Record is an immutable distributed system for audio files. It can be used for managing a personal music collection and potentially powering the digital music ecosystem (distribution, discovery, etc).
- Supports: mp3, mp4, m4a/aac, flac, wav, ogg, 3gpp, aiff
- Audio file tag support via Music Metadata
- Audio fingerprinting via Chromaprint
- Listening history w/ counter and timestamps
- Tagging system for organization
- Play / Shuffle search results & organizational tags
- Import files from the local file system
- Import from various web-based sources: Youtube, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, etc
- Content deduplication
- Play queue
As a distributed network, Record passes data from application to application. Therefore, it does not rely on any one entity, rather it is spread out and made accessible by anyone running the application. Users only keep the data they are interested in and make it available for others. Each application is a "full node" designed to continue working even if the project is abandoned and you are the only person using it.
Record is built using only the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) & OrbitDB / IPFS-Log protocols, inheriting all of their qualities (i.e. immutable, censorship resistant, distributed and content deduplication). At the moment, Record is not reliant on any consensus driven distributed systems (i.e. cryptocurrencies). In the future, one may be used for data anchoring and value transfer (i.e. payments) if they meet the core principles of the project.
Record (v0.0.1-alpha) demo and walkthrough
In short, to achieve immutability & interoperability of audio metadata and files.
To experiment with the viability of an open protocol and a fully distributed system to address the problems of centralized music silos. Anyone who manages a large music collection knows the pains of keeping it forever and navigating the disjointed music ecosystem.
To cultivate and support content creators by allowing them to distribute to anyone, forever, and get rewarded for their creativity, cutting out all intermediaries.
To bring back & elevate curators - referring to the era of radio DJs and bloggers that either succumbed to the music industry or fatigue. Making it easier to manage a digital music collection spawns curators who then discover and elevate content creators.
Record aims to be fully distributed where all functionality is self-contained in each application (i.e. a "full" node). There have been and will be similar projects. Most tend to differ by having some elements where the functionality is not self-contained and too much is reliant on external services. Our goal is to avoid federation and resist any crutches, either technically or practically, that reduce fully distributed functionality.
- beets (A great library management system - lacks interoperability)
- tomahawk player (Cross-platform music player - abandoned)
- Ex.fm (deprecated)
- Mediachain [needs documentation]
- Open Music Initiative [needs documentation]
- Ujo [needs documentation]
- Audius [needs documentation]
- Funkwhale [needs documentation]
Like many projects in the distributed web ecosystem, this remains an unstable experiment despite on and off development since 2015. In other words, it is not ready for general use. Until it is stable, it is most suitable for those who have an appetite for problems and a desire to shape the solutions.
- Report bugs on github.
- Ask questions, share ideas & enhancements on github.
- Ask questions via @ipfsrecord.
- Contribute ideas, code & documentation.
Check out the roadmap to view planned features.
- Metadata cleaning / import using: discogs, musicbrainz, last.fm, allmusic, beatport, streaming services, etc
- Media server (MPD, Sonos, Plex, Kodi, Emby)
- Audio and music analysis (Aubio, Essentia)
- Audio Scrobbling (last.fm, libre.fm, listenbrainz)
- Trustless timestamping / distributed copyrighting & distribution (OpenTimestamps, Nano, etc)
- Download the
desktop app
- Download chrome-extension & unzip
- Open chrome and go to
chrome://extensions - Enable developer mode (top-right)
- Select
Load unpackednavigate to unzipped directory and select thedistfolder - Make sure the record chrome extension is activated
[needs documentation]
In many situations, users will be behind a router and will need to enable UPnP or nat-pmp in order to connect to others. The best way to do this is to google your specific router brand for instructions on how to enable them.
A computer running IPFS.
A computer running the Record application or an instance of record-node. A peer can have many libraries. A record peer is also always an IPFS peer but not vice-versa.
A public / private key pair. Users can have multiple identities.
A collection of audio files and links to other libraries. Each Library has at least one assoicated Identity. Currently, there is no global registry of libraries. Discovery occurs by examining the social graph, by out-of-band sharing, or peer discovery on the network.
More specifically, a library is an immutable operation-based conflict-free replicated data structure resembling a directed acyclic graph. Each Library has a Manifest and an Access Controller, specifying which keys/signatures are accepted.
The library address is an IPFS hash of the log's manifest. Thus each address is unique to a manifest.
