Versioning in Audio Formats:
Audio recordings can be recorded in many formats, and each has a unique way of including identification information (including version) as part of the file. Sometimes used is .wav, an uncompressed format containing raw sound information, and therefore usually a large file size. Much more common is mp3, a compressed format that retains good sound quality but offers much smaller file sizes. There are also many alternatives to these common formats, including Apple's AAC and FLAC.
There is plenty of information about all of the above formats and others available on the web, but please see below for an overview of how to get the most out of these formats and help identify versions of your work.
.mp3:
The ID3 Tag is by far the most common way to identify an mp3 file. The program used to encode or record the mp3 will most likely allow you to add ID information to a file.
A common way to do this is using itunes.
Here is a list of all available fields in an ID3 tag. VIF recommends using the Comments field to describe the version status of an audio recording.
.wav:
Wav is the most limited of the popular file formats, as it has no inbuilt support for properties or id tagging. Because of this limitation, it is important if this format is used to record separately version information about the recording, so that if it is deposited into a repository, the repository staff are able to record this information into the repository metadata for the object.
.aac / m4a:
iTunes allows a user to add some details to audio files, and for Apple's own compression file .aac (displayed as .m4a) users can right click on a file and choose 'Get info' to display metadata. Users can add version information into the Comments box. However, this information is only visible within iTunes and is not universal like the mp3 id3 tag.
wma:
Windows Media Audio (wma) is a popular, compressed format created by Microsoft. It has its own tagging system, accessible by examining the files' properties. Here, we recommend using the Comments field to record version status:
Flac:
Flac is a lossless compression format (see glossary for definition), which is smaller in file size than wav but still retains full sound quality. It is becoming increasingly common.
It again has its own tagging system, which uses an open standard, meaning any sort of textual tag can be given to the object.
A list of commonly used tags can be found here:
http://www.xiph.org/vorbis/doc/v-comment.html. VIF recommends using VERSION and/or DESCRIPTION to record the version status of the
recording.