RE: Showing song titles on CDs with Windows Media Player
Vincent
--
http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/SW/WMP/YouCant.htm
"The Watchman" wrote:
> Greetings:
>
> I am burning audio CDs with my own music (music that I composed) and and
> giving copies of that CD to friends. Some of these friends will be playing
> their CDs using Windows Media Player.
>
> I would like for those I give my music to to be able to see the titles of
> my tracks when they play my CD. Unfortunately, Windows Media Player does not
> recognize my CD title, and instead of displaying my song titles, it displays
> "Track 1", "Track 2", etc.
>
> I know that on the Macintosh, iTunes displays both my CD title and the
> titles, author, etc. of my tracks. This is because I have registered both my
> CD and my tracks with Gracenote and several other CD databases.
>
> I can use various Windows- based players which display the title of my CD
> as well as my track titles. They do so because (a) they check with CD
> databases in order to get the information about my music CD, or (b) they are
> able to read CD- Text, which I also use to store song information on my CDs.
>
> There are CD- Text compatible CD players on Linux, as well as CD player
> hardware components which can display my titles without problems.
>
> Of all the hardware and software, it appears that only Windows Media
> Player is incapable of at least displaying my song titles on a homemade
> audio CD. This is because the Player apparently does not read CD- Text, and
> it does not query any CD Databases (that I am aware of) for song and CD
> titles. This is somewhat annoying.
>
> Somehow, though, it is able (in some cases) to display a commercial CD's
> title and the titles of the songs on a commercial CD. So there must be some
> way to get this information displayed by the Media Player.
>
> Can someone help me in this matter? Is there some software or system that
> I can use to get Windows Media Player to display the song titles (and maybe
> the CD title) on an audio CD???
>
> Someone please advise. Thanks in advance.
>
Watchman@discussions.microsoft.com The Watchman
The Watchman
I am already aware that the Media Player does not support CD- text. I am
also aware of a couple of plugins that can be added to the Media Player to
read CD- Text.
That is not what I am asking about.
I am in a place where those who would be listening to my CD are not
allowed to download plugins for the Windows Media Player, or any other media-
related software. If they could, I would have simply told them to do so.
What I am asking about can be summed up as follows: CDs burned by
individuals do not display title information on Windows Media Player. CDs
created by commercial companies do. What is the difference between the CD
that an individual creates and one burned commercially that enables the Media
Player to display titles on the commercial CD and not on my CD? Is it a
difference in the burn format? A difference in the software? Does Windows
Media Player communicate with a special, Microsoft- only database? Or is
there some other difference?
Vincent
It is a matter of software, you need a burning program supporting CDtext.
Alternative, a lot of todays players support MP3 CD's.
WMP displays commercial CDs title because they are in the online database.
If you try 'find album info' manually, you can see how it works.
--
http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com
The Watchman
A couple of questions, though (please pardon my ignorance):
1. What CD database does Windows Media Player use? I don't think that it is
Gracenote (correct me if I am wrong, though), or any of the freeware ones
that I am familiar with.
2. Is it possible to add a CD title and its contents to the list on the CD
database used by Windows Media Player? If so, where should I go to do this?
3. What privacy settings does the "find album info" command require? I have
been attempting to follow its instructions on proper privacy settings but I
have been unable to set them properly.
Vincent
"The Watchman" wrote:
> Thanks, Vincent. This makes more sense.
>
> A couple of questions, though (please pardon my ignorance):
>
> 1. What CD database does Windows Media Player use? I don't think that it is
> Gracenote (correct me if I am wrong, though), or any of the freeware ones
> that I am familiar with.
All Music Guide: http://www.allmusic.com/
>
> 2. Is it possible to add a CD title and its contents to the list on the CD
> database used by Windows Media Player? If so, where should I go to do this?
See above, check their website
>
> 3. What privacy settings does the "find album info" command require? I have
> been attempting to follow its instructions on proper privacy settings but I
> have been unable to set them properly.
A bit unclear to me, if i do "find album info" it simply works.
In the privacy tab (don't have a UK-version of WMP at my disposal now) the
"options" 1,4,5 are checked
>