Re: limitations of Discogs API

[Yoni Rabkin]

Yoni Rabkin <yoni@rabkins.net> writes:

> Hello all,
>
> I had a look at the Discogs API, and the search functionality requires
> authentication:
> https://www.discogs.com/developers/#page:database,header:database-search
>
> Therefore, searching for "Bach", would require including a user key and
> secret:
>
>     $ curl 
> "https://api.discogs.com/database/search?q=Bach&key=foo123&secret=bar456";
>
> As a consequence, people who will want to use the nascent Discogs search
> functionality in Emms will have to first get a key and secret from
> Discogs (which requires a Discogs account as well):
> https://www.discogs.com/settings/developers
>
> This doesn't cost anything, but is a pain in the proverbial behind for
> users. However, I also don't see any other way. A quick look at other
> free software projects which provide Discogs API access show that they
> are in the same predicament. Here is a quote from the
> python3-discogs-client project:
>
>     "Note that Authorization is an optional feature of the Discogs API
>      but a lot of basic functionality, like searching for releases,
>      artists, etc. requires users being authenticated already."
>
> Just a heads-up about the direction this is going.

Also worth mentioning that both musicbrainz and discogs restrict the use
of their service to non-commercial. If you want to use it in a business
setting you'd need to pay them.

While I do not see this as a free software problem for Emms, we'll add
it as a comment in the manual when we document these features as we
explain that the use of those services is of course dependent on abiding
by the terms and conditions of musicbrainz and discogs, respectively.

-- 
   "Cut your own wood and it will warm you twice"