Metadata part II
Have you ever put a CD into your laptop that wasn't connected to the web, and noticed the titles didn't show up? While recent car CD players, and stand alone players read titles directly-from-the-disc, computer media players do not.
This is because media players refer to the "Gracenote's on-line CDDB," not the CD text itself.
CDDB stands for Compact Disc Database. It allows a CD's unique track and play-length to be queried, and returns track titles, album, and artist info.
In order to cover all the bases for your CD release, I use a combination of CD Text (which must be done during mastering) *and* submit your titles to CDDB.
Also the CDDB:
* Can be updated and changed by anyone
* Takes a day or two to show up
* Short CDs or singles may not be recognized correctly
After mastering a CD with text, I use a script for iTunes to automatically pulls titles from the disc, and posts to CDDB. This keeps the information consistent, and is easy to do at the end of a long mastering session.
Also I recommend sending a finished project to "All Media Guide". Windows Media Player only shows CD titles if they are listed with All music. They will add the titles for you, here's where to send it.
All Media Guide
1168 Oak Valley Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
The listing will be up 4-6 weeks later.
Also I recommend sending a finished project to "All Media Guide". Windows Media Player only shows CD titles if they are listed with All music. They will add the titles for you, here's where to send it.
1168 Oak Valley Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
The listing will be up 4-6 weeks later.
Next up, a brief article about tagging MP3s, to complete the "Metadata Trilogy". Thanks for reading.
Dana White worked on my fifth album project via the e-mastering service that Specialized Mastering offers in Portland Oregon. I was not present when he mastered my tracks but I knew that my project was in good hands. I canvassed a lot of quotes and I found that he not only gave me the best price, his customer service and phone manner was outstanding and showed to me that he really cared. He even bothered to research my past projects to better understand my sound. When a slight problem occurred with my first initial reference bounces, through no fault of my own, he gave me no hassles or extra fee charges and never complained about the time delayment or roster rescheduling. A man of his word, he gave me outlined invoices on both credit card transactions and spent a large chunk of his time on the phone making sure he knew what kind of sonic soundscape I wanted the finished project to end up as. Always willing to do whatever it takes for the perfect track he offered to do some preliminary bounces before the final burn. I gave him tight deadlines and a very strict shoe string budget and he gave me a mastered album that surpassed my expectations. Dana delivered a world class finished product and all within one week! Consistent clarity on all elements, well spread out and just the right finishing touches to make sure every song packs a punch on any sound system be it a home hi-fi or your car stereo. I am proud to call this my album my best work yet and have Specialized Mastering to thank for it. I have no hesitation on recommending Dana White for your mastering needs, my hat's off to him. Five stars from downunder.
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