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Re: Renaming Noise

 

I like the direction this is taking, and I also agree with simply naming
the application "Music". Your arguments are also coherent with those found
in the comments of the Geary
Naming<https://lists.launchpad.net/elementary-dev-community/msg01209.html>thread.
Some thoughts:

L10n and i18n

The only thing I don't like about using a generic name for an application
like Noise is that it implies modifying a lot of strings. Strings like the
following would no longer be valid:

   - *Music* cannot find your music folder.
   - *Music *has imported your library.
   - Etcetera...

Currently, Noise uses a '*%s*' on the obliqued words above (*Music)*, and
translators can confirm that you'd rarely see the word *"Noise"* in a
translatable string.  Therefore, moving to a different non-generic name
would not destroy the current translations, because the majority of strings
containing the app's name would be kept untouched.

I guess that when using a generic name, replacing the application's name by
"We" or "I" is enough for English, but it would probably be a bit more
complicated for translators on languages in which using impersonal
expressions is not the preferred style.*[Translators' input needed]*

Feature Set

Using *Music* as the new name would also limit the set of features we could
target to the application. While the new name would leave a chance for
Internet radio (which is a planned feature and fits well into the music
player), it would also imply no podcasts, etc. I am personally against
integrating podcasts into the music player anyway; Feedler + Audience could
do a great job on that area.


In general, we could gain a lot in terms of app discoverability by using a
generic name. For example, there would be no need to tell your grandma what
the application does, because the icon plus the name would make it pretty
obvious. We wouldn't be forcing an English name either, and this would be
loved by our international user base.

In the cons side, arguments against the generic name would be the big
amount of work it would create for translators, and the fact that some
people consider generic default applications to be crappy (*you can
disregard this; I have no proofs*). Of course the latter is not a problem
as long as we manage to get major bugs fixed and keep high quality
standards. Also, the app looks great, so I don't worry much about it.

My last questions:

   1. Do we have green light to start working on the rename (to *Music*)?
   2. What would be the new name on Launchpad? P*antheon Music*? I'd
   personally prefer *elementary Music,* but that would create
   inconsistency. http://launchpad.net/music is also available, in case
   we're being radical.


Thanks in advance for your replies.

Sincerely,
Victor.

On Wed, Nov 21, 2012 at 6:35 AM, Uday Shankar <udayonze@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