/orbitdb/zdpuAqeuT5BQnyXMTnvL5xWHVBUXSs4HMxgpbVgErnd8Doi6p/recordThe library manifest contains a name for the library along with the hash to an access controller, which specifies who has the ability to modify the Library. There are multiple types of access controllers (i.e. OrbitDB, IPFS, Ethereum, custom).
{
name: 'record',
type: 'recordstore',
accessController: '/ipfs/zdpuB3KRtqMVSjLX9KbFV3nKDwjuvYaPYjy2HBTjVKUNsgmRQ'
}Specifies public keys to be used to validate signatures of entries
{
write: [
"020b646ed922bfa7ee4359bf771f79ffa2ff7e937f3a5fb8a596a08632ea23c809" // public key
]
}Each entry is a signed operation (PUT or DEL) modifying the state of the Library that references previous entries in the Library.
{
hash: 'zdpuAnctNUahQ2hRBeVSt7B3ymMKZ1qiHcGZUS8vABbwQ9LBs', // Entry hash
id: '/orbitdb/zdpuAqyy2yLfTpevS4pxfVadSmS14oRNAXMvnAYet9zKwSqZc/record', // Library address
payload: [object], // (see below)
next: [], // previous entry in the log
refs: [], // references to other entries, allows for skipping around
v: 2,
clock: {
id: '04acd9157fa11657871091339c1063ef96d7695480a9a96dc77a0748e7fc6152127f8bd60d463c85b4fa7b12a8ec95d004333220b4e2d1d9f9c6e8cbf923ad9fb6',
time: 1
},
key: '04acd9157fa11657871091339c1063ef96d7695480a9a96dc77a0748e7fc6152127f8bd60d463c85b4fa7b12a8ec95d004333220b4e2d1d9f9c6e8cbf923ad9fb6',
identity: {
id: '03bfc24f6f79222a9727bc562ba199aaf6d288fd59887a0ba3e896d33a074d6360',
publicKey: '04acd9157fa11657871091339c1063ef96d7695480a9a96dc77a0748e7fc6152127f8bd60d463c85b4fa7b12a8ec95d004333220b4e2d1d9f9c6e8cbf923ad9fb6',
signatures: {
id: '304402207c6983968279ea0030f6d3cf77d9300decbd017a9a41cc6e9f9b3f650d9ab8aa02205ec25a846e41d7121ab7071bea8d2a8331ba0004922fd970248dc86b4ed9df18',
publicKey: '304402206f93cb29c361cde07d11cbed80dec737a6578defcdd86b815830dc250a9ef25c022006030f4f8d6c25f679caa6e4102da0edaab50d847f9463aba9ff0d981cc51583'
},
type: 'orbitdb'
},
sig: '3045022100b0005ac464d90d9744bc7ec0b85f46170219a9c88f0dc53c2c3e7612faae29d602202a48f22184b12e57a3508c3f8eccddde7cf2f8a79a70ca114ac29cd7087369be'
}There are three types of entry payloads, conducting two operations (PUT or DEL), with a content addressable pointer to the data. In the case of a track entry, the content is a content addressable pointer to the metadata of the audio file. Within the metadata is another content addressable pointer to the audio data.
{
op: 'PUT', // PUT or DEL
key: 'cd24f44d2ee1fb5dba99a6cac74f0398f5a909f3341688d19ea59926c8ef693f',
value: {
id: 'cd24f44d2ee1fb5dba99a6cac74f0398f5a909f3341688d19ea59926c8ef693f', // hash of audio fingerprint for track entries
timestamp: 1611272666695,
v: 0,
type: 'about', // about, track, or library
content: 'zBwWX5GSt1YAYJYortZ4HSkWHD2JsDLjMmo5piYyZfgPqYiNMDEdPGcGLxjmt6nhmPApErDew6eVBdGECYtF6W73kZ1dk' // IPFS CID (see below)
}
}The metadata of an audio file with a content addressable pointer ot the audio data. Audio files are identified by their audio fingerprint. Two audio files in two different libraries with the same audio fingerprint will have the same id and will be treated as the same. In the future, the audio fingerprint can be used to determine the similarity of any two audio files.
Audio files are processed by separating the metadata from the audio data, so that the audio data alone is content addressable and unique on the entire network.
The content property of an Entry payload is the CID of the following object. Any changes to the following object will result in a different CID. However, two exact audio files will have the same audio fingerprint and entry payload id / key.
