It was crunch time. Palms were sweating, blood pressure was rising, and no matter how many times we entered our CD Text for the debut “Truth & Light” EP for our music project, The Sweetest Condition, into iTunes, the album title, artist name, and song titles still weren’t showing up! We were on a tight deadline to get this CD sent to Discmakers.com for duplication, but there was no way we were going to mail in our master CD copy without that critical information included.
So what were we doing wrong?
After scouring the Internet for “how to/help” videos, we finally got (most of) our answer.
To save your band some future headaches, here is the solution we found to getting CD Text and metadata to actually save onto our CD.
I don’t consider myself a technical expert, so this is just a DIY user guide. You may want to verify the steps elsewhere if you any issues. Please leave comments if you have additional tips or tricks to add.
Thanks & good luck!
– Leslie I. Benson, singer-songwriter for The Sweetest Condition
To create CD Text that can be read on a CD player or car stereo/CD player system:
1. Open iTunes
Once in iTunes, be sure to delete ALL old demos or saved versions of the song with the same song title that may have been inadvertently played on iTunes. (i.e., “Clear the ‘cache’ memory in iTunes of all old versions of the song. Be sure you have copies of the old demos and the new final .mp3 version of the song saved/backed up elsewhere).
2. Create and name a new “Playlist” in iTunes
Drag and drop your .mp3 songs into a new iTunes Playlist. Do not enter .Wav files, as those will not automatically save the new CD Text after being entered into iTunes. (You can also do these next steps similarly on Toast 11 Titanium (Mac software for audio and video burning).
3. Enter all Album Info
Rename the songs on your Playlist or verify that they are named correctly. (Do not include album track numbers in text of song title)
Add Artist Name, Album Title, and Genre to each track
Right-click on the track name to add further “Info,” such as Track No. (i.e., 1 of 12 songs), or Disc No. 1 of 1 (i.e., a single CD would be 1 of 1; a dual-disc such as NIN’s “Fragile,” would have Disc 1 of 2 and so forth). Also link to Album artwork from here. Hit “Ok” or “Save” when done.
4. Once all info is entered and correct, pop in a blank CD and “Burn the Playlist” to the CD. Keep in mind, the album name, artist name, and song title will only appear when played on a CD player that has a digital display showing those details. CD text will not appear on a computer or iTunes.
Note: Computers DO NOT read CD Text. Computers only access such information via “Metadata” from the internationally-recognized Gracenote CDDB (CD Database) using “Gracenote MusicID” proprietary database software. Programs like iTunes automatically check the Gracenote Database via the Internet and access all album details and artwork after you put a CD into your computer. See below for more info.
When you have a CD replication company such as Discmakers duplicate your CD, they will ask you during the ordering process if you want to pay to have the CD data uploaded into the Gracenote CDDB. It is more beneficial to pay for it here, as it will be uploaded to the database faster, and you won’t have to do it yourself.
How to Enter Gracenote MusicID data yourself:
- The first tip is to just have the CD replication company you are using to print or digitally release your CD, such as Discmakers.com, do this for you. It costs money to do so. Somewhere I heard it was $25/month, but I’m not 100% sure.
- If you still want to do it yourself, you can first follow all the steps above in the CD Text instructions list.
- Next, after you have burned your master CD copy, pop it back into your computer’s CD reader to reopen it. You will need to re-enter all track data/info again, such as Artist Name, Album Title, and Genre to each track. Note: Don’t worry about Album Artwork. You cannot upload it to Gracenote CDDB yourself. This is only accessed if you release content via iTunes and have paid for the iTunes distribution service. Gracenote CDDB pulls its info and art directly from iTunes.
- If you right-click on a song title in iTunes, it will say “Find album info.” If you select this option, iTunes will access the Gracenote database. If your song data is not already saved there, it will inform you as such and ask if you want to “Submit CD Track Names.” You will hit “Yes” only if you are sure you are not already in the process of being added on iTunes via some digital distribution service you have already paid for.
- Note: It may take between 6-8 months until your songs/album data get added to/registered on the Gracenote CDDB.
For more “How to” Steps, check out this helpful YouTube video:
“CD Text – Why Is My CD Not Showing CD Text?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZqIhdQT8j8