iTunes and other media players utilize a service called Gracenotes.  The Gracenote Media database is a disc recognition service with a database of CD text information only, used for CD recognition purposes.  So, when you put an audio CD in your CD-Rom, your Gracenote-enabled player will access their site to identify the CD and download textual information.

If it doesn’t recognize your CD it picks what it thinks is the closest match based on its interpretation of your disc.  That’s where the “Weird Info” comes from.

Because this information is not on the CD itself, with such a database these applications could only display text such as “Untitled” or “Track 17”.  They work off codes in the CD itself and provide information on title and tracks.  They are user augmented through the submissions that come through submit enabled players.

In order to submit, you need the final pressing of the CD and a licensed application.  A licensed application is a software application that is licensed to use their service.

You can check out http://www.gracenote.com/players.html to select your software.  All these players that you see on the page will submit.  Each is made by a different software developer, some are freeware, some shareware and others commercial, so look around and select one that meets your needs.  They recommend iTunes or QCD player.

You should fill in at least these fields:

Artist Name
Album Name
Track Titles
Year of Release
Genre
Label Name

Within 24-48 hours the submit should be available to identify the CD to other people who put the CD into their CD-ROMs.

It may take two weeks or so for the submit to show on their website search engine, that view is just a look into one part of the database and the website search is compiled less frequently, so please be patient.

You may need to force your media player to re-query the information from the service, as they usually cache the information locally on your player and not all of them check for updates automatically.

For audio files we prefer to duplicate from a known good master disc and whatever format you have on your disc will normally be the format in which it is duplicated.

Although mp3 is a very popular audio format we still recommend you deliver finished product to your customers in .wav or .cda format so that it will play on any CD player or computer.  There are enough people who still aren’t mp3 savvy who will cause you customer services problems if you deliver your audio content to them in mp3 format.

Now, the advantage of mp3 is the files sizes are considerably smaller, so you can get a lot more audio content on fewer discs, which will save on the overall cost of your product.  However, just be sure you  clearly identify the discs as mp3 discs for your customers to lower customer service issues.

We are able to provide basic services such as converting mp3 files to wav files or breaking audio into tracks.  However, if you have advanced audio needs you’ll need to find a company that specializes in audio editing.