{
hash: 'QmQNBMWZexMA2EEhsc7BMoqnjWRqf5irXk6osNnh7oqNjS', // IPFS hash of audio data
size: 15476630,
tags: {
disk: [Object],
genre: [Array],
title: 'So Much Love To Give(Original Mix)',
track: [Object],
artist: 'Dj Falcon And Thomas Bangalter',
artists: [Array],
acoustid_fingerprint: 'AQADtE0ikWIYpAoFrYkWhNaCZpSO55i0-LiOkMvyQMoX-LcQHj22E9XR8cIN9PiQ5FKQ5wdb_JhiG_V-XCjCB19O6HzwJ4XmB3kUNB6O6sUm_Qma_EJ-5ZCuHM055IF_9DQmtYF1_IT_od-OWhOSuEFYEqxE_MdkO2jiLDhy7kje4-Hxp0mQQ0-KsBSacsdfVIuP6LqgPUuO7NHRHKWO2vDzY1Lx3CjQD7mQ5AmeHyyuY4pt1MqPGzX6IOZOXHrwp3gfhF_QWMFRPSU26U_g_MjC69CVI8yF4zccE5vYHNXxEI2LH9eQxA3CkmAlHj8mUUwD66iRK0je43yEPE1wHXqSIsyFmjt-VItjzNSF8FlySI-O5kZ4oR_8o-ox7cIN9MIzKOfxgO2wH41To1Z-3KiFXsh54nxwPQ3yGLWGxspxVE-x6haq68iVQPoeNLuQv_BfnM7h8-h4VIfPoB-OZBSHLB0u59iP6mngZziSPcK1Bw8f_GkC_UWuEE2nHN2V4sekhQpyQeOk5EV2od_QHPuM5j3eH88P_zD64UGSE3kIVsdpTHFjVFR-HLXRh8iXEzcf_GnwxgifCM1xVE-x6kGof9ArHcyHML-CWkfz49SDaUeTPniDHnZ07EIyikNmDpcw9uiZBtbRI9-hHw93PE0CHTE1odfRhDx-4wuHT0XkJTt0HVlyo9bRHz7FoeKPKjx8uKg55DySS9JB48UuGnbTGDce9EG940fOB9fTIPTxEM1z_PiN6ojUKhV0KQfzD2F-oZQOvzQOh2LiosoD9EXjDR8SXch5zMGbH10zBz5z9MgPHf8DnbTwq0GuCY11VOSK36hIYapjIbmWIzua6eg19BPhCuNPPDx8-OiR80hyCQ_B_riOKW4aoyfu4PiRL8f54HoahO7hR0E__ET3GN8R6fJwKYGUI70S_PBvHG-DLZmOhwF84UMkikgehTnwB0wSz0cfBHrkI0c-SejyJ9CssPgRljOcBz--I9Q1SN_RI-fxw8yW4zwcCs8u-CROIT2S8UNxJTmYhzgvNOGWDTf8Hc0j7EQ-7SjJ422QExupo2izw7oD50KW69BO5JE-9DnaD354XISTtrhS-HxxwR-Sa0Ku5CjzHBcP0lfQfCmOHNqJ__hGoZT4BDqLI_1xXNkRVD-kH0X6w6U--MfhSKgyNK9CnCtS6MjZoF2igD3QhGKMj4J1NNeJ5PjWoyQpwTfEOEd69ETF5TArLrA-ZNET6KiRJx_-ws-CS4LVw6FJXIevBEWyD3mD9niPJrwD0pzgA8lSDsfzScL0J9AzFtMR_vBx4x-S6QcfD-Fh8jB7-MvxG46IZ_Al5Jyg5QiaHeYSgjnxownFGBf8ozl2E1-PkORxFzmPLccpOMtY_BwcrUfN9Uj2BZlG2WiO88ZPvMnRJH8x_Q2O_vCFZB-iLwN7PMHod2jEpiEq87jwI5eOP3j3BNdT5JrQStHh8Ay63IipQpcQXbqMC0x2_PCH83jeB1t6GEf4EcmHPWBzXDomH00eGy-No-iPB7dunExR7Ufzjbhy_HhexOYTKF6YIo_AP2iu4y-8Ho-wpeFDVOGLo7nQB8kZRD9Y4Vmw56jyNHDMowdi8njwP8FFpsijCb12-GRQZTZiSYUuIbp0GReYDH_hD-fx98GW8DAehB-SD3sGNnFwHpOPJo-Nl8ZR9MeDWzdOpqj2o_mOK8SPJy9i8wkUL0yRR-CP5rrwF16PB1vMh6hyA82FPkgeRD8ONgv2o8rToDmPI5B_HL-uQCfTIC-qMoelCr-DR0afIDmi52Byo9TRH1Mq6qh-OGFlHD56IXp2JBcF-seLXQ8au0fl48GPH_lyXOSDJw3CxsY3NFaOH78x6aIQXsclJZDyw5eQH_6NM3AuF5PyAM3RY5eCnEhU8piDN_nRlQ78HH2OHDrkPzjpBDF7PEPzo-Ky4qZRLdIRfoJy7UHug0kv9EI_w5WPqj5R5caOHz_CZ0hiLaB_HLt-2G5w6nhwPLqQ7zgfXE8a1DbSD72CE1X0GOMVhFfAK4f2Hem_4NKD5qVxH03M5ESVo8d2TJ-CD8l1ZD3mKLjzoyvTwOdR9YgJ_fgDOY8TnEeeoGmP6it-fJFWRE-hKwevI8yP8tgXNDdR1SeqHD-OHtGzI7kI-seL68cUu0Gt4MLxRke-41zyoHfwI08U-EN1TNOP6sGVDtkD7cqD9KZwvvDxFFvMh6hyo_DRDzuSI2uOebjzDl2ZBj4v9EiO489wLk6g8sgzNN1RffheVDsmbhdyJYeUI925oSx6ND_G9kSVH-7hoh-iZ0gu6gSNF7se2O7xHEcf9EK-PDh5PA1CH3Yy9MRPTNPj4D_CJxWkC7mO5hv-wD9OvM0LJw_go5-QXBHyxAeLK8f0xkZzGg_wHjElPA9-Vagf5ItgK0PxE9N0Naj-IRf4QIu_IKdN-MeHm6mKTT-qo0dz7MiDRMVVzHxxZz8aPT36HIGO_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'
