Re: [ARSCLIST] More on cataloging

[John Ross <johnross@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

At  8/23/2005 06:22 PM, Karl Miller wrote:
> Is it not a technical fact that CD's contain data files, which CD players use
> to keep track of what they are playing? If so, a catalogue of CD's could be
> created by copying that data into a larger database table...is this correct?

If you are referring to the way computers display the contents of a
commercial audio CD, this is not based on data files on the CD. It's
based on the sequence of timing of tracks on the CD. The CD-player
program sends the number of tracks on the CD and the duration of each
track to the database through the Internet, and the database service
returns the title of the CD and of each track.

There are several services that maintain data bases of CDs, with the
duration of each track on every known CD. The people who created the
database claim that no two CDs have identical timing sequences. The
only exceptions I have found are operas and broadcast transcriptions
with a single 59:00 track.

You do hit the occasional "unknown" CD, especially with obscure
independent releases.

Obviously, this is limited to CDs rather than analog phonodiscs. But
it ought to be possible to convince the people who maintain the
databases to allow ARSC or some other group to link additional
discographical information to their listings.

John Ross
Seattle