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We like to talk, like a lot. Sometimes we write about things that are important to our customers. And sometimes, well we just write things because we don’t know what else to do with ourselves.
What is the Difference Between Gracenote and CD Text?
In the digital age, a common question that we get from musicians is whether the album title and track names will show up when the disc is being played. The easy answer is that it depends on the steps you’ve taken beforehand; did you decide to use Gracenote or CD Text? What are the major differences? Is one better than the other? The long answer is that the difference between an Internet based device and a stand alone device require different forms of CD metadata in order for them to properly read the information. Let’s unpack this.
CD Text
CD Text is encoded information onto your disc that is mainly used in cars and other home audio players that don’t have access to the Internet. Your CD player will read the text, but since it’s not Internet enabled, you may want to make sure that the information is available with or without the Internet.
Gracenote
When a CD is played on an Internet based device, such as a computer, Gracenote is the global online database that matches the information to your CD. There are a few online databases for music information storage, but Gracenote is the largest and most commonly used. However, Windows Media Player actually has their own database- which actually makes their systems harder to use and not as user friendly for the CD/DVD replication business.
So, Gracenote or CD Text?
Ultimately, your best bet is to have both CD text and Gracenote to ensure that your album information is available to your fans regardless of how the record is being played. Lucky for you, we have capabilities to provide you with both- if your mastering engineer can’t set it up for you, we can help!
For more information on Gracenote and CD Text, feel free to reach out to one of our Copycats experts!