Having spent time converting a number of old vinyl tracks to digital and then saving them to WAV, I finally got around to dropping some of them onto a CD. I learnt recently that WAV files generally don’t store the metadata (or don’t give release it to player software - which ever is the correct way round), which I was slightly disappointed about, but even more disappointing was that when using Roxio to create a music CD it doesn’t even use the WAV filename as the track name. Instead I have Track01.cda, Track02.cda, etc, etc. I understand that the cda file isn’t actually the music but some sort of header file but when the CD was played back on my computer Media Player didn’t show any track names, just Track01, Track02, etc.
Is there anyway I can get lossless files with metadata stored onto a CD?
If not, can I at least get WAV files burnt onto a disc so that the WAV filename is used?
What you are running into is the limitations imposed by the standards of the Red Book for CDs. When you create a “music CD” the music in the WAV files is created into one long data stream and the TOC (Table Of Contents) has entries written to tell the payer where each track starts
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Yes, most CD burning software will let re create a “data CD” (rather than a “music CD”) - but note that these are not proper CDs and will not play on most CD players - they should play on your computer though.
Another option is “CD Text”
CD Text is a extension of the existing audio CD standard (“Red Book”) that adds the ability to store text and graphical information like album titles, artist names, and song titles on a music CD.
Not many CD players can read CD text, but most modern CD players can play them.
Thanks for the replies. Notwithstanding the CD Text information, how do I get into a position where I have a CD much like one from the shops, i.e. it plays on standard CD players and it also has information on it that a PC will pick up as track names and album title?
If the answer is only CD Text then how do I go about applying that?
The metadata that you see when playing a “normal” CD (commercial or home-made) is normally provided externally over t’interweb - and is not carried on the CD itself.
The player s/w interrogates an online database, usually Gracenote CDDB (the same database that iTunes uses when you rip a CD). Gracenote ties to match the length and no. of tracks - and with home-made CDs that can sometimes produce somewhat curious, even hilarious, results
