Including MIDI in ePub in general, in Sigil specifically?

[MS-SPO]

Hi,

I'm contemplating writing an eBook on some music theme. So far I used Sigil for this purpose.

I've been able to include images (notation) and mp3-audio (listen to the notation) in a test document. What I couldn't do is including MIDI-files (the notation exported as .mid). I tried finding something in the ePub documentation, without success.

My intention is to allow readers to download or directly process the MIDI-snippets on their system, be it PC, some iOS device or similar. I'd be happy if the ePub just served as a container for the MIDI-files (download locally), as MIDI-players don't seem to be available on every device, while mp3-players seem to be.

So I wonder, if this is possible in general with ePub, and specifically with Sigil? (Sigil doesn't recognize .mid as an audio file.)


The alternative of course would be to store the MIDI-file-collection on my server and just provide links in the eBook.

I tend not to impose too many requirements on the users/readers system to give almost unlimited access to the content, with least inconvenience.


So, what's my best choice?

Thanks for your help in advance

[Turtle91]

ePub 2 didn't support audio - some devices did, but that isn't part of the spec.
ePub 3 does support audio formats of mp3 and AAC LC/mp4

I'd recommend converting the midi files to mp3 for better compatibility. You'll also hear people recommending developing your own app... they tend not to like ePub3, or think it isn't supported by a large enough number of devices.

[Quoth]

Do an app.
Most ebook apps and and most dedicated ebook readers don't support embedded audio. Many dedicated ebook readers either don't have audio at all, or need extra HW and sometimes FW.

eBooks are something either only read, no interactive and only still images, or else read out.

You can get free app frameworks and it's not hard. Easier than multimedia for DOS in mid 1980s.

[KevinH]

No, I disagree completely. The end of older readers is coming and epub3 will support audio properly and there are many many available good epub3 readers.

Sigil will not recognize a .mid file as an epub audio media-type but epub3 does allow for remote resources to be included in the manifest. So I recommend sticking with epub3 and mp3 and hosting your midi files on your server with remote resource links in your epub3.

In my opinion, there seem to be an inordinate number of people on this site stuck on epub2 and clinging to their 10 year old e-readers while the world has moved on. Future epub versions are going to take this even further.

[MS-SPO]

Hi, just spoiled my answer .. have to learn to operate THIS forum

Just as a short note:

MIDI is NOT intended to be listened to ... When you use a notation program (like Musescore) or a DAW (like GarageBand) you can export your "score" as MIDI ... and you can import it into said programs. It's just a format for interchange of scores i.e. sheet music.

So it's about re-using what the image said or the mp3 made audible.

The alternative is re-entering note by note, which is less than ideal.

So my basic idea is, regardless of implementation:
* see it (image)
* hear it (mp3)
* use it (via MIDI) // it's just some data; as long as it can be stored to some folder, it's fine for the musician

[MS-SPO]

BTW, thanks for all your quick and substantial replies

[KevinH]

Have you thought about MusicXml? Being pure text and an extension of xml might make it more universal than midi files.

[MS-SPO]

Interesting idea: will give it a try. Thanks

[MS-SPO]

Just tried it: iOS GarageBand won't accept xml files.

So it may be jsut an other format to be provided ... somehow ...

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by MS-SPO

Just tried it: iOS GarageBand won't accept xml files.

So it may be jsut an other format to be provided ... somehow ...

MuseScore

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MuseScore

e.g. from https://musescore.org/en/node/110666

mscore file.xml -o file.midb

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by MS-SPO

Thanks for your help in advance

You could use a little-known EPUBCheck loop hole and simply save them in the META-INF folder once you've finalized the epub.
(My sample file contains 2 .mid files and passes EPUBCheck.)
However, since there's no guarantee that DRM tools won't strip or encrypt these files, you might want to follow the other suggestions in this thread.

BTW, Sigil is much more picky than EPUBCheck when it comes to epub specs and will strip the .mid files.

[MS-SPO]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

MuseScore

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MuseScore

e.g. from https://musescore.org/en/node/110666

mscore file.xml -o file.midb

Thanks

Well what I tried to say is "I have to provide more than one format, like .mid and the .musicxml". But it looks like a good idea for batch job processing

[MS-SPO]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

(My sample file contains 2 .mid files and passes EPUBCheck.)

Thanks, that's pretty sophisticated However ... I can see both files when I unzip the epub, but for some reason don't have a META-INF folder visible in Sigil. So one way or the other, it's not accessible for the reader of such an eBook.

Well, I can place .mid files into the Misc folder in Sigil, but retrieval (i.e. download) is a problem. Some readers simply crash somehow ... e.g. from a line of code like this:

<a href ="../Misc/por-una-cabeza-piano-solo.mid">por-una-cabeza-piano-solo</a>

So, may be I'll stick to the idea, to link to my server, or find a very easy way to create Apps. The problems I have with Apps are:

* testing (on as many platforms as possible)
* time consuming and boring GUI-programming (just to process input and output ...) before being able to add a tiny bit of content ...

[Turtle91]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Do an app.
Most ebook apps and and most dedicated ebook readers don't support embedded audio. Many dedicated ebook readers either don't have audio at all, or need extra HW and sometimes FW....

The problem with this logic (not that I'm against apps, mind) is that even if you created an app you wouldn't be able to use it on those devices anyway.... either they are dedicated e-readers that don't support apps, or they don't have the hardware/software to play sound... so, simply "making an app" doesn't open your material up to a larger consumer base... you are just ensuring that those users who can use the app have a more consistently usable product.

[MS-SPO]

Good remarks, Turtle91. Thanks