm hoping to get some clarification on the exact requirements for
>> >> making an ASIN suitable to link to.
>> >>
>> >> Quite a lot of releases, especially singles, are only available second
>> >> hand through third party sellers, and the data on their Amazon page is
>> >> often quite lacking, with no official cover art, or no art at all, and
>> >> occasionally no tracklisting.  I do however feel that linking to such
>> >> releases does provide useful information.
>> >>
>> >> Firstly, if someone is attempting to acquire a specific release, the
>> >> lack of information from Amazon may well make this very difficult.  A
>> >> correct tracklisting / Catalog # / barcode from MusicBrainz pointing to
>> >> a specific ASIN would be very useful.
>> >>
>> >> Secondly, whilst no coverart may be available via AWS, end users can
>> >> still acquire coverart directly, or via some suitable scripted method.
>> >> Moreover, Amazon may in the future add official coverart, and this would
>> >> then automatically become available to MusicBrainz.
>> >>
>> >> Finally, it provides a useful replacement for the large number of
>> >> incorrect ASINs currently in the system.  There are a lot of cases where
>> >> a set of identically titled albums (with different tracklistings) have
>> >> all been attached to the same ASIN.  My concern is that should these
>> >> simply be removed, they will end up getting reattached by users wanting
>> >> coverart.
>> >>
>> >> Obviously some care needs to be taken to ensure correct data.  Simply
>> >> having bought a item with a given ASIN from a 3rd party seller perhaps
>> >> isn't sufficient.  However, AWS does allow UPC lookups, and I guess that
>> >> this probably is sufficient.  The second problem is that MusicBrainz
>> >> assumes that the presence of an ASIN means that cover art is available,
>> >> and ends up displaying an ugly box in cases where it isn't.  I guess
>> >> this should however be a relatively easy fix.
>> >>
>> >> Any feedback / clarification would be nuch appreciated.
>> >>
>> >> Regards,
>> >>
>> >> Christopher Key
>> >>
>> >>
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>> >>
>> >
>> >
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