The Impact Of CDDB
from the whoops dept
Most computer CD player software these days have an automatic connection to CDDB, now owned by Gracenote, to look up what songs are on the CD, who it's by and the name of the CD itself. That data, of course, is entered in by other people who listened to the CD before you. I know that I often find mistakes that people made in entering the CD information, but it's usually not that big of a deal. However, when the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra sent out a promo CD, someone who received it named all the songs using "bathroom humor" (the only example they give is calling a song "Maybe I Fart on Your Face"). He thought those names were just showing up on his girlfriend's computer (which he was using at the time). Instead, they went into the database, and everyone who popped the CD into an internet connected computer saw his chosen names. And, of course, just like the guy, most of them didn't necessarily understand how the names get there, and blamed the NZSO. Eventually Gracenote was contacted and fixed the names. They said only 11 people saw it (which is why no one at Gracenote had checked over the titles for "accuracy").
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No Subject Given
Why would they possibly need to know that?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No Subject Given
That's how they were able to report that Eminem's latest album was the single most loaded CD about 1 week before it actually hit stores...
Because it's just yet another way for Big Brother to track what we're doing.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]