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Better yet, these apps support freedb out of the box: http://www.freedb.org/sections.php?op=viewarticle& artid=10

I found that with DiscPlay 4 I could also replace the list server with ca.freedb.org and it provides me with a refreshable list of freedb servers.

John

I found that with DiscPlay 4 I could also replace the list server with ca.freedb.org and it provides me with a refreshable list of freedb servers.

John

Well, first off the CDDB went "closed" long before Napster came to them. I'm not sure when it was, but it was a while ago.

You have a good point about Deja - if CDDB took the whole thing offline because they had no money for storage space or bandwidth, I wouldn't complain (maybe other people would, as occurred in the Deja case). But when they take stuff that I've contributed with the intent that it will be available to all, and then charge me and others to use it, without providing me the opportunity to get my stuff back out of their database, they've gone too far. I have no problems with people selling freely available software or databases that I've contributed to, since I know I can also get it for free. But I can no longer get to my freely-submitted CDDB data (or at least I can't get it en masse, and I'm pretty sure they don't let you just siphon all of the entries right off into a competing database), and that's a problem.

The bad guys are allowed to access the database just like anyone else, that's not the point. This is the point. Anybody at any time can get the complete archive and start their own FreeDB, so if FreeDB ever gets driven underground by legal minions of the evil music distribution monopolies it will just spring back up instantly in a 100 different forms. Probably it will just get better. This is the meaning of freedom.
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FreeDB is what you want.

They don't have to sell the database, you can download it free of charge here from freedb.org

I know this will be posted 50 times to this thread, but here it is again anyway: http://freedb.org/. We're rebuilding it, we're rebuilding it better, and cddb can stew in its immoral juices.
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those of you that are still using CDDB, and are fed up with them charging for community added content, switch to Freedb.org. It's not gonna up and sell the database.
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Linus can't up & relicense the kernel, b/c there are hundreds/thousands who contributed; each licensing their own snippets of code under the GPL. How did CDDB get relicensed without consent of all the contributers?

However, I don't really know what the situation is for the CDDB people. Are they not releasing their code as they are required to do? If not, they should be called to task. But even if they released all of their code, there is nothing that requires them to continue to make available the database, is there? If you write or use an open source web site that doesn't mean that you have to serve up useful content, or serve anything for that matter.

I have no idea what sort of liscence was explicitly stated when people submitted data to the database, so I can't comment on that aspect. However in my mind it is a bit sneaky, and their liscencing terms prohibitting liscencees from also supporting alternatives such as http://freedb.org/ are pretty nasty too.

I always go to freedb first (with a resedited copy of iTunes) and only use CDDB if that comes up blank. And I send in my corrections to freedb. Feels better that way.

It is in any case ridiculous that cddb.com has decided to do this, and we should definitively support the freedb.org efforts by entering data for CDs that aren't already in the database -- now if only there was an official procedure for 'correcting' freedb entries :-)

Applications that use freedb.org

-sk

CDDB has a service that it provides - a database of CDs, songs, and artists (btw- a database that they built of the labor of volunteers). Connecting to their servers to get the information is at their discretion. Grip doesn't have that discretion. Grip tries to establish a connection to CDDB servers that CDDB doesn't want. The information is available elsewhere, namely FreeDB. This isn't a result of a bad law, it's a result of CDDB being an ass and changing the rules of how an application can connect to it.

While I dislike CDDB and their restrictive agreements for developers and end-users alike, and while I think this action is kinda low, they are within their rights as a service provider. Would an ISP be justified to cut off a deadbeat account? This is a similar situation.

-sk

There's a lot of non-trivial work involved with running a database like this, and it seems like it might not scale well. If FreeDB ever gets extremely wide adoption, won't the costs of running it become nearly insurmountable? CDDB can finance this because it charges fees. IMDB is (I believe) owned by Amazon, and because its data is mostly dispensed via a web site and it can slap ad banners on the top. None of these options would appear to be available for FreeDB.

I am not posting as a nay-sayer: I'm quite ignorant about a lot of the logistics & financial considerations. I'd appreciate it if somebody more intimately familiar with the workings of FreeDB -- or any similarly large, free online DB -- would comment on this.

