CDDB No Longer Allows Grip Users to Connect UPDATED

ezln23 writes: "I have been a regular user of Grip for CD Ripping and MP3 encoding for quite a few months now. Today when I attempted to rip a new CD I bought, I received this message. "Your CD player application is either not licensed to use the Gracenote(tm) CDDB(tm) service or its license has expired. If you are unsure what this means, please see our web site at http://www.cddb.com/lic/Grip. If you are a developer and feel you have received this message in error or wish to get your application licensed, please contact support for assistance." I guess the predictions in this article were correct." We've also received submissions about kscd and other applications that query CDDB, so it looks like CDDB has cut off everyone who didn't pay up.Update: 03/10 02:28 PM by H : It looks like it was a short-lived thing - I can connect fine to it this morning - and I can assure you, I haven't paid.

Comments

Economics of running a free, online DB?

[fhwang]

The obvious response to a move like this is to say: "Hey, everybody, use FreeDB." Which I agree with, but I also have to wonder: If everybody starts using FreeDB instead of CDDB, will they be able to afford it?

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.

Gracenote has freeware license

[Anonymous Coward]

As of yesterday, Gracenote has posted a *free* (FREE, NO COST) license to freeware developers. As long as your application makes you no money directly or indirectly, then you won't have to pay anything to use the CDDB service.

I believe even Grip would be eligible for this, assuming it really is revenue-free.

FYI, the CDDB blockage is not targeted at Grip, but rather only allows licensed applications.

Hmmmm...

[DeeKayWon]

Considering Grip uses FreeDB by default, it shouldn't affect too many people.

Re:Hmmmm...

[WNight]

Why not set up a site that proxies CDDB queries. Point all the programs that ARE affected to this site, it generates CDDB requests that appear to come from programs that CDDB allows.

And no, I don't consider it cheating, theft, or underhanded in any way. CDDB lied to the community about the purpose of the DB, enlisted help under false pretenses, and then locked off access to a DB that many people had helped to create.

If we have to change an identifier in a query to get around their fraudulent business model it sounds good to me.

Fucking assholes who're willing to sell out everyone else just for a buck...

Why get mad when you can get even

[Coward Anonymous]

do they still allow additions and fixes to the DB? start fixin' it wrong... Enough mad people get even and no one will use such an ureliable service anymore.

Screw them anyways, use freedb.org.

[meldroc]

Set your CDDB apps to access www.freedb.org instead. No licensing or patenting nazis there.

In kscd (my CD player of choice) simply click on the preferences button, set your CDDB server to "www.freedb.org http 80 /~cddb/cddb.cgi". Other CD players should have similar configuration procedures.

Problem solved.

Re:Gee...

[Pituritus Ani]

The problem is that they started out a community-based collection of title information that was painstakingly entered by thousands of users in the belief that they wouldn't pull something like this.

What Gracenote did is essentially the same as the Red Cross declaring itself a for-profit agency and charging for its services, while keeping all the donations made for it while it was a non-profit.

I am looking forward to the day they go out of business and/or are made irrelevant by free alternatives. And I hope the executive scum responsible for the decision die a slow, painful death. But I'm not bitter.

Those license terms are outrageous!

[yerricde]

As of yesterday, Gracenote has posted a *free* (FREE, NO COST) license to freeware developers.

There's a difference between freeware and free software. The terms of the non-commercial license conflict with those of a certain popular free software license.

Check this out:

The Licensed Application will only be distributed for non-commercial use on General Purpose Personal Computers. "General Purpose Personal Computers" or "PCs" are general purpose personal computers consisting of a desktop or laptop model, a display monitor, keyboard and mouse. PCs do not include any attachments or peripherals except an external CD drive, DVD drive, hard drive, printer, scanner and/or analog Audio Equipment such as speakers. An external device that reads TOC and also displays text or graphics is NOT a PC.

Note that this definition excludes computers with common peripherals such as (/me scans the back of my computer) trackballs, touchpads, drawing tablets, joysticks, floppy disk drives, Zip drives, tape drives, network cards, modems, video capture hardware, etc. (This license is useless, as floppy drives are included with most PCs, and use of a network card or modem is required to access the Gracenote CDDB® database.)

The real GPL compatibility killer: "You agree not to modify or disable any Gracenote CDDB Client functions or to otherwise interfere with the operation of the Gracenote CDDB Client." Also, "The Client ID must be embedded in binary form in your Licensed Application, and must not be easily extractable by End-Users or other developers."

Or this:

You will use the Gracenote CDDB Client and the Gracenote CDDB Database as the exclusive source for CD identification and Data when your Licensed Application accesses such information by reading a CD's TOC or disc identification number and retrieves Data or related data via the Internet. ... Your Licensed Application shall not have or enable a function that permits transmission of TOC or the combination of TOC together with Data to anyone other than Gracenote.

Translation: "You will not modify, or allow to be modified, the hostname or IP number accessed by the software." Not compatible.

Of course, there are a couple patents on using a TOC hash as a database key that keep you from just using FreeDB instead.

All your hallucinogen are belong to us.