Metadata

[Jon100]

I am trying to burn wav files exported from Audacity to a CD using Windows Media Player. The files are simple oral recordings (single track) "labelled" on Audacity to create tracks. Export Multiple gave me tracks with some (but minimal) metadata when subsequently burned to CD, and iTunes failed to pick-up any tags. The Audacity Manual suggests an alternative option of exporting a single wav file and then separately Exporting Labels to capture the "track" start/end positions for copying to a Cue Sheet; it does not explain the Cue Sheet part or how the wav file and cue sheet are "reconnected" when burning to the CD. It does not seem possible to edit tag information in WMP (?). This may be CD burning 101 to many, but I'm lost. Can anyone help? Thanks, Jon

[steve]

You're probably right about Windows Media Player not supporting Metadata in WAV files. Microsoft WAV files were never intended to support metadata.

You probably don't need to bother with the complications of cue sheets.
I'd recommend CDBurnerXP as a flexible and easy to use (and free) CD burning program. http://cdburnerxp.se/en/home
See here for how to make audio disks with CDBurnerXP: http://cdburnerxp.se/help/Audio/compileaudio

[Jon100]

Thanks Steve. I downloaded CD Burner XP, loaded the separate wav files, edited the track titles, artist and added an album title and composer, then burned without gaps. The track titles came through OK when played via WMP, but they were the titles on the original wav file not the edits made using CD Burner XP.No other tags/text came through on the burned CD when played on WMP or iTunes. If you have any other suggestions please let me know.
Thanks, Jon

[steve]

Standard audio CDs don't have track data. They often appear to have because players such as WMP and iTunes look up the track listings for commercial CDs on the Internet based on a special identification number on the CD. However, there is an extension to the audio CD standard called "CD Text" which allows track information to be included on the actual CD. Not all CD writers support CD text, but if your CD writer supports this feature then it will be available in CDBurnerXP.

Read through this page to see how to add information about the artist and title name to audio discs using CDBurnerXP: http://cdburnerxp.se/help/Audio/compileaudio