Magix the company which took over freedb.org has decided to close down the service.
dBpoweramp have created a freedb server which can be used when freedb shuts down:
freedb.dbpoweramp.com
Note currently only http is supported
Obviated quite a while ago by MusicBrainz, but I rather liked having more than one option. Monocultures are dangerous.
Anyone want to bet this has to do with the private equity firm that took a majority stake in Magix in 2018?
I have offered to take over the running and hosting, but Magix have not replied (1 week)...
I thought at the time of the take over a number of years back that it was a strange matchup between the two offerings. Credit is due to them running the system for a number of years, however if as you say it was taken over and the bean counters now are in charge, Magix will go down as the company which killed freedb, not the best to be known as.
Is this the right company ? https://www.facebook.com/MAGIX/
Is this the right company ? https://www.facebook.com/MAGIX/
Yes.
I have offered to take over the running and hosting
WOW, that would be great!
, but Magix have not replied (1 week)…
Probably too many lawyers involved. A CEO of a small company once told me, "The lawyers always say no, because there is no risk in saying no". :D But in that case, I think he ignored the lawyer and went-ahead anyway.
I have offered to take over the running and hosting, but Magix have not replied (1 week)...
Really great if you could take over Spoon, I know freedb would be safe in your hands.
It would be such a waste if it just died with all its metadata, or if it was tossed around for profit like CDDB/Gracenote.
Hope they get back to you soon.
It is kind of funny, when you read on the site that the service will be shut down on 31 March 2020 and below in the news section a head line reads: "Continuation of the free database guaranteed"
But.... It's open source so is the problem the "freedb.org" domain ownership?
And the entire database.
It says you can download the database here: http://www.freedb.org/en/download__database.10.html (http://www.freedb.org/en/download__database.10.html).
Am I misunderstanding something?
Aha, I wasn't aware it was available for download.
Can freedb.org database operate offline. foobar2000 needs surely an adjustment then.
Can freedb.org database operate offline
Sure, you just need to run your own local freedb server. But, of course, you wouldn't get any tags for newer releases.
foobar2000 needs surely an adjustment then.
Only the relevant setting for the freedb server in the preferences needs to be changed.
I use DBPowerAmp CD Ripper which uses freedb. How will this affect me?
We can create a newfreedb.org site and update the programs. It would be best if Magix had the decency to pass the service on, rather than kill it. They will be known forever as the company which killed freedb.
Time to email them and let them know!
Thanks for doing this!
dBpoweramp have created a freedb server which can be used when freedb shuts down:
freedb.dbpoweramp.com
Note currently only http is supported
I too, offered to try to take over when I saw the news. I also got no response... Maybe we can start a federated network of freedb providers, and we could share updates with one another.
Perhaps try facebook, I've gotten several canned responses, but evidently someone is reading posts to their page. http://www.facebook.com/MAGIX/
Ouch, reading the posts on their FB page, a train wreck...
Many people post there "This once great company appears to no longer be what it once was because I sent them an email and was told they would not answer it. Magix it appears have lost their Magic.". What chance does freedb have in those hands?
I have seen it before in other companies, the bean counters get in, they only count the bottom line, not the huge line of unsatisfied customers, soon the whole company is a write off.
<joke> Want to see some Magix? freedb: now you see it, now you do not!
Oh, Wikipedia writes about Magix: "In May 2018, private equity firm Capiton announced that it had acquired a majority stake in Magix Software GmbH together with its Management.[3]"
This is usually not a good sign for a small or medium company.
Slashdot has noticed https://developers.slashdot.org/story/20/03/02/2245216/freedborg-is-shutting-down
Slashdot has noticed https://developers.slashdot.org/story/20/03/02/2245216/freedborg-is-shutting-down
I think the reason why freedb is being closed are very clear, it is a service which is no direct monetary value for Magix or its investors. And they had no idea how to change that or what to do with it.
Slashdot has noticed https://developers.slashdot.org/story/20/03/02/2245216/freedborg-is-shutting-down
I think the reason why freedb is being closed are very clear, it is a service which is no direct monetary value for Magix or its investors. And they had no idea how to change that or what to do with it.
then why acquired a majority stake in Magix in the first place?
did you meant to imply that private equity firm Capiton is st*d to spend the money not knowing how to recoup more money?
We can download the database and use Freedb Easy Navigator offline. Also there is a version of EAC that supports local database, I can´t remember which one.
I was trying to look up some CD information from a CD I had ripped and the CD wasn't registered. I didn't know that freedb had shut its services. While attempting to find an alternative. I did find that while the main site was completely taken over by Magix, their FTP site is still up, though for how long I don't know.
The site is located at http://ftp.freedb.org/pub/freedb/ (http://ftp.freedb.org/pub/freedb/)
The database file appears to be there, I can't imagine what else takes up 957 MB. Anyways, my thanks to those on this site who were able to find out about all of this. I would have been searching forever after because of it. Consequently, the Freedb server software is there as well though, again for how much longer?