>  I agree with this. Simplicity is what has drawn me to elementary. Let
> music be music what more? :-) no offense
>
> Sent from my Windows Phone
>  ------------------------------
> From: Cassidy James
> Sent: 11/21/2012 12:01 PM
> To: Cody Garver
> Cc: xapantu; elementary-dev-community@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [Elementary-dev-community] Renaming Noise
>
>
>  Music gets a +1 from me as well. Honestly, I think that we either need
> to keep it Noise or rename it to Music. Changing the name to anything else
> really seems unnecessary at this point.
>
> Regarding the generic name thing, I think that's something we should
> decide on a per-app basis. Technically its generic name would be "Music
> Player" but its app name would just be "Music". We can't just show genetic
> names for the apps in the launcher by default, so this is probably the best
> route and is what we've been doing with apps like Terminal and Files.
>
> Again, I'm not opposed to Noise, but if we do change it, I think it should
> just be Music.
>
> Regards,
> Cassidy James
> On Nov 20, 2012 3:18 PM, "Cody Garver" <cody@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>  I'm for Music. I also think music is what development should center
> around and leave podcasts and maybe even radio to separate apps. Podcasts
> because they really need a store experience, otherwise you'd be better off
> just subscribing to them in an RSS aggregator.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Nov 20, 2012, at 3:05 PM, "Daniel Foré" <daniel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
>  Just my two cents:
>
>  It'd be really easy to just call it "Music" and not worry about it any
> longer haha.
>
>  I don't think we should translate the name unless we're going with
> "Music". Translating a "branded" name would kind of defeat the purpose, IMO
> and (as previously pointed out) could lead to some not-so-nice translations.
>
>  I didn't really intend Noise to be a serious name, but I don't have any
> massive problems with it either. I do agree with Victor that if we're going
> to do a name change it needs to happen as soon as humanly possible.
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 10:56 AM, Jose Luis Navarro <
> jlnavarro111@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> @Victor +1
> El 19/11/2012 19:42, "xapantu" <xapantu@xxxxxxxxx> escribió:
>
>  Le 19/11/2012 17:43, Benjamin VanMeggelen a écrit :
>
> I understand the issue with the translation. >From what I understand (as
> french being my second language) the translation from Noise to french is
> Bruit. I'm not sure if the application titles have been (or will be)
> translated, but if so "Bruit" gives the same proper description of what
> Noise is in english.
>
> I hope it doesn't, IIRC "bruit" is much more negative than noise. "bruit"
> is just something you don't want to hear, when you say music is "bruit", it
> means that the music is very, very bad. And no, the names aren't (or
> shouldn't?) be translated ;)
> (But as Corentin said, "noise" is not much better than "bruit" is french
> anyway.)
>
> Lucas
>
>
>
> On Mon, 19 Nov, 2012 at 11:38 AM, Corentin Noël <tintou@xxxxxxxxxx><tintou@xxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
>
> Okay, I disagree with you all then because in my language (french) there
> is two way to pronounce that :
> In french, and that word exists and means "problems"
> In english, and that is really hard because there is an double voyel
> (no-ise) so it's not that good for us.
> I let the democracy choose, but here are my two cents.
>
> Regards,
> Corentin Noël (tintou)
>
> Benjamin VanMeggelen **a écrit :
>
> >I also agree that Noise is an appropriate name for the player. I feel
> that this naming scheme is most relevant to the player, as opposed to Tempo
> or some of the others that have been mentioned. Noise seems more generic
> and straight-forward as to what the app is meant to do.
> >
> >On Mon, 19 Nov, 2012 at 9:51 AM, Felix Akkermans **wrote:
> >I also agree with Jaap. Both names are equal to me in communicational
> value, so definitely not worth the effort and hassle.
> >
> >On 11/19/2012 03:46 PM, Chris Triantafillis wrote:
> >I agree with Jaap and i'm against rename it...
> >Also i don't like Tempo, Noise is much better...
> >
> >
> >2012/11/19 Jaap Broekhuizen **
> >Don't we already present Noise in the OS as a music player? Doesn't the
> icon have the purpose of showing the user what the app probably does?
> >
> >IMO "Noise" relates more to music than "Tempo" does. Also, if we are
> going this way with Noise because the name should directly show people what
> the app does, we should probably rename Geary and Midori too. And the
> makers of Empathy, Skype, Spotify, Steam, Firefox, Opera, Launchpad, Google
> Plus, Banshee, Clementine should probably have to start to think about a
> new name too.
> >
> >When we moved from Beatbox to our own fork the choice was made to name it
> "Noise". That already resulted in some confusion among the users. Renaming
> it again will only yet again result in more confusion.
> >
> >There will always be people who say a certain name is not good for the
> app, or that it is weird. The same will happen when you rename it to
> "Tempo", or any other name for that matter.
> >
> >IMO Noise should only be renamed if there is a really, really good reason
> to, and some users complaining it may sound negative is a good reason, i
> think. Also when you choose to rename it, the new name should be
> significantly better than the old name, if you want to show the confused
> users that it was really necessary and useful to make the change.
> >
> >Just my two cents,
> >Jaap
> >
> >Op ma, nov 19, 2012 at 3:14 ,David Gomes **schreef:
> >
> >It's trivial to you because you know what Noise is. It's a media player,
> you know it.
> >
> >For people who don't, it's better if that name it is installed under in
> the computer is "Music Player" or something like that. It's easier for most
> people.
> >
> >
> >On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 1:23 PM, Jaap Broekhuizen | Mobiel **wrote:
> >What is "many"? Seems like a trivial thing to me...
> >
> >--
> >Jaap
> >
> >"Sergey "Shnatsel" Davidoff" **schreef:
> >
> >>2012/11/19 Jaap Broekhuizen **:
> >>> Is there an actual logical reason to rename Noise?
> >>
> >>"Noise" is perceived as something negative by many (the kind of people
> >>who are not crazy about metal or industrial), that's it AFAIK.
> >>
> >>--
> >>Sergey "Shnatsel" Davidoff
> >>OS architect @ elementary
> >--
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> >
> >
> >
> >--
> >Best Regards,
> >Chris Triantafillis
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >--
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>  --
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>
> Daniel Foré
>
>  elementaryos.org
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