},
audio: {
codec: 'MPEG 1 Layer 3',
bitrate: 192000,
duration: 644.7804081632653,
lossless: false,
tagTypes: [Array],
container: 'MPEG',
trackInfo: [],
sampleRate: 44100,
codecProfile: 'CBR',
numberOfSamples: 28434816,
numberOfChannels: 2
},
artwork: [],
resolver: []
}{
alias: null,
address: '/orbitdb/zdpuArGrfHp6oejutegRoitSZrhwdtMB3m8NNRJP5a2HATkQf/record'
}{
bio: 'a test node',
name: 'Test Node',
avatar: null,
address: '/orbitdb/zdpuArBbSSmtXFXf7pm3KAn16XRXMwVWDABNUDPekUeE74r7Z/record',
location: 'test world'
}Like many things, it depends on how you use it. There is currently no mechanism to detect or prevent copyright infringement on the network. We have many ideas on how to address copyright infringement like a distributed copyright registration system that allows users to observe copyright and detect infringement. However, there will never be a way to prevent someone from committing copyright infringement that wants to do so. That decision is ultimately left up to each person. Our goal is to limit infringement to only those who willfully want to commit it.
You will replicate and maintain a copy of the metadata, not the actual audio, of all the audio files that are in that library while receiving any future updates. Libraries you link to are made available for others to discover.
You will stop receiving any updates to that library and its metadata will eventually be removed from your computer, along with any audio files that exclusively belonged to that library. To further clarify, if you saved a track from another library and then unlink it, you will maintain that track.
You are searching your local computer and network for the audio file. If found, it is played. If it belongs to a library that you have linked, the audio file will be kept, otherwise it will eventually be removed from your computer.
You are adding this track to your library and maintaining the audio file on your computer.
Never. You only get data that you request and you will only keep data that you have chosen to maintain.
There is no network wide search mechanism and there are no plans on making one until there's a way it can be accomplished in a distributed manner. You can only search for audio files within the libraries you are connected to. In the future there can be integrations to search various centralized music silos (soundcloud, youtube, etc).
Each library has a unique address that can be shared.
- Distributed - self-contained and independent.
- Open - free flow of information, permissionless, community governed.
[needs documentation]
[needs documentation]