147:. A 1999 announcement had asserted that access to the CDDB service would "remain 100% free to software developers and consumers". Gracenote nonetheless switched to a proprietary license, prompting criticism that this was exploiting the work of unpaid contributors and motivating the launch of Freedb in 2001, based on the last freely licensed version of CDDB. In March 2001, Gracenote banned all unlicensed applications (such as Freedb) from accessing their database. New licenses for CDDB1 (the original version of CDDB) were no longer available, since Gracenote wanted to force programmers to switch to CDDB2, a new version incompatible with CDDB1. Freedb quickly became more popular than Gracenote, but by 2006 was described as "stagnant", which Scherf (by then chief architect at Gracenote) took as evidence that "the focus and dedication required for CDDB to grow could not found in a community effort".
174:" of a CD created by performing calculations on the track duration information stored in the table-of-contents of the CD (see the following section for an example calculation). This discid is used with the Internet database, typically either to download track names for the whole CD or to submit track names for a newly identified CD.
136:, Scherf stated that Escient was the only company that would guarantee the continued development of the service by its founders, as well as protect the operation in an atmosphere where numerous companies were bidding—and in one case, attempting extortion—to acquire and immediately sell the CDDB to major players like
197:
CDDB1 identifies CDs with a 32-bit number, usually displayed as a hexadecimal number containing 8 digits: XXYYYYZZ. The first two digits (labeled XX) represent a checksum based on the starting times of each track on the CD, mod 255. The next four digits (YYYY) represent the total time of the CD in
188:
Since identification of CDs is based on the length and order of the tracks, CDDB cannot identify playlists in which the order of tracks has been changed, or compilations of tracks from different CDs. CDDB also cannot distinguish between different CDs that have the same number of tracks and the same
213:
The full disc ID of the example CD is "020e1a01". Any CD which contains one track with a duration of 3610 seconds starting 2 seconds from the beginning of the CD will have this disc ID. To distinguish between different CDs which happen to have the same disc ID, the CDDB1 database is organized into
233:
CDs, mostly due to its structure, which originally lacked a standard way of storing composers' names. In 2007, Gracenote announced an enhanced format, the
Classical Music Initiative (CMI), which places all the additional information in the three-field structure. A classical track title would now
84:, and did not consider the audio tracks as data files to be identified and indexed. The audio CD format does not include the disc name or track names, so a supplemental database is needed to supply this information when discs are used with modern media systems. A later development called
214:
multiple categories. If there is a conflict with different CD releases possessing the same CDDB1 ID, they can be placed in a different category (such as classical, rock, blues, folk or misc).
104:
music player application. The application's change history first mentions the acronym CDDB in version 1.1 released on
February 25, 1994. Users would submit new entries to the database via
115:
in 1995. Graham Toal supplied hosting for the CDDB server and created a banner advertising revenue model to pay for the hosting. The original software behind CDDB was released under the
46:
and then queries the database. As a result, the client is able to display the artist name, CD title, track list and some additional information. CDDB is a licensed trademark of
185:, which uses Gracenote, users name the CD tracks and then use the "Submit Track Names" option under the "Advanced" heading in the toolbar to submit track information.
204:
First the XX checksum is calculated by summing the track starting times mod 255. Since CDs have a 2-second offset from the start of disc data, XX becomes "02".
598:
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CDDB was designed around the task of identifying entire CDs, not merely single tracks. The identification process involves creating a "discid", a sort of "
229:
At its origin, CDDB was oriented towards pop/rock music with the typical artist/album/song structure. Their database often lacks adequate information on
358:
111:
The database quickly became unwieldy and Kan enlisted the help of Steve Scherf to create a network accessible version of the database operating as
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seconds from the start of the first track to the end of the last track. The last two digits (ZZ) represent the number of tracks on the CD.
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242:, Op. 8/1, 'Spring' — 1. Allegro". The artist field would contain all information about the ensemble, conductor and perhaps
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The need for CDDB is a direct consequence of the original design of the CD, which was conceived as an evolution of the
755:
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Sample code for calculating CDDB1 disc IDs in various programming languages is available on the web, such as in
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267:
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completed acquisition (full ownership) of
Gracenote, per the news note on the Gracenote website. Then in 2014
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in 1998 and was soon sold by Kan, Scherf, and Toal to a high tech consumer electronics manufacturer called
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it can be added to the database if the user fills in the names and artists etc. in a media player such as
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Second, the total CD play duration of 3610 seconds in hexadecimal is 0e1a, so YYYY becomes "0e1a".
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119:, and many people submitted CD information thinking the service would also remain free.
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140:, which wanted a CD-recognition service but would not deal directly with CDDB Inc.
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258:". In 2007, about 10,000 classical CDs had been converted to this new convention.
