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ae86_16v · Feb 1, 2003, 12:33 AM

How come...I can't get the CDDB info off my iBook?

I sent a couple of MP3s over to a new iBook of mine, and I dumped all the files into iTunes.

But for some reason, iTunes does can't connect to CDDB.

What am I doing wrong?

My Powerbook connects fine, and it is runned through the same router.

Thanks guys.

engaged · Feb 1, 2003, 09:57 AM

CDDB is the Compact Disc DataBase and it won't look up MP3's, only CD's - that's the short and sweet of it...

ae86_16v · Feb 1, 2003, 02:08 PM

Originally posted by engaged:
CDDB is the Compact Disc DataBase and it won't look up MP3's, only CD's - that's the short and sweet of it...

hmm...how come on iTunes on my Powerbook, I could get info tags for mp3s?

ryju · Feb 1, 2003, 02:14 PM

umm actually CDDB does look up mp3s. i know this because i would look up tons of info for mp3s i had in itunes. however that was when i had IE as the default. for some reason it just won't connect with safari or chimera.

engaged · Feb 1, 2003, 04:47 PM

I'm curious myself more than anything else - but still need convincing about the CDDB working with MP3's. Even various AppleCare documents refer only to CD's.

How does CDDB work?

If you put an audio CD in your drive, iTunes (or whatever) refers to a data file on the CD itself to find out information from the online CDDB; it's a hiden file. I'd be very impressed if unnamed MP3's, which can be at various bit-rates, can be looked up on the CDDB.

Am more than happy to stand corrected!

OwlBoy · Feb 1, 2003, 06:55 PM

Yup, CDDB needs the whole CD to make it work, the number of tracks and each tracks exact length is the CD's fingerprint.

You could have literally thousands of songs with the same length, CDDB would never be able to figure it out.

-Owl

OpenStep · Feb 1, 2003, 07:15 PM

I have a single MP3 a friend sent me over iChat and I selected it and hit get cddb info and sure enough it pulled the info for it. It was a song he encoded off an original cd on his system.

ae86_16v · 02:22 AM

Originally posted by OpenStep:
I have a single MP3 a friend sent me over iChat and I selected it and hit get cddb info and sure enough it pulled the info for it. It was a song he encoded off an original cd on his system.

Yeah, so how does that work?

See I am able to do that on my Powerbook, but once on my iBook I can't do that.

It'll always just say nothing could be founded.

By the way, I don't think that it is just a cd...for example you could burn just one track of a CD into another CD and CDDB will find the song name.

engaged · Feb 2, 2003, 03:17 AM

Actually, having look into this and finding some information on the Apple and Gracenote websites, I do now believe that iTunes is able to identify ripped MP3 tracks.

Gracenote appear to run the CDDB, and they have developed software that can ID MP3's from the MP3 data rather than the data file that CD's contain. Take a look;

Gracenote Clean

That is impressive, and I am happy to stand corrected. Maybe iTunes is unable to identify some MP3's if they are ripped at a low bitrate, or done on software incompatible with the Gracenote software..?

Liudger · Feb 2, 2003, 04:20 AM

It works indeed.
I had ripped a cd on school because i loved it. But i didn't had a net connection. So i thought I have to manually fill in all info (arrgg)
But i read this forum slected all the track with no name and clicked on advanced->get cd track names
and voila in just 1 second all my songs with incorrect or no info had all right info. Amazing!!

OpenStep · Feb 2, 2003, 09:53 AM

I'd just like to know why it works with some MP3's and not others. It works with all the cd's I ripped and albums my friends have ripped and sent me. If I download a whole album off Carracho sometimes I can hit find cddb info and it will update the track names, other times it won't.

int69h · Feb 2, 2003, 10:31 AM

I'm guessing that it uses some form of checksum to identify files.

I'd just like to know why it works with some MP3's and not others.

If their database has never encountered a certain mp3, how can they be expected to have information about it.

It works with all the cd's I ripped and albums my friends have ripped and sent me.

I've had tons of CDs that CDDB didn't recognize until I manually entered the information and uploaded it to their service.

BTP · Feb 2, 2003, 11:36 AM

I have had *no* luck with iTunes idnetifying MP3's but CD's were never a problem.

I did try out Rage MP3, and that was <I>really</I> good on the individual MP3's. Some I needed to manually slect for a short list. Rage would say, "It's one of this, we don't know which one, so you choose". Not literally, of course. A only a few did it not identify at all. Maybe that's an option for you.

OpenStep · Feb 2, 2003, 01:47 PM

BTW a lot of the cds I download off Carracho were encoded with iTunes. Some I can shift click and hit get cddb info and it will update the tracks and others it will say can't find tracks. If I burn those that can't be found to cd and insert it, it does download the track names. It must have to do with a sort of id or checksum liek another poster said that gets encoded into the mp3 along with the cd track info that id's the mp3.

MrBS · Feb 2, 2003, 02:19 PM

Is iTunes adding info about the cd (the track lengths) to the mp3s it encodes?

~BS