[X-Unix] What's in an MP3's resource fork..? [Was: Re: [X4U] ._annoying_files on SMB shares - can I remove them..?]

[Stroller]

On Apr 20, 2004, at 3:47 pm, Alex wrote:

>
> On Tuesday, Apr 20, 2004, at 05:48 Canada/Eastern, Stroller wrote:
>
>> [...] There are definitely some file-types out there that use the 
>> resource fork, which as a relative newcomer to OS X I find extremely 
>> annoying, but I wish to preserve the resource fork when unsure. 
>> .textClipping is notable [...]
>
> That's a bit like saying, "As a newcomer to China, I find it annoying 
> that people here speak Chinese!" (Or, as an American academic once 
> told me -- and he wasn't pulling my leg -- "It's so strange you guys 
> in Eastern Europe speak these crazy little languages. I thought you 
> all spoke Russian.")

I think we've had this conversation before, and I still fail to 
understand what useful information can be stored in the resource fork 
that cannot be stored in the data fork. I realise that it is surely 
*me* that fails to appreciate this matter - however many times you tell 
me, I can't seem to grasp it. I seem to get confused about content-type 
& creator metadata.

I'm not sure if your analogy is helpful, tho'. If language is for the 
purposes of communication then in an ideal modern world we would all 
speak some kind of Esperanto; Chinese and these other "crazy little 
languages" are simply, in your analogy, the communications protocols of 
legacy systems.

You have suggested to me in the past, however, that resource forks 
serve some useful purpose. I am never aware of this until something 
breaks, and in this matter I am merely trying to remove those resource 
forks which serve no useful purpose.

Stroller.