I was trying to look up some CD information from a CD I had ripped and the CD wasn't registered. I didn't know that freedb had shut its services. While attempting to find an alternative. I did find that while the main site was completely taken over by Magix, their FTP site is still up, though for how long I don't know.
The site is located at http://ftp.freedb.org/pub/freedb/ (http://ftp.freedb.org/pub/freedb/)
The database file appears to be there, I can't imagine what else takes up 957 MB. Anyways, my thanks to those on this site who were able to find out about all of this. I would have been searching forever after because of it. Consequently, the Freedb server software is there as well though, again for how much longer?
Annnnnnnd, It's gone...
Time to set up a hosts file redirect for *.freedb.org to the dbpoweramp freedb server so that when my Fairstars CD Ripper or any other app on my system(s) try to look up any of the *.freedb.org sites, they get a successful name resolution...
That may not work, if the server is HTTP based, and relies on the hostname.
This (https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php?topic=119006.msg981467#msg981467) post by
@korth is not a solution?
It is. But it's an HTTP server, so whatever client you are configuring must know the correct hostname, unless the server internally accepts requests asking for "freedb.org" and not "freedb.dbpoweramp.com"
HTTP protocol defines a "HOST" header, which specifies the hostname and port the request is asking for, which is used by many servers to allow multiple domains on the same IP address.
Thank you Spoon for doing this. I've been using EAC since... last century maybe, at least 2004. It's part of my workflow and old habits die hard. To "fix" EAC, I simply changed the freedb database address to: http://freedb.dbpoweramp.com:80/cddb.cgi
I'm using EAC V0.99 prebeta 5 from 4 May 2009. The exact location in EAC for this version is:
EAC > freedb / Database Options > Freedb server: http://freedb.dbpoweramp.com:80/cddb.cgi
Thanks again Spoon for breathing new life into EAC, I'll have to check out dbPowerAmp, it looks like you've done a good thing.
My current dedicated rig for ripping music is an old Windows 7 machine built in 2010. I'm in the process of converting over to Linux. When I can create a workflow on Linux, that gives me similar results, I'll be done with Windows. If anyone has suggestions on Linux tools/process I'd appreciate it. My current workflow is:
- EAC to populate meta data, ripping and converting to mp3 using lame encoder with various setting based on content
- MP3Gain with no undo to only adjust gain down to remove clipping
- Mp3tag to add album artwork to each mp3 file
- Mp3-Tag Studio 3 to adjust tags in batch mode. Even when the meta data is good, I'll add my codec settings, if I've used MP3Gain, and change Genre if I overlooked it at rip time. Also this tool is great for adjusting compilations and Audio books so they play nice on mp3 players.
- CopyTrans Manager for loading mp3s onto iOS devices without using iTunes
There is a copy of freedb at gnudb.org (https://www.gnudb.org/index.php).
I haven't tried it. (Somebody posted the link on another forum.)
I'm using EAC V0.99 prebeta 5 from 4 May 2009. The exact location in EAC for this version is:
EAC > freedb / Database Options > Freedb server: http://freedb.dbpoweramp.com:80/cddb.cgi
Thanks so much you're a life saver!
I too have been using 0.99 for years, and I thought I was forced to use the current version to be able to use the other databases.
I keep all my ripped CDs as WAV with Cue-sheet, and I always want the album artist to be the artist for every single song. Maybe I didn't find out how to change this in settings, however EAC 1.5 always split up Track artist and title, which would have meant a huge amount of work copy-pasting compilations and features into the old format, or doing some complicated Regex stuff.
Edit: What I am in fact looking for is the format of the cue sheet when you uncheck the box 'Various Artist', so tracks are named ARTIST / TITLE. I find it hard to believe this wouldn't exist in 1.5, but I couldn't find it.
So glad to be back to 0.99 and FreeDB :-) And so lucky to have found your post which you wrote just 3 days ago.
If anyone wants to get new freedb servers working with old software, it’s simple, just redirect your computer via your hosts file
That’s assuming the same protocols are running on the new server which is elementary so I’m sure plenty of people will be happy to do so
Thanks Spoon for the hosting :D
There is a copy of freedb at gnudb.org (https://www.gnudb.org/index.php). I haven't tried it. (Somebody posted the link on another forum.)
I have. I recommend it, if for no reason other than it lets you use https.
(https://cornelhuth.com/tmp/20200917_freedb_at_gnudb.png)
So how can someone change the source of freedb within foobar 2000 v1.6.11? Can we add more sources? Can we refresh the existing tags?
After ripping a very old game CD, I was told the tags may have been incorrect from freedb. Can everyone edit freedb or whatever its successor is? Does freedb have newer songs/music? Thanks.
So how can someone change the source of freedb within foobar 2000 v1.6.11? Can we add more sources?
Yes. Go to Preferences/Tools/Tagging/freedb Tagger; note the buttons on the right side:
(https://i.imgur.com/lgImNNl.png)