CD Text

[Black Hole]

Anybody here know the technicalities of CD Text and Linux?

For some time, I have been ripping CDs with my Win7 notebook with Exact Audio Copy, and when I ask it to get the track data from CD Text nothing happens. At first I assumed the CDs happened not to have CD Text, but then I thought it can't be all of them, so I tried a few in my car stereo and sure enough there was the track listing.

Okay, I thought, maybe the optical drive in the notebook doesn't support CD Text. I downloaded a utility called CD Text Manager (CDTEXT.EXE), and it says "Current drive supports reading CD-Text: YES" - and that's not a bluff, it proceeds to list the tracks on an inserted CD.

So what's the matter with EAC? I realised my copy was a bit long in the tooth (2011) so I found a 2016 version and installed that - and what do you know... CD Text working!

Which is all well and good, except I am now trying to migrate to Zen (my new self-build PC) and Linux. And the Asunder CD ripper app isn't listing CD Text when accessing my nice LG M-Disc compatible Blu-ray writer in Linux Mint. The Synaptic Package Manager says Asunder is up-to-date at 2.8-3.

What do I do?*

* Let's take for granted I will try running EAC under WINE or in a Win VM... eventually.

 

[Black Hole]

I'm getting really confused now. I realised I can't tell whether these rippers are getting the track info from CD Text or from an on-line database. Sound Juicer (another Linux ripper) looked as if it were retrieving CD Text, but when I unplugged the network it got lost.

Asunder brings up a track listing when I click the "CDDB Lookup" button, which I assumed meant on-line retrieval, but it still does it with the network disconnected. Could it have a local copy of the database? I tried a CD in EAC which brought up no listing (without a network), but Asunder (also without a network) produced a listing when I clicked CDDB Lookup.

Meanwhile, EAC produces a track listing with less detail than the track listing in Asunder for the same CD, but CD-Text Manager says it has no CD Text. What do I believe?

Is there any way to look at raw CD data and actually see whether and what Text there is??

 

[MikeSh]

Could it have a local copy of the database?

The CD ripper I use (CDex) [well, have on my PC though I've not used it for a couple of years now] has options for local and remote CDDB (freedb). You can also choose different remote sources.

 

[Black Hole]

I've downloaded ISOBuster (what a super program, and much of it free to use - you only have pay for the licence if you want to salvage HiDef from optical discs or recover hard drives). It appears to be giving a reliable representation of what's actually on the CD itself (if there is any CD Text at all), although I have not yet discovered the method to extract it to a file.

 

[Black Hole]

Found something even better: a Windows command line utility mediatools.exe (comes in a zip as part of an installation library). The command

mediatools drive X cdtext

(where X is the letter of my optical drive) spits out whatever text it finds.

However, it does this very quickly. I wonder whether it is only looking in the lead-in track, and not in the relevant sub-channels in the rest of the disc (which, according to Wikipedia, is a possibility).

Now I've opened this can of worms, I want to get it put to bed.

 

[Black Hole]

At least I have a correlation between CDs my car thinks have text and what mediatools thinks have text.

 

[Ezra Pound]

I have never found a commercially produced CD that contains CD-Text (and I have quite a few), I used to make my own copy of the original so that I could add CD-Text to it and play it in my home stand alone CD player (Sony CDP-XE570), this player immediately displays any CD-Text it finds but it only ever finds it on CDs I have made myself. I'm told some CDs produced by Sony do have CD-Text but they are like hen's teeth to find

My guess is any track info. you see is not comming from the CDs, it will only hold a unique ID number that is used to look up track info. from somewhere else

 

[Black Hole]

I definitely have some - eg Christmas by Michael Bublé

 

[prpr]

Christmas by Michael Bublé

I think we need some new emoticons.

 

[Black Hole]

I didn't acquire it by choice!

My guess is any track info. you see is not comming from the CDs, it will only hold a unique ID number that is used to look up track info. from somewhere else

My car stereo isn't that clever. If it shows track titles, it's getting them from the CD. In the case of rippers (or media players), I agree with you - but it annoys me that it is hard to tell whether the info they list has come from the CD, some kind of internal database (so the info needs checking), or if they have reached out to the Internet for it (and thus allowed somebody, somewhere, to log what you're doing).

 

[Ezra Pound]

Something like Nero Info Tool will show if a CD has CD Text on it, original on left my CDR in right



EAC should indicate the presents of CD-Text, however my copy Ver 1.3 still greys out the :- Database >> get CD information from >>CD-TEXT option when my CD-Text CD is inserted