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Topic: MP3 tags on audio CDs (Read 7748 times) previous topic - next topic
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MP3 tags on audio CDs

I want to record some MP3 files to an audio CD that will play in my car's CD player. When I use Nero to burn a music CD I get all the tracks but they are labeled as track 1, track 2, etc. My auto CD player has a digital readout that would show the artist and song title if Nero burned that data to the CD. Is there a way to make this happen?

MP3 tags on audio CDs

Reply #1 –
A standard Redbook audio CD can't hold any metadata. You have to create a data disc containing the MP3s in order to maintain the ID3 tags. Of course, this only works if your car's CD player is actually able to read and decode MP3 files.

An exception to this is the CD Text extension. Nero can burn audio CDs containing CD text, using the informations found inside the ID3 tags of the MP3 sources. But there's no guarantee that the car's player is able to handle this method of storing the track infos. Hardware support for it isn't very widespread.
 

MP3 tags on audio CDs

Reply #2 –
Quote from: Junon on
A standard Redbook audio CD can't hold any metadata. You have to create a data disc containing the MP3s in order to maintain the ID3 tags. Of course, this only works if your car's CD player is actually able to read and decode MP3 files.

An exception to this is the CD Text extension. Nero can burn audio CDs containing CD text, using the informations found inside the ID3 tags of the MP3 sources. But there's no guarantee that the car's player is able to handle this method of storing the track infos. Hardware support for it isn't very widespread.



The car CD player can't play MP3 data CD, they have to be in the sudio CD format. If I play a commercial CD I can see the track data so it's that data I'm tryint to burn to the CD. Can I use something like Jet Audio or Audiophile to convert the MP3s to Audio CD format, then burn the CD?

MP3 tags on audio CDs

Reply #3 –
Quote from: Ren on
If I play a commercial CD I can see the track data so it's that data I'm tryint to burn to the CD.

That's the mentioned CD Text, commercial CDs often contain this extension. Your player obviously handles it.

Quote
Can I use something like Jet Audio or Audiophile to convert the MP3s to Audio CD format, then burn the CD?

CD audio is no specific format an MP3 can be converted to, and as I've already said, Redbook audio tracks can't store the ID3 informations found in MP3. You can only decode MP3 to PCM in a .wav container, then burn this data to the CD. But this wouldn't make any difference, because the burning application has to decode the MP3 anyway prior to creating the audio CD. Besides, creating an intermediate .wav file would result in the loss of all tags, since the format isn't specified for holding ID3 infos.

The most comfortable way to create an audio CD with CD Text is to use the Burrrn! application. It reads the tags found in the MP3s and stores artist and title informations on the audio CD. Just make sure that CD Text is checked in the program settings.

Edit: ReplayGain might also be of interest to you. Burrrn! can apply Album Gain to the discs, sparing you from the hassle of having to adjust the volume every time you change CDs. For compilations of different albums Track Gain is of serious interest, since it fixes the problem of the tracks' volume levels possibly being very different from each other.

MP3 tags on audio CDs

Reply #4 –
I tried making an audio CD using Burrrn and made sure CD text is checked but the resulting CD only shows track 1, track 2 etc. The files are all .cda files and show a length of 1 KB. That is the same thing I saw when I used Nero. Did I do soemthing wrong?

Quote from: Junon on
Quote from: Ren on
If I play a commercial CD I can see the track data so it's that data I'm tryint to burn to the CD.

That's the mentioned CD Text, commercial CDs often contain this extension. Your player obviously handles it.

Quote
Can I use something like Jet Audio or Audiophile to convert the MP3s to Audio CD format, then burn the CD?

CD audio is no specific format an MP3 can be converted to, and as I've already said, Redbook audio tracks can't store the ID3 informations found in MP3. You can only decode MP3 to PCM in a .wav container, then burn this data to the CD. But this wouldn't make any difference, because the burning application has to decode the MP3 anyway prior to creating the audio CD. Besides, creating an intermediate .wav file would result in the loss of all tags, since the format isn't specified for holding ID3 infos.

The most comfortable way to create an audio CD with CD Text is to use the Burrrn! application. It reads the tags found in the MP3s and stores artist and title informations on the audio CD. Just make sure that CD Text is checked in the program settings.

Edit: ReplayGain might also be of interest to you. Burrrn! can apply Album Gain to the discs, sparing you from the hassle of having to adjust the volume every time you change CDs. For compilations of different albums Track Gain is of serious interest, since it fixes the problem of the tracks' volume levels possibly being very different from each other.

MP3 tags on audio CDs

Reply #5 –
There is no such thing as .cda files.

If you have enabled CD Text in Nero and your MP3s are properly tagged then it should work. It can get the info from FreeDB if you don't have tags I think. You can test to see if the Text was written correctly by inserting the CD into your PC and opening EAC or something that can read CD Text.

If the Text has been written but your CD player in your car still doesn't show it then it doesn't support CD Text. Why do you need it anyway... you should be watching the road not your CD player

MP3 tags on audio CDs

Reply #6 –
Quote from: Ren on
I tried making an audio CD using Burrrn and made sure CD text is checked but the resulting CD only shows track 1, track 2 etc. The files are all .cda files and show a length of 1 KB. That is the same thing I saw when I used Nero. Did I do soemthing wrong?

Did Burrrn display the ID3 tags of the files after adding them to its list, i.e. were you able to see the artist and title infos of each individual track? If no, the tagging is the problem. Burrrn must be able to read the tags in order to convert them to CD Text. It reads ID3v1, ID3v2.3 (haven't tested ID3v2.4 yet) and APEv2. The infos can be manually added as well.

The .cda thing is just Windows' way of displaying a CD audio track, which doesn't have any particular size. It's a simple placeholder.

MP3 tags on audio CDs

Reply #7 –
.CDA is the extension Windows gives to audio CD tracks. Insert any audio CD, whether it has CD Text information or not, and they will appear in a Windows environment as Track01.cda, Track02.cda, etc. There is nothing you can do about this. They're not really files per se; try to think of them more as shortcuts.

I don't think that EAC reads CD Text out of the box. There is an option to enable it though.

But as others have said before me, if your source MP3 files were properly tagged and you told Nero to write CD Text information, than it should have worked. Try inserting the CD into your auto CD player and see if it reads the information.

MP3 tags on audio CDs

Reply #8 –
Burrn showed the name and artist prior to burning but the resulting CD only listed track 1, track 2 etc.


Quote from: Junon on
Quote from: Ren on
I tried making an audio CD using Burrrn and made sure CD text is checked but the resulting CD only shows track 1, track 2 etc. The files are all .cda files and show a length of 1 KB. That is the same thing I saw when I used Nero. Did I do soemthing wrong?

Did Burrrn display the ID3 tags of the files after adding them to its list, i.e. were you able to see the artist and title infos of each individual track? If no, the tagging is the problem. Burrrn must be able to read the tags in order to convert them to CD Text. It reads ID3v1, ID3v2.3 (haven't tested ID3v2.4 yet) and APEv2. The infos can be manually added as well.

The .cda thing is just Windows' way of displaying a CD audio track, which doesn't have any particular size. It's a simple placeholder.

MP3 tags on audio CDs

Reply #9 –
Maybe your burner doesn't support writting of CD Text? IIRC such support is not mandatory for CD writers.

MP3 tags on audio CDs

Reply #10 –
iTunes can burn audio CD's with CD text as well. But you have to tell it to do so.

From the menu bar chose "edit" and then "preferences". Click on the "adavanced" tab and then on the "burning" tab. Once there check the check box for "include CD text" and press the OK button.