Gracenote And Cd Tracks

[PatW]

Hello,

I noticed on my new Prius something weird. I can copy CDs onto the hard drive, and sometimes Gracenote finds the Track names and sometimes it doesn't. It doesn't seem very up to date as there are CDs that are a year old that it doesn't know.

The weird thing though is that today I put in a CD that was only released on Monday, so there is no way it could be in the stored Gracenote database. When I was playing the CD, the system somehow knew the CD name and track names and displayed them on the screen, but, if I copied it to the hard disk it just gave them generic names. Also if I tried to update the Gracenote manuallly it didn't find anything (as I expected). What's puzzling me is how the system is finding the track names at all from the CD (and secondly if it is clever enough to find them, why can't it copy them to the hard disk).

I was also annoyed that I couldn't copy MP3 files form CD onto the hard disk, but I think that's covered in other threads here and is just not possible, unless you burn them to a CD as CD audio files which will compromise the quality even more than just mp3.

cheers

p

[johalareewi]

Hello,

I noticed on my new Prius something weird. I can copy CDs onto the hard drive, and sometimes Gracenote finds the Track names and sometimes it doesn't. It doesn't seem very up to date as there are CDs that are a year old that it doesn't know.

The weird thing though is that today I put in a CD that was only released on Monday, so there is no way it could be in the stored Gracenote database. When I was playing the CD, the system somehow knew the CD name and track names and displayed them on the screen, but, if I copied it to the hard disk it just gave them generic names. Also if I tried to update the Gracenote manuallly it didn't find anything (as I expected). What's puzzling me is how the system is finding the track names at all from the CD (and secondly if it is clever enough to find them, why can't it copy them to the hard disk).

Do a google for Audio CD text.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD-Text

unless you burn them to a CD as CD audio files which will compromise the quality even more than just mp3.

Really?

[Doesn'tExist]

Yep cd text, been in existence for decades. Always burn my CDs like that from iTunes.

[PatW]

Do a google for Audio CD text.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD-Text

OK thanks for your help on that.

unless you burn them to a CD as CD audio files which will compromise the quality even more than just mp3.

Really?

Well it's been a long time since I read up on this, but I seem to recall that if you take an original audio CD, burn it to Mp3, then re-burn it back to a standard CD, the standard CD will have lower quality than the original CD (obviously) but also possible lower quality than the MP3 files. Furthermore, it will then go through another compression routine when you burn it to the HD in the Prius - I definitely recall reading that putting music through and mp3 converter several times will comprimise the quality further each time.

[Doesn'tExist]

Yes absolutely, mp3 is so called destructive compression, just like jpg for photos. So each time you do something with it you'll reduce the quality...One of the reasons why I rip everything at 320kbps, burning a cd back from that is still acceptable to my sensitive ears...

[johalareewi]

You could always use lossless MP3 (other lossless formats are also available).

[timberwolf]

I hadn't heard of that, but this article pretty much sums up the negatives. :)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/mar/23/mp3hd-lossless-audio

[johalareewi]

I know, I use lossless WMA but then, I use Windows Media Player and it is built in. For iTunes, I guess you can use lossless AAC (is it built in?). The Prius can play lossless WMA so I can just burn direct from Media Player to data CD. If you use AAC you will need to convert to either MP3 or WMA for the Prius.

@Doesn'tExist:

Have you tried variable bit rate MP3? When I need MP3 I use VBR with max=512K min=256K. It's a reasonable compromise between sound quality and file size.

[Doesn'tExist]

I know, I use lossless WMA but then, I use Windows Media Player and it is built in. For iTunes, I guess you can use lossless AAC (is it built in?). The Prius can play lossless WMA so I can just burn direct from Media Player to data CD. If you use AAC you will need to convert to either MP3 or WMA for the Prius.

@Doesn'tExist:

Have you tried variable bit rate MP3? When I need MP3 I use VBR with max=512K min=256K. It's a reasonable compromise between sound quality and file size.

Yes I have tried variable, to my ears And playback equipment I find it hard to distinguish any more quality between lossless and 320kpbs, so to me the compatibility of mp3 with all devices and the reduced size is a good compromise.

Ps. Yes iTunes has lossless aac built in. Actually aac sounds better to me at lower bit rates than mp3 but as it is not such a portable format I just use mp3 at a higher bit rate.