759:
338:
871:
703:"iTunes Mac 8.2 Help: Sending CD information to the Gracenote media database"
628:"Gracenote News: Sony Corporation of America Completes Gracenote Acquisition"
575:
450:
771:
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For example, suppose a CD contains a single track of duration 3610 seconds.
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243:
35:
663:
Tribune Media Agrees To Sell
Gracenote Data Services To Nielsen For $ 560M
251:
100:
around late 1993 as a local database that was delivered with his popular
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42:. This is performed by a client which calculates a (nearly) unique disc
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503:
500:"CDDB, World's Largest Online CD Music Database, Debuts New Web Site"
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533:"CD-Datenbanken: freedb ist tot, es leben die Alternativen!"
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Finally, there is one track on this CD so ZZ becomes "01".
647:
Tribune to merge Media
Services into Gracenote operations
722:
158:acquired Gracenote from Sony, only to resell it to
471:"CDDB Re-Launches As Gracenote With New Products"
869:
808:For the original 2007-01-08 press release, see:
193:Example calculation of a CDDB1 (FreeDB) disc ID
723:Sedgewick, Robert; Wayne, Kevin (2007-03-05).
827:"Roll Over Beethoven: iTunes' New Standard"
731:Computer Science Department. Archived from
561:
122:The project was eventually incorporated as
753:Tips on using CD Trustee – Classical music
280:
88:is another solution to the same problem.
61:software. If a CD is not recognized by a
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862:List of Gracenote licensed applications
678:"Gracenote: Frequently Asked Questions"
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177:This information is often provided by
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234:contain the composer, for instance "
772:"Taming iTunes for Classical Music"
386:
336:
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53:The database is used primarily by
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889:
878:Online music and lyrics databases
850:
564:"Gracenote Defends Its Evolution"
562:Van Buskirk, Eliot (2006-11-13).
531:Haas, Karl-Gerhard (2020-06-23).
439:"Gracenote Defends Its Evolution"
314:"The House That Music Fans Built"
165:
16:Online database of CD information
287:Copeland, Michael (2004-03-01).
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143:In 2000, CDDB Inc. was renamed
835:. Associated Press. 2007-01-09
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268:List of online music databases
1:
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793:"Classical Music Initiative"
506:. 1999-04-27. Archived from
477:. 2000-07-24. Archived from
289:"The Magic Behind the Music"
156:Tribune Media Services (TMS)
7:
795:. Gracenote. Archived from
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152:Sony Corporation of America
10:
894:
312:Dean, Katie (2004-07-07).
117:GNU General Public License
91:
409:"Gracenote: Company Info"
256:Boston Symphony Orchestra
130:. In a 2006 interview in
864:(archived 29 March 2008)
814:findarticles.com archive
38:) information over the
387:Kan, Ti (2005-11-16).
337:Kan, Ti (2004-04-21).
705:. Docs.info.apple.com
96:CDDB was invented by
34:to look up audio CD (
32:software applications
24:Compact Disc Database
774:. Oakroadsystems.com
729:Princeton University
359:"What is Gracenote?"
810:archive.org archive
758:2008-06-06 at the
389:"Ti Kan: Software"
248:Joseph Silverstein
162:in December 2016.
75:MusicMatch Jukebox
599:"Why freedb.org?"
502:(Press release).
473:(Press release).
82:gramophone record
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851:External links
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837:. Retrieved
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797:the original
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538:heise online
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36:compact disc
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725:"CDDB.java"
541:(in German)
252:Seiji Ozawa
172:fingerprint
839:2008-04-23
803:2008-04-23
778:2018-04-10
739:2007-10-19
709:2018-04-10
688:2018-04-10
613:2007-10-19
581:2023-12-10
545:2023-12-10
514:2010-01-25
485:2010-01-25
456:2023-12-10
423:2007-10-19
394:2007-10-19
373:2007-10-19
344:2007-10-19
323:2009-05-23
298:2009-05-23
274:References
857:Gracenote
576:1059-1028
504:Gracenote
475:Gracenote
451:1059-1028
413:Gracenote
363:Gracenote
179:end users
145:Gracenote
138:Microsoft
113:CDDB Inc.
67:CD ripper
59:CD ripper
48:Gracenote
872:Category
832:CBS News
756:Archived
262:See also
124:CDDB LLC
108:to Kan.
40:Internet
28:database
26:, is a
244:soloist
236:Vivaldi
160:Nielsen
128:Escient
92:History
86:CD-Text
50:, Inc.
603:freedb
574:
449:
183:iTunes
106:e-mail
98:Ti Kan
71:iTunes
812:, or
568:Wired
443:Wired
318:Wired
181:. In
133:Wired
572:ISSN
447:ISSN
219:Java
102:xmcd
57:and
30:for
20:CDDB
73:or
65:or
874::
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