What exactly is CD-Text?

We often get phone calls from customers asking if track listing and artist info will show up when their CD is inserted in a computer or CD player. This article explains how to make this happen, and the difference between CD-Text and the Gracenote database.

CD-Text : For displaying song titles and artist information on CD players

CD-Text refers to the information that can be embedded (burned) onto your CD master such as song titles and artist name. CD-Text can ONLY be displayed on stand alone CD players or car CD players that are capable of displaying CD-Text. Many older car and home players can’t decode and display CD-Text… so, it’s not guaranteed that your CD-Text information will be seen. It’s a good idea to have us add your CD-Text information anyway, just in case. Make sure to always fill out a CD Track List Form when ordering CDs and we’ll do the rest. Easy peasy lemon squeeze! 

Gracenote : For displaying song titles and artist information on computers and internet enabled devices

iTunes does NOT use CD-Text to display song titles and artist information. If you want your song titles and artist information to display in iTunes and internet enabled devices and computers, then Gracenote is must. Gracenote is basically a massive database in the cloud that stores your projects information. When a CD is inserted into an internet enabled computer, Gracenote queries its database and finds a match to display the proper titles and artist information. This only works if your information has already been uploaded to the Gracenote database. We have a tutorial on how to upload your project information to Gracenote HERE.

So to sum it up: CD-Text gets embedded on your CDs and shows up on certain CD players and car stereos. The Gracenote database is what makes your CD info show up on internet enabled devices and this info is not actually embedded on the physical CDs.