CD Track Names/Titles

[Si Hunt]

When you use iTunes, there is access to a massive database of CD track names and titles so you can 'fill in' the track information for any CD you put into your computer.

But sometimes it doesn't find it. Is there an application where you can search the database (is it called CCDB?) for a particular title yourself (e.g by name or artist), then choose it and assign it to a CD?

Si.

[Jeff]

I don't know about that, but there is a program called mp3tag that allows you to edit all that information manually.

[Si Hunt]

Yes I have something like that. But it can get a bit wearing on the fingers, especially when we know all this information is stored on a database already, you just don't seem to be able to get a program which can manually search it.

Si.

[Matthew T]

I believe it works by recognising track length, so if it doesn't find a match it isn't on there.

I added 5,000+ singles to my itunes though, and it found all but about 5 of the most obscure!

[Si Hunt]

So how come when you copy a CD it never recognises it? These days I buy lots of music digitally, and I then want to write it onto CD.

Si.

[Lissa]

So is it the burned CDs you make from your purchased downloads that aren't recognised or the downloaded tracks themselves? If it's the burned CDs then maybe your burning software is adding a second or two of padding at the beginning or end of each track and this is what's preventing recognition of the track by the database.

[Si Hunt]

Perhaps your right. But I still like my additional idea of a program that is able to search the database and manually assign an album to a CD. As long as the number of tracks was the same, I don't see why this isn't possible?

Si.

[Lissa]

The CDDB Wiki entry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDDB - explains that the licence is quite restrictive so maybe that's why only a limited number of programs can use CDDB and why they only have a limited number of features. It also links to some other online databases which might do what you want (I can't check here - anything even vaguely downloady is blocked).