If we keep mirroring the database, then we'll never be fully under their thumb. Download a copy from one of the existing mirrors, and keep the movement alive.

There is a free alternative.
freedb
Use it. Add to it.

• If your program accesses CDDB, it must be a GUI program, not a console program, as it must display the CDDB logo and a clickable "mail info to CDDB" icon.
• A web browser must be installed on any computer that accesses CDDB.
• A client must access the CDDB server and no other server.
• You must accept this license, as the very idea of a CDDB indexed by a hash of track lengths is patented. Read it and weep.
• Bad, bad, bad.

Connects to a online database (ala the old CDDB or maybe FreeDB)

Figures out who the artist is based on the ID3 tag or based on some "signature" in the MP3 file.

Lets the user tip the artist directly either with a predefined (by the artist) amount, or by an amount the user determines.

The pieces are in place. CDDB-now-gracenote claims to be able to recognize MP3 files. Fairtunes lets people tip artists directly. PayPal lets people send micropayments over the web. Now someone just needs to tie these 3 together and make it easy to use. I wouldn't even mind them skimming some of the tips off the top (so long as the artist recieves at least half). Anyone out there willing/able to create this service? I won't even charge licensing off my idea. ;-)

Peace.

If every music track, irrespective of it's format, could be uniquely identified, then you could have central databases like CDDB or FreeDb that store such meta-information for us, rather than relying on tags stored with the track.

Furthermore, many people submitted the information without charging anybody and they thought their help would remain free, because the initital licence was GPL

Was CDDB GPL'ed when it started or at some point during its life? If so, does that version contain this "encoding" in it?

As Escient has been changed the terms of licence for accessing CDDB, some programmers complained that the new licence includes certain terms that threatens them in a way they cannot accept: If you want to access CDDB, you are not allowed to access any other CDDB-like database (this one, for example) and - while accessing the database - the programmer has to ensure, that a CDDB-logo is displayed (Funny sidenote: One programmer told me, that his cd-player will be banned if he is refusing to display the CDDB-logo. His software is a console-based program (it does not produce any graphical output) for blind people...). Always being able to choose is one of the advantages if the internet. If Escient forbids the use of other sources now, you can easily think of things coming next... Furthermore, many people submitted the information without charging anybody and they thought their help would remain free, because the initital licence was GPL (see: www.gnu.org for more information on GPL). Everything submitted to this site will be GPLed

From: Freecddb's Why page
"(Funny sidenote: One programmer told me, that his cd-player will be banned if he is refusing to display the CDDB-logo. His software is a console-based program (it does not produce any graphical output) for blind people...)."

No linux software that supports it yet though, and to get the Developers Kit or use the database you have to sign a nauseatingly restrictive 16-page PDF agreement and fax it back to them, and even then you can only let a maximum of 100 people use the application until the CDDB people has tested your application and found it worthy.

FreeDB^2, anyone?
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There are two alternatives that I know of: freedb, which is cddb compatible, and CD index, that is more feature-rich. Both are open source and promise to be open source forever.

It's not quite as simple as that.

The transaction between the client and server includes not only the standard CDDB foo (number of tracks, total length, byte offsets for the beginning of each track) but also has the first 8k or so of raw data for each track. The only way "piracy" will really work is if someone builds a client that allows a user to rip and store that info in a single file, so that others can use it. I think it basically comes down to a effort vs. return issue, since if you don't have physical access to a given CD, you will have to rely on the generosity of others to get access. That is, somewhere, someone has to stick that CD in a drive and generate the info from it. To get things to a point where it's "beneficial" to a large portion of the internet, it will also attract enough attention to be shut down by law enforcement.

Personally, I don't think it's worth it. Also, since this service is dependent on mp3.com obtaining the CDs that you want to listen to, the LCD factor is high (Lowest Common Denominator) and people who listen to esoteric/hard to find stuff will be screwed. People who want to listen to the Backstreet Boys should be in heaven. People who want to listen to Laibach, or Pop Will Eat Itself may not be